Indiana Jones was released on 808 screens across Russia, the most ever for a Hollywood movie. Yet, Russian Communist Party members are furious about the new film calling it “anti-Soviet propaganda that distorts history.”
“‘What galls is how together with America we defeated Hitler, and how we sympathized when Bin Laden hit them. But they go ahead and scare kids with Communists. These people have no shame,’ said Viktor Perov, a Communist Party member in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg.”
In past “Indy’s”, we have seen the brave Archaeologist travel to foreign countries battling Nazi’s, kidnappers from India, and snakes (among other things). In the 4th installment, the story takes us to 1957, where Dr. Jones stumbles upon a Soviet plot pertaining to the Crystal Skulls (thats all I can say for now since I know some of you haven’t seen it yet). Other communists are concerned that their children, born after 1991, are learning history through our movies, saying that they will cause “ideological sabotage.”
“‘Our movie-goers are teenagers who are completely unaware of what happened in 1957. They will go to the cinema and will be sure that in 1957 we made trouble for the United States and almost started a nuclear war. It’s rubbish … In 1957 the communists did not run with crystal skulls throughout the U.S. Why should we agree to that sort of lie and let the West trick our youth?’ St Petersburg Communist Party chief Sergei Malinkovich told Reuters.”
The beast that is Hollywood is known for its wild creations, not its truthful storytelling. Many of us grew up watching Dr. Jones and his adventures. We remember the action, adventure, and thrilling feats. When I was little, I didn’t think that people in India were bad, I just thought, “wow, what a great movie!” The thing about movies is, they’re still considered art; the art of storytelling. Whether the stories are fabricated, outrageous, unbelievable with splashes of magical realism, or even its ability to mock reality to a “T;” they’re just stories for entertainment. A very wise friend once told me, “if you want to watch something that is based completely on facts and hard hypotheses, watch a documentary, otherwise, enjoy the movie.”
This isn’t the first time a movie has been banned, and it won’t be the last. Even actors feel the backlash of their decision to portray a role they feel passionate about (i.e. Brad Pitt and his life ban from China/Tibet). The world believes that Americans are loud, shameless, and arrogant. Do you agree? Do you believe that we can take things to far?
May 24th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Wow. More people over reacting to a movie. How shocking is that? Please people. If you or others are learning history through movies … damn, you have your head screwed on wrong. And why would he think that they are learning history that way. Talk about not giving kids enough credit.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Communism in Russia has died down a LOT since the Soviet. Indy’s chances of getting banned in Russia is not much greater than that of a Michael Moore movie getting banned in the US. IMO
May 24th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Man, I can’t wait to get into the movie business! To have that kind of effect not just on people but ENTIRE COUNTRIES!!!
But seriously, what a load of rubbish. Maybe they should have watched the movie first, then they would see that realism and plausibility isn’t quite what it was going for….
May 24th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
DUDE I read that yesterday before our work took us to go see it. I was like seriously, ITS FICTION! so I bet they want to ban all the Bond Movies since they show Russians in a bad light too! JEBUS! Its like saying OMG you must band this movie your showing Asians in a bad light we don’t sound like or act like that. >.< Trac, lol I was going to post about this too but
it’s all good in da hood that you did it 
Plus I love the comments they say in the article, I’m like wow, they are taking this way to seriously! It’s the way Indiana Jones movies are! Oy!
May 24th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
OMG! Perz, I’m so sorry! I saw this last night and was like, “whaaaat!” So I just threw it up really quick like!
I was part of this Asian-American Film site a while ago and they said all of us had to ban Pearl Harbor because it showed Asians in a bad light… well, I thought that was utter crap.. I wasn’t offended one bit when I watched it.
Peeps are way to sensitive…
May 24th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
pssssst. hey communists … there are no aliens or monkey armys either. just sayin.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
People all need to lighten up a bit. I got offended at every movie that showed Americans or Caucasian females in a bad light I would never get to watch a movie!
May 25th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I think people in other countries tend not to think they have any faults. Lots of Americans are indeed “loud, shameless, and arrogant,” but they’re not perfect either; not all Americans are that way.
As for the “In 1957 the communists did not run with crystal skulls throughout the U.S.” part … holy crap. No freaking duh. Yeah, a lot of younger people today are lacking when it comes to history—but if they think their youth are stupid enough to believe that something like that is true, then that’s just a reflection on them and probably a lack of faith in their upcoming generation. People are stupid, but all in all, not THAT stupid.