Every artist needs to be the censor… World civilization is a substitute for quality quantity, consuming memory and raising idiots, and all her accomplishments, first used in evil and good is just a side effect… People need a deficit, and abundance makes the human animal… the West is difficult to understand the Russian world, which is all built on the concepts, what would we say about the Constitution, laws and rules… on the Eve of the Riga premiere of the picture “Paradise” and the play “the Cherry garden” directed by Andrei Konchalovsky talked with the audience and journalists.
Now I can’t believe that of the two sons of Sergei Mikhalkov is Andrew was considered a “Westerner”, worked in Hollywood and with Hollywood, he spent much time in America-Europe, conquered the hearts of Western beauties, and looked like a Russian dandy… Today, his thoughts and heart remained somewhere there, in a deserted village of the Arkhangelsk province, where he led a hero’s quest in the painting “White nights postman Alexei Trapezina”. The film, which in 2014 received the main award of the Venice film festival, and was deliberately shot by Director with a nomination for “Oscar”, because “American cinema has a detrimental effect on the tastes and preferences of the Russian audience.”
And his new film “Heaven” won an award in Venice, where “whether consciously, or unconsciously”, not noticed the beauty of the Tuscan countryside, the filmmaker has made in the interiors of the Crimean sanatorium “Rodina”. And that the Western world and the values placed in this picture, to put it mildly, in doubt.
That evening he talked a lot about the great, who is trying unsuccessfully to understand why we are here. About Chekhov, which in the West put in romantic, serious and in white suits, and “Anton Pavlovich Comedy and farce wrote, knowing that you’ll die.” And the fact that on the painting “Paradise” do not think — it is necessary to believe and to feel, to cry and laugh, in General, to become children, which are easy to plunge into confusion and enter into resonance. “Unfortunately, I realized this only in the third act of his work,” admitted the Director.
The connection with Latvia
In 1948 I came here with my mom. On the beach, but it was cold. And that’s where mom quit Smoking I remembered that, although, in General, is a terrible was a time, not want to remember… Then I’ve starred in film “crazy Court”… was Playing an American, and Bob Livanov — progressive professors. Riga, of course, portrayed the West. I lived in a nasty hotel with someone in the same room, and Bob Livanov — in “Intourist”, so I quickly crawled to him and slept on his couch. Then our whole group with Irina Skobtseva in the head called on the military ship, where there was a reception at the Admiral, and directly there came incredibly excited Sergei Bondarchuk, who announced: “all right, do the “War and peace”! So Furtseva decided…” In Riga we always came to breathe the European air. And still the air’s good.
About Nazism and communism, good and bad
(In the movie “Ray” Nazi-aristocrat says: “If I lived in Russia would be a Communist!”) In his film, I presented the characters, about which it is difficult to say “bad-good”, although one of them is a Nazi. Much has been said about what the Nazis are bad, but all the more difficult. As with the Communists. It is easy to show a foolish man, who built communism. But the people who lived before perestroika, I remember that was lovely, clean builders of communism, who believed in whole heartedly, and now I can not understand why what they were, is not the main purpose.
Actually, this movie isn’t about WWII, and about the fact that evil often looks attractive. If this were not so, fewer people would serve Under him… great ideas, such as the construction of a Paradise on earth, democracy, freedom, human rights, communism, often bad things happen. Evil is a trap for some quite decent people who are doing incredible things in the name of great ideals and give rise to endless misery.
About your heaven and hell
Thank God, I have personal experience in had. Represent them to yourself in different ways every day. There is a small parable about a samurai, who met the monk and asked: tell me, what is heaven and hell? The monk replied, you’re so silly, big and strong that I still do not understand. The samurai drew his sword and exclaimed: now I cut you to pieces. The monk replied: this is hell. The samurai put up, put the sword into the sheath, apologized, bowed to the monk said: but it is a Paradise. All.
About the imperfection of man. We believed in progress, thought that accumulating scientific knowledge, people will become better. But it turned out that knowledge is developing, but ethics does not accumulate. People are not getting better — it is always the same, afraid of hunger, cold, death, and thinks about their loved ones much more than about other people. Every Empire one day might just slip and crash down into barbarism. So this happened during world war II, so it can happen now. Armed with the most modern gadgets, we don’t have a guaranteed.
About Putin
The bosses and the government is just to criticize or praise. But if you look at the evolution of Russia over the past 25 years, we will see how many of the illusions this country went through from the collapse of the ideas of communism, the collapse of the authoritarian system to the illusion that we’ll rebuild and start the happiness… By the end of the 90s the country from freedom collapsed completely. Putin came and started to collect the collapsing body. And this is important.
Another question, why Russia? I’m looking for this cause 25-30 years. Many people think that if you replace the man in the Kremlin, everything will become good, but is this in the hallways stop writing or garbage to throw out the window? So, from the man in the Kremlin, depends not so much as we think.
Putin — Good or Evil? This, of course, the person who joined the government — otherwise we would have collapsed. And he doesn’t drink… for example, I take his example. Have you noticed that Putin no one has ever said a bad thing? Even their sworn enemies! It would not have been set up by the Americans in relation to us, he said about them: they are our partners. This is the wisdom! Prostitutes, he said that women with low social responsibility. It speaks not just about the exposure, and the great wisdom. And of course the story, when the Americans sent all the Russian diplomats, and Putin said, we won’t deal with such trifles, we extraneous stimuli does not distract… At the moment I can’t even imagine who else would so discreetly behave — all we are emotional people. And he (Putin) is unlikely is a hostage to his anger.
About the Russian world
Russian people live in debourguignon period, as opposed to, say, from Latvia. In the Baltic States, Western civilization came with the market — the market in Russia was not: far away and no roads. It is a complex problem… we have the Bourgeoisie still did not work.
Russian world differs in many respects from the European. First, us climate with no luck. Russian peasant for five months must plow, sow, cultivate, remove and feed for seven months to prepare. While even here it is not necessary. And in England, the cows graze all year round lawn. Russia is one of the sown grain produces three, at the time, as even in the Baltics — four, and in England — six. In the Russian climate, the results of great efforts, as a rule, a miserable — rarely a good harvest. This is important, because that is why I had serfdom is not a bad thing deprived of rights is good, it is a compensatory mechanism of the state.
We have a tribal system still exists — it started with the fact that no clan no family could feed themselves. In Ukraine, in Poland and here this was possible because of the farm — in Russia they never had, and no farms — no bourgeoisie. All things in common. This defines the mentality so far.
Man on earth — not necessarily the farmer. He may be a farmer, that is, bourgeois. What is the difference between the peasant and the bourgeois mind The bourgeoisie have their own land. The Russian peasant was not there — he had nothing to sell, and therefore there was no market and protect had nothing. It is the whole structure, which still influences the consciousness of the Russian world. The state can hardly inspire business people are not accustomed to anything to have, which is the enemy’s occupation.
In Chekhov’s plays is very accurately described… And the West is difficult to understand our Russian world, which all based not on laws, but on concepts: the men in the Lord, the Lord with the man. What would we say about the Constitution and human rights…
About the benefits of censorship
Unfortunately, in this age of censorship in Russia was not. Sorry! Because when it is, it’s clear that it is possible and what is not. All great works were created in times of censorship. And now the freedom of many, and no geniuses and masterpieces is not enough. “Don Quixote” was written during the Inquisition. Chekhov edit. Pushkin edit. And when they say “freedom”, I always ask: “what?”
What is creative freedom? Don’t understand. Every artist needs to be the censor. First and foremost is ethics and other things. Those who say censorship, I don’t know what real censorship is all liberal ideas. Of course, man is different and expresses their feelings. That someone offends my religious feelings I’m a pig’s head put on the threshold of the Moscow art Theater. And you imagine that during the Soviet power, someone carried a pig’s head? It was not that. And now there is because people have the freedom, with which not in forces to understand. Freedom is a great gift, but not an absolute good. It’s like atomic energy. Freedom can be only those who have responsibilities. It is impossible to put at the forefront of human rights. Rights are never given — they are taken. If you know how.
About modern art. Are you crying? So, modern. Are you laughing at? So, modern. You picking his nose? So old-fashioned. Silly to say that modernity is something that we do not understand and will ever understand. This is not so. In Spain I’ve seen “masquerade” in which the actor was sitting on the toilet — I really wanted to leave the Director alone with the composer. In this sense, Russia is very much alive and contemporary theatre. And it is based on — Russian audience, who, thank God, behind.
About Coca-colonization
Coca-Cola, a hamburger and a Hollywood movie — they are one of the recipes made. Must be sold as many burgers, Cola bottles and movie tickets: five million looked good, but twenty is even better, but a hundred is a masterpiece. I call it Coca-colonization. But the number is not as important as quality.
Young is not lucky — they have so many images that they have ceased to value them. Diarrhea! In an American film about fifteen hundred images frame all the time is cut. The person does not have time to be born attitude with this image. But without contemplation we become inferior people. But civilization contemplation taken away. So the richest people give computers to their secretaries and they sit somewhere on the island and watch the sunset… Contemplation — is our communication to God. And if someone tries to impose their images, so he wants us to buy something unnecessary. This is a terrible perversion of imperialism. I’m a Marxist, so be ready!
Also civilization has taken from us memory. And if we still have something left, then her children completely replaced by the Internet where there are all the answers. A great philosopher Umberto Eco wrote in a letter to his son: if you won’t try to remember, your life will be poor. You will never understand the meaning if you don’t know what it was before. Because what’s inside the brain: knowledge, experience, deduction, synthesis, wisdom. The old men were important because they had the wisdom based on knowledge. Now the knowledge is given to us in the form of “.com”. This is very dangerous — we can easily manipulate. World civilization brings idiots. All her accomplishments, first used for evil and good side effect.
About the deficit and abundance
People need deficit. When a person is cold, it works, and when it is hot — not. Abundance makes people animals. Under the Soviets, we knew all the dissidents and all the literature I read, though the shelves were nothing. Now everything stands — no one does. The question of abundance is very serious. The American illusion was very active in Europe. GDP growth of 3% — good 4% — great, the 1% doesn’t matter 0% — stagnation and disaster… As if the number of cars in the happiness of man depends. It’s just a barbaric illusion.
I think we live in the era of the end of the illusion of the free market. The Internet is a picture of hundreds of square kilometres with thousands of new car they are not sold. They were released, but not sold. The sellers do not give them to sell, because this will reduce the price — I prefer to let them to be melted to release a new car and take another 200 thousand workers in the workplace. And then the question arises: can a free man to suppress my greed? Or do we need the state? To this question answer yourself at home.
