daily life behing the Iron Curtain

[ChrisD(RJ)]

The Russian cinema was avant garde in 1920s (cf. Eisentsein or Vertov)
when Hollywodd was a pile of dung (not that it is not now in a
figurative sense) - but then of course much of it was destroyed by
Stalin and his butchers.   Nonetheless, a few good things were made in
1960s and 1970s cf. I'm Cuba, Shadows of the forgotten ancestors or
Solaris - total anti-hollywood aesthetic and narrative.

Poland had a better luck - they had a good film school in Lodz.  I'm not
particularly in love with Wajda - I prefer Has (cf. Saragossa
Manuscript, Sanatorium under the Hourglass) or Kieslowski.  But I think
Polish cinematography, like Polish football, went down the drain after
1989.

Wojtek
---
Soviet war movies are great, not art films by any means but damn good. I'm
not up on my contemporary cinema, but famous avant-garde director
what's-his-name recently did a film called Russian Ark which is a single
take an hour and a half long!!!!