L’Chayim, Comrade Stalin (2002)
L’Chayim, Comrade Stalin (Cinema Guild, directed by Yale Strom, 2002) It is
curious how history sometimes comes back to us after long intervals, and in unexpected forms. A case in point is an old "ethnic film" from the former USSR. Those of us who used to research & teach Soviet film history from books readily recall all sorts of old ethnic films mentioned in those books: films from the Caucasian "Republics" (Gruzin-Fil'm, Armen-Kino), the Ukrainian "VUFKU," later from studios in the Baltic States, Kirgiz-Fil'm, etc., etc.) . Say what you will about the myriad weaknesses of the old Soviet film production system, at least the Soviets did lay out the money to help launch limited film production in many ethnic areas.
What could be more specialized than Iskateli Schast'ia (Seekers of Happiness), produced in Minsk by the little studio "Belgoskino" in 1936, and depicting in fictional form the creation and settlement of the Soviet Union's "Jewish Autonomous Region" called Birobidzhan? Iskateli is registered as production #1343 in vol. 2 of the huge Soviet film catalog Sovetskie khudozhestvennye fil'my. Few of us had ever seen "Iskateli"; I hadn't. But in the 21st century Iskateli re-appears before us in parts, on a modern DVD-R disk in a totally different context. Excerpts from it have been restored, incorporated inside a new documentary DVD entitled L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin.
Strom's modern documentary team has taken their color cameras and microphones on board a long train trip with former Birobidzhan pioneers (actually, the children of deceased pioneers) who, from various parts of the world (USA, Israel), make a sentimental journey back to their early homeland, Stalin's "Jewish Autonomous Region." In bitter-sweet tones these oldsters reminisce about the harsh, Spartan conditions to which their idealistic "Red" parents moved their families, to try to build up the Soviet Jewish homeland starting in the first half of the 30s. These reminiscences in Strom's film sound honest, often quite critical of the rose-colored propaganda that had lured their famliies to Birobidzhan in the first place.
Precisely such an example of the early propaganda had been Korsh's film Iskateli Schast'ia back in 1936. Utilizing the talents of composer Isaak Dunaevskii (theme song "Birobidzhan") and cameraman Riabov, Iskateli had portrayed a group of
mostly idealistic old Russian and foreign Jews struggling to decide whether to trust the blandishments of the new Stalin regime and to make the move to Birobidzhan. Among the important thespians acting or consulting in that memorable film were Bliumental'-Tamarina, Sergei Iarov ("Yaroff"), and Solomon Mikhoels (as "consultant"), while the colorful anti- Soviet villain ("Pinia") was played by the famous Veniamin Zuskin.
Strom and his crew also include several other film clips, from Soviet documentaries, and a recurring title: "Jewish Problem." Overall, Strom's L'Chayim emerges as a very colorful salad, seemingly tossed together in almost haphazard fashion, with
something for every viewer's taste buds. The result might strike some old-fashioned viewers as a rather confusing mish- mash, and cause such viewers (including this reviewer) to long for the clear-cut, linear, unambiguous narrative line of 1930s Soviet films like the original Iskateli Schast'ia.
