Page 10-The Canadian Jewish News. Thursday. October 13. 1988
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Banned for two decades over depiction of Jews
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SHE/I>ON KIRSHNER
TORONTO -
Alexsandr Askoldov ntxis his head. "'Yes. ot course, glasmmmMtxi possible." : Askoidov, director of the hitherto blacklisted Vie Commissar, agrees that the new spirit ot openness in his countr>'. promoted by President Mikhail Gorbachev, was instrumental in breaking the ban on his inconoclastic film.
Finished in 1967. Tfie Commissar was immediately shelved by the Soviet authorities, condemned to artistic purgatory for its sympathetic depiction of a Jewish family in posi-revolulionar)' Russia, its use of Yiddish and its indirect, fleeting challenge to the sacrosanct idea of the inevitability of progress in human relations under communism.
For two decades, Tlw Comjniss(ir.Asko]do\''s first and, so far, only feature, lay gathering dust in a darik Moscow basement. Askoidov has no doulirWhatsoever that the authorities disliked its positive portrayal of the Magaza-niks, the jewi$h family in;question. "Anti-semitic bureaucrats did not come out openly with this. But behind closed do()rs, this was the reason.'':
;-^uddenly._ia.I9-S2.Jhc-ice-AviisjTr^ ptilitical thaw, known -dsj^lasnosi dnd pcresiroi-hi (restructuring), mehed .some of the rigid opposition to the film's existence. , At lastyear's Moscow Film Festival; Vie Cw?j-mkvar.was screened. Then, in a series of screenings, the picture was shown to select, audiences in Moscow and several other carefully-cho.sen localities in the Soviet Union.
fearlier this year. Askoidov brought Vie Com-missar, which is set in a Ukrainian town, to film festivals in Australia, West.Gerriiany and Israel. Last month. Vie Commissar was featured at the Festival of Festivals here. After Toronto, Askoidov took the movie to festivals in,France-and Portugal.
On Nov. 3, he revealed, Vie Commissar.mil have its official Moscow premiere.
Speaking in general of the authorities' decision to let it be seen, Askoidov .said: "I have no concrete proof that Gorbachev himself was responsible for allowing it to be released. But I owe my picture to Gorbachev. He is a man of great courage, not a national chauvinist, but he must struggle against the forces of stagnation. Peres-troika is a complex battle."
Askoidov is on the very cutting edge of the current ideological struggle in the Soviet Union, which pits conservatives against liberals. Although The Commissar has finally seen the light of day, both in Soviet and in foreign theatres, it has its enemies. *'Even today it is disliked by many Soviet bureaucrats and artists, who don't warit to adrtiit they are anti-semitic."
Director
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And the Soviet media; by and large, ignores It. When, by chance, it is mentioned in a commentate, the reference IS unflattering. Elem Klimoy, the prcjsident of theSoyiet Film Maker's Union, said in a recent interview in thejour-nal Ogonyok, nominally-a libecal publication, that Vie Commissar way ''Weak" iahd ''without esthetic valiieV" ,■
— Fuithermbre, Askoidov pointed out, he has experienced "great difficullies" in arranging the scheduled Nov. 3 Moscow preifiiere. As he put it: 'There were many people_who could have helped, but didn't." "
But for all the flak to which it has been subjected, Vie Commissar has aroused considerable sympathy, understanding and admiration within the Soviet Union.
For 20 years, after it was banned as politically .unacceptable; Askoidov — an ethnic Russian -^fought courageously to rescue it from its fate. \*I:wrote a-lot of letters to the government, say-
the state film agency, invited Askoidov for a chat. ^'He patted my knee and said, 'I have two suggestions by which you could save your creative career. Suggestion number one: Cut out that .section where the jews are herded into the gas chamber; Number two: Let's think how we could change this Jewish family into a family of some other nationality.' I was fighting an unequal battle."
According to Askoidov, Vie Commissar was summarily confiscated. Predictably, his career took a nosedive. Blacklisted, and expelled from the Communist Party ("I ani a believer, the Revolution is my religion"). Askoidov could not find work easily, except for a few television jobs and forays into experimental music theatre.
Askoidov was ^'extremely wdl received" in Israel...[Graphic Artists photoj
ing that the dcstructibri of works of art was barbaric, inhuman, impermissible, I never gave up hope, though my spirits would sag.''
In 19.86, a year after Gorbachev's.accession to power, Askoidov was giyen the opportunity by sympathetic officials to look.for his film in the .statq cinema-archive. "There, 1 was told it. didn't exist. But then, a cleaning lady in the archive called me on_the phone and told me .that it had beeri hidden by some of the workers."
For the next three weeks, Askoidov searched high and low. In a cellar, lit by a bare bulb, he saw a rusty cannister containing his film. "The negative was in terrible condition and should have disihtegrated, but somehow it had survived." '
Later, Askoidov showed it to film industry officials and to Yevgeny Yevtilshenko, the poet who immortalized the Jewish Holocaust victims of Babi Yar, With few exceptions, they praised it. "But .still the government,wouldn't release it,"
In the midst of the 1987 Moscow Film Festival, a" visiting reporter at a press conference asked if all banned films fedjjeeri released/The c-haimian, noticing Askoidov in the audience, acknowledged that 4'one. picture,'' namely Vie Commm«r, posed ''some: problems.".
As a result of this embarrassirig incident 77z.e Comwmarwas finally released.
To a great degree, it is autobiographical. The prtignant c6mmi.ssar is modeled after his father, a commissar who perished in a 1937 Stalinist
purge. After his father's execution, his mother, a doctor; was imprisoned. "I was left alone at the age of 5. I ran away from homeso that I. wouldn't be put into a children's prison. I then hid with a Jewish family in Kiev, friends of nly parents. I lived with therii for less than a year. They risked a lot for me. They were, executed by the Nazi.s at Babi Yar. It'? sad to.say, but I have forgotten their names."
Askoidov, a native of Moscow, was reunited with his mother shortly before World War 11. In the 1960s, he studied directing and script writing. Between 1966 and 1967, he began rnaking Vie Comm/.vjar, based, on a story by the Soviet-Jewish writer; Vasily Grossman.
'■Grossman was my favorite writer, although Idid not know him. After reading his story. The City of Berdichev,sornething clicked in my head. I.knew I had to make the film.. It is about moral values, love for one's family, love for one;'s children, love in all itsmanife.stations. It is about the dignity of a Jew, and the dignity of any person.
Askoidov conceded that Western.viewers.have ' 'embraced"77;^ Comniisssar for "political rea-sohsF," But, he declared, he was "never, after political sensatic)nalism;'''
Nevertheless, Askoidov realized he had a hot potato in his hands."The townspeople in Ber-dichev predicted it wouldn't be released. I promised them it would be."
Trouble was not long in coming. After its completion, the former director of Goskino,
Askoldov„51, is a rangy man with a restless . manner. During the interview, he rose several limes, gesticulating as he spoke through an interpreter. Dressed casually, he wore stone-ground jeans, a long-sleeved black jersey and running shoes.
Usually, he answered questions in "an impassive manner. Yet when the subject of (he conversation turned to Israel and Jews, he became animated. •
Last June, Askoidov joined the first Soviet film delegation to visit Israel since the Six Day War; At the Jerusalem Film Festival, Vie Commissar was one of the main features. "I was flabbergasted by the reaction of the viewers, who cried and wished me a long life. For a filmmaker, this is the highest accolade. I was extremely well received by the Israelis. Their welcome was heartfelt, warmer than the hot sun of Jerusalem." ,
. Askoidov travelled throughout Israel and was impressed by the "incredible splidanty" of Is-, raeli society and by its sheer vitality.. Jerusalem stirred him deeply.":I felt asif I had been there in another life."
He is confident that the Soviet Union will eventually reestablish diplomatic relations with Israel.. "I'm liot a political fortune teller, but I'm sure all mankind benefit.s' from contacts. The intelli-■ gence and talent of Jews all over the world will find a .solution to the Arab-Israel dispute." •
Askoidov said that anti-semitism is still a ".serious problem" in the Soviet Union. After the (1917) revolution, it seemed as if anti-semitism Would no longer be an issue. But Stalin was a great anti-semite. He destroyed Jewish culture. He hated all .small ethnic grpups."
Askoidov believes that anti-semitism lurks just beneath the surface of Soviet society. "It has been there for God knows how long." He is curious how Pamyat, the new anti-iiemitic organization, "will"react to his film. ;
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for Soviet people lo see this film"
Askoidov says he "owes" his picture to Gorbachev.
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Through Vie Commissar. A.skoldov has done his bit to try to weaken the forces of anti-semitism. "li*s iriiportant for Soviet people to see this film, for a naltiOn to clean itself of anti-semitism and chauvinism. A society that suffers from anti-^semitism destroys it.self as well as its intellectual and creative energy,"
Despite his admiration of Vasily Grossman. Askoidov think.s he idealized race relations in the Soviet-Union. ''He felt that, in a country like the Soviet Union, anti-semitism was impossible." "^Since the release of Vie Commissar, Askoidov has embarked on another project — a film about Jewish art in the Soviet IJnion, withcni-phasis on Solomon Mikhoels, the Jewish actor and director who was killed in a staged car accident ih-1948 — the year the government began to liquidate Jewish culture.
A.skoldov, having completed the script for the film, is hdlpeful the authorities will allow him to proceed,
"But I can't be sure what will happen," he .said candidly. ;
The ultimate fate of Askoidov's newest project may yet be one more litmus test for glasnost.