Is there any chance they'll syndicate it on U.S. TV? HBO maybe?
Joanna
uvj at vsnl.com wrote:
>The Asian Age
>http://www.asianage.com/
>
>30 December 2005
>
>Bottomline
>
>Bulgakov's cult novel glues Russians to TV
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>- By Maria Danilova
>
>Moscow, Dec. 29: While all around the world Christians are celebrating the
>birth of Christ this season, Russians are more preoccupied with Satan.
>
>>From taxi drivers to doctors, millions of Russians have been glued to TV
>screens for the past two weeks watching the country's first adaptation of
>The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov's cult novel exploring whether
>the world is ruled by good or evil.
>
>Viewer surveys showed that more than 55 per cent of Russians over 18 watched
>the first episode of The Master and Margarita on Dec. 19 after a heavy
>advertising campaign on television and street billboards. The series ends on
>Friday.
>
>Combining bitter satire, wild fantasy and eternal philosophical questions,
>The Master and Margarita weaves together three plot lines: The devil and his
>entourage wreaking havoc in dictator Josef Stalin's Moscow of the 1930s; the
>betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ; and the struggle of two passionate
>lovers, separated by society, to reunite.
>
>The devil, embodied by a mysterious foreign professor named Woland, mocks
>vehemently atheist Soviets for their unbelief, punishes greedy and corrupt
>officials and lures Margarita, a fine Moscow lady, into becoming a witch for
>the sake of saving her beloved, the master, a gifted writer driven to
>despair by Soviet censors.
>
>The surreal scenes brought to the screen include an obese black cat from the
>devil's retinue riding a tram and toasting with vodka, Moscow women running
>around in their underwear and a naked Margarita hovering above the city on a
>broom on her way to attend a ball hosted by Satan. The ball scene is said to
>have been inspired by a famous reception at the US ambassador's residence in
>Moscow in the 1930s.
>
>The novel, which Bulgakov finished on his deathbed, was banned for 26 years
>until a government-edited version was first published in a literary magazine
>in 1966 following Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's era of relative
>openness. Vladimir Bortko, director of the 10-series movie broadcast on
>Rossiya state television, said the book embodies freedom for Russians. (AP)
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