Aelita was the first film made by one of the pioneers of the Russian cinema Yakov Protazanov after his return from Europe, where he remained during difficult times of Russian Civil War of 1918 1922. He directed his first silent features before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and was undoubtedly most prominent Russian filmmaker before Sergey Eisenstein.
With Aelita back then young Russian cinema tried to rival foreign European and American productions, a competition that resulted in the big spectacle, which Aelita is with its big production values but obviously propagandistic story, fit in what is basically a Sci-fi film attempting to proliferate communist ideas. In a way it also marked beginning of dominating influence of Communist state with its ideals over the art, in this case cinema, which continued nearly till the end of Soviet Union in 1991.
Aelita's story is based on a Sci-fi novel by Alexei Tolstoy, who later became one of the most important Soviet writers though mostly renowned not for Sci-fi stories, but for his historical novels.
It's about a young scientist Los, who is living with his wife Natasha and is already for several years is working on a project of a spaceship capable of going to Mars, while on a background of Russian Civil War occurs with all its destruction, hunger and, of cause, accentuated by the communist propaganda class struggle, which is shown in a character of Ehrlich who represents an old kind of persona with its obsolete bourgeoisie values of already dead Tsarist Russia, showed opposed to a 'new man' of adhered to communist ideals soldier of the Red Army Gussev.
While all this happens on Earth, we are introduced to the distant world of planet Mars with its monarchic regime, somewhat reminiscent of Egyptian pharaohs or Roman Emperor's rule, where the working class, represented by the slaves, suffers under tyrannical regime of the ruling class. The world, which evidently represents the kind of a world against which Bolsheviks where fighting against. It's from there that Martian princess Aelita observes the life of other characters in Russia and develops a sort of attraction to them and their way of life.
The film culminates when finally Los' project is brought to life and expedition is sent to Mars, causing there upon arrival a slave uprising and revolution, which results in no more nor less than in peaking of communist propaganda element in the story in a form of establishing of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Mars!
Overall, all the propaganda elements put aside, Aelita is one of the most original classics of not only the Russian, but of the world silent cinema. 8/10
With Aelita back then young Russian cinema tried to rival foreign European and American productions, a competition that resulted in the big spectacle, which Aelita is with its big production values but obviously propagandistic story, fit in what is basically a Sci-fi film attempting to proliferate communist ideas. In a way it also marked beginning of dominating influence of Communist state with its ideals over the art, in this case cinema, which continued nearly till the end of Soviet Union in 1991.
Aelita's story is based on a Sci-fi novel by Alexei Tolstoy, who later became one of the most important Soviet writers though mostly renowned not for Sci-fi stories, but for his historical novels.
It's about a young scientist Los, who is living with his wife Natasha and is already for several years is working on a project of a spaceship capable of going to Mars, while on a background of Russian Civil War occurs with all its destruction, hunger and, of cause, accentuated by the communist propaganda class struggle, which is shown in a character of Ehrlich who represents an old kind of persona with its obsolete bourgeoisie values of already dead Tsarist Russia, showed opposed to a 'new man' of adhered to communist ideals soldier of the Red Army Gussev.
While all this happens on Earth, we are introduced to the distant world of planet Mars with its monarchic regime, somewhat reminiscent of Egyptian pharaohs or Roman Emperor's rule, where the working class, represented by the slaves, suffers under tyrannical regime of the ruling class. The world, which evidently represents the kind of a world against which Bolsheviks where fighting against. It's from there that Martian princess Aelita observes the life of other characters in Russia and develops a sort of attraction to them and their way of life.
The film culminates when finally Los' project is brought to life and expedition is sent to Mars, causing there upon arrival a slave uprising and revolution, which results in no more nor less than in peaking of communist propaganda element in the story in a form of establishing of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Mars!
Overall, all the propaganda elements put aside, Aelita is one of the most original classics of not only the Russian, but of the world silent cinema. 8/10