Volume CXXXIII, Number 5 October 12, 2001 f

Russian film captures stereotypes of America
HANNAH DEAN
STAFF WRITER

Brought to life by the nimble fingers of Yakov Gubanov, a highly lauded Soviet/Ukranian composer and pianist, "The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks"(1924) was a silent film that reached across decades to delight its audience once more. The film was by directed Lev Kuleshov, one of Russia's first film directors. Jane Knox Voina, Professor of Russian, said that the object of the offbeat showing was to expose her students to "a film that satires the way Americans see Russians - as barbaric or savage."

According to her, the movie showcased the "portrayal of Americans through the eye of Russians," revealing the "love, hate, envy relationship" that existed and still exists between these two cultures. As Voina discussed the movie, she examined the pretense of a simple, straightforward, silent movie about the whimsical adventures of an ignorant American, and suggested that it was more of a complex compromise between Russians, Russian film makers, and the Russian image of America.

Gubanov, who "always has an image in [his] brain" as he composes, was born in the Ukraine and attended both the Kiev and Moscow conservatories, rising to the rank of professor in the former of these two institutes. He has composed music for more than 60 silent films for the Harvard University Film Archive, and received the 1998 Nathaniel Judah Jacobson Price for Jewish Arts for his compositions for "Jewish Luck." Composing each piece begins, said Gubanov, with watching the film until it is "circulating in my veins." During the movie, one tended to forget that the music was not a part of the reel; so smoothly and effortlessly did Gubanov juggle the "abrupt changes" that early cinema favors.

Audience members followed the musically accompanied, amusing travels of Mr. West and his all-American cowboy sidekick as they are swindled by a gang of fallen aristocrats and dragged through Moscow. The students were instructed to look for the aspects of Americans that fascinated Russians -the fur coats, pockets of money that seemed bottomless, American naiveté, and the idealized image of the cowboy. Not only were the students viewing a portrayal of Americans by Russians, they were also viewing a film that "very much imitated Western film" with its "fast pace" and its constant action.

There was, however, a third dimension to the film. In addition to its satirical nature, it was also an "agitation film," tinged with a certain ridicule of Russian society. "Agitation films" were made in Russia after the revolution and intended to "get the viewer stirred up" about the Bolshevik ideals. A running "battle between future citizens and the past" ensued throughout. In the end, the Bolshevik regime always triumphed and put the backwards civilians into prison cells. Future collaborations between the film and language departments this year will include a Central Asian film festival in the Spring.