Remembering Russian Leadership 

Directed by Leonid Gaidai, Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future, is a peculiar comedy film that features a time machine that takes us back to Ivan IV the Terrible. This movie was released in 1973 and is based on the play Ivan Vasilievich written by Mikhail Bulgakov, according to IMBd. With a ranking of 8.4 out of 10 stars on IMDb, is seen as still immensely popular among Russian citizens.

The author of the play on which this film is based, Mikhail Bulgakov, is most known for his novel The Master and Margarita.

The government censorship stopped the publication of his work, including his plays in 1929 and his play Ivan Vasilievich, Last Days are written in 1935. His play was not published until 1965 (Espenshade). He was realistic and humorous, which served him great popularity with the public, but not so much with the Soviet authorities, which lead him to his demise as an “infamous” playwright.

He was forbidden from publishing by 1930 (“Mikhail”). Joseph Stalin rejected his permission to emigrate and so during the rest of his life while being completely ignored and ostracized, he created his best masterpieces.

In 1932 he was able to get away with a play that had slight attacks disguised on Stalin and the Communist party for seven nights (“Mikhail”). He was a rebel and a dissident in nature.

This film was released at a time in the Soviet Union when collective leadership was instilled (Revolvy). The collective was headed by Leonid Brezhnev who strengthened his position when Kosygin lost his footing when he initiated the economic reform of 1965.

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Leonid Brezhnev began his career by leading the authoritarian way. Dissidents were able to circulate their works of art throughout the Soviet Union by samizdat, Magnificat, and samizdat.

Samizdat was a way to republish censored publications by hand, passing the writings hand. The most popular work of art that was passed around via samizdat was Master and Margarita.

Magnitizdat was the process of copying and distributing oneself live audio tapes that the Soviet Union would not allow commercially. A lot of this was music and was easy to distribute. Lastly, samizdat was a form of publication in which literary works were smuggled abroad for publication. Andrei Siniavsky and Yuli Daniel were caught in 1965 under Brezhnev’s rule.

By this time, there was a new way to punish the dissident artists and that was sending them to a psychiatry center for diagnosis of schizophrenia. In the 1970s when this film was released, the Soviet Union also began loosening up on emigration restrictions. This way, they could send their most vocal dissidents to the West.

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future was released after The Thaw period. The Thaw period was led by Khrushchev and was meant to destalinize Russia. When Brezhnev came to power, he began the era of stagnation, also known as the Brezhnevian Stagnation. Brezhnev used the term called “period of developed socialism” (J. Llewellyn). This period lasted from 1964-82 before the Soviet Union began to decline. During this period, dissidents were open and shared their opposition to the regime.

During the time that the film was released, the Soviet economy was starting to suffer from its low growth period. Some of this was happening to the Soviet Union because of what the rest of the world was doing, like the United States ceasing to support the gold standard in 1971 and the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil crisis in 1973 (J. Llewellyn). However, structural issues within the system were mostly to blame. The Soviet Union had heavily spent most of its money on the military. The agriculture sector of the country had suffered heavily and began declining in the 1970s and Soviet Russia could not produce enough grain to feed its population, according to the article “Stagnation in the Soviet Union.” Without being able to supply what was needed for its own country’s citizens, the Soviet Union was beginning to decline.

Leonid Gaidai’s film was based on what appears to be a dissident author. This poses the question: Why was the film able to be published in a time of authoritarian rule, but the play itself had been banned under Stalin’s rule? For starters, the film varies from the play in multiple different ways, according to an article titled “Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession.” The biggest change was that the reason for the time machine malfunction was changed. In the original play, Bunsha and Miloslavsky disabled the machine purposefully to seal the way between the periods. But in the film, the machine is accidentally damaged by a huge sword. Another difference was that Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha was the son of a nobleman, which he tried to hide from the Soviet bureaucrat. In the film, there was no mention of this because it would have been considered an anachronism in 1973.

Moments in the film are similar to current-day pop culture. There are instances when the film is showing scenes in the 1530s and there are props that come from what is current-day Russia and vice versa. For example, when the landlord and thief are feasting, there is a pack of Marlboro cigarettes and canned fish. When Ivan is in current-day Russia, he has props like his ancient warfare weapons. This is another clear example of how the film differs from the play; instead of the original format which was set in the 1930s, this film was reorganized to reach an audience that was set in what was present-day 1970s.

Differences between Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev as leaders of the Soviet Union. Although Brezhnev added restrictions back on artistic approaches and expression after The Thaw period, Brezhnev was less paranoid than Stalin was. Nonetheless, the two leaders had different objectives and motives. Stalin wanted to lead with few others whereas Brezhnev created a collective leadership. Brezhnev allowed works that had previously been banned to be released to the public, which lead to subtler critical work being produced. Although clear dissidents were still being published for being persistent offenders, Brezhnev allowed the strict socialist realism to be loosened (U.S. Library). This allowed a film like Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future to be published for the public eye.

Throughout this film, a scientist has his mind set on creating a time machine, which he can accomplish. Everything else in his life is irrelevant while he is creating his masterpiece. When he accomplishes this, he goes back in time to when Ivan IV the Terrible was a Tsar in the years 1530-1584. However, when he goes back in time, he brings Ivan with him to current-day Russia and leaves his two comrades, his building manager, and a thief, back in time where they are constantly being chased by Ivan’s army. This film holds great humor, although not entirely historically accurate. There are moments in which Ivan is portrayed correctly in the right light, but again, this is a comedy.

Characters in the film are goofy and portray signs of being unrealistic. Under the category of comedy, it is quite fitting. The characters seem to conform easily to the situation in which they are in with little hesitation and little adjustment. There are times in which the thief and the landlord are faulty and almost show who they are while attempting to fool Ivan’s army, but they make up for it and can cover up their true identities to save their own lives. Ivan IV the Terrible can comply with current-day Russia by borrowing clothes from the famous director as he tries to fit into his new life. However, Ivan has the most difficult time getting along as he tries to take his aggression out on people using knives and ancient fighter tools.

Yuriy Yakovlev played two characters in the film; Ivan the Terrible and Ivan Vasilievich, the building superintendent. Yuriy Yakovlev was one of the most popular films and theater actors of his time and was named the People’s Artist of the USSR in 1976 (“Yuriy”). He plays both roles because the characters look the same, confusing Ivan Vasilievich’s wife and laying a platform for more comedy. Ivan the Terrible is a significant character in the film because of the history of who he was as a ruler. Ironically, when Ivan Vasilievich gets stuck in Ivan the Terrible’s world, the thief can convince Ivan to act as Ivan the Terrible as a disguise to save their lives.

The film further educated the information learned throughout the class discussions, PowerPoints and readings. Being able to see a film that was released during a Soviet Union ruler’s time was a supplement to that of which was taught. This film was a comedic intake on science and was allowed to be published because it had no clear attacks on Russian history or the Soviet Union’s rule. It was interesting to watch a work of art that was allowed to be published under Brezhnev’s rule.