Indiana Jones Irks Communists
26 May 2008
By Anna Malpas / Staff Writer
St. Petersburg communists are campaigning against the new Indiana Jones movie, complaining that its portrayal of the Russian villains is insulting and historically inaccurate.

"We are really outraged by this film, which has nothing to do with reality," Veronika Klinovitskaya, a spokeswoman for the Communists of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, said by telephone Friday.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" features Jones, a swashbuckling archaeologist played by Harrison Ford, competing with Soviet agents and soldiers to obtain a precious artifact. Cate Blanchett plays a KGB agent with paranormal powers.

The film is the fourth chapter of the highly successful Indiana Jones franchise, and it came out in Russian theaters on Thursday.

Set in 1957, "Crystal Skull" marks the first time that Jones has done battle with Russians. In two of the previous Indiana Jones films, the villains were Nazis.

The communist group, which is not affiliated with the official Communist Party, posted a statement on its web site Thursday calling the film "a belch of the Cold War" and a "vile lampoon."

The film depicts Soviet soldiers and agents "in a caricatured and unattractive way" and encourages "idolization of the United States," the statement says.

Klinovitskaya criticized the "disgusting" portrayal of Soviet soldiers and said Blanchett's depiction of a KGB agent was "warped."

She also questioned the historical timing of the film, which is set in the same year that the Soviet Union sent the first man-made satellite into orbit. "It was a great year for the Soviet Union," she said.

The group is going to attend film showings and make noise in protest, Klinovitskaya said.

It is also printing 10,000 leaflets and e-mailing the film's stars, Ford and Blanchett, whom the site calls "puppets of imperialism."

Members may also contact the film's director, Steven Spielberg, Klinovitskaya said. "We haven't found his address yet."

Alexander Yushchenko, a spokesman for Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, said the protesters "aren't Communists" and that he could not comment until he had seen the film.

In an interview published last week in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Spielberg described himself as "Russian" since his family originates from Ukraine.

He said the villains had to be Russians. "The Second World War had finished, and the Cold War began. America didn't have other enemies at that time."

Asked why Blanchett's character has the unlikely sounding name of Irina Spalko, the paper reported that he laughed and said, "Blame the scriptwriters."

Nobody was available for comment Friday at the film's Russian distributor, Universal Pictures International.

Meanwhile, critics are divided on the film's presentation of Russians.

A critic on Gazeta.ru called Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Spalko "caricatured," adding that he hoped "she didn't sell herself cheaply."

But a reviewer in Izvestia commented that: "We shouldn't be offended. We are the only people in the world who can understand Blanchett's heart-rending shrieks."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/367706.htm

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Would they feel better if the next film is "Indiana Jones and The Lost Morals of the NeoCons"? Oh, Wait, he's already battled the Nazi's

people read too deeply into things.....it's just a movie, not a political statement.

That was a great movie, I really enjoyed it

I AGREE HUN!

My only comment on the whole Indiana Jones franchise is that Harrison Ford should take on a secondary role.

He's getting too old to play the swashbuckling Indiana Jones as the main character.

It's time Indiana settles into a nice professorial position at a college somewhere, coming out of retirement occasionally to help his son, Indiana Jr., who will be the main protagonist.

It was a good movie and DEFINITELY FICTION. Come on people, fiction is fiction.

sorry but the man is sexy..he can swashbuckle all he wants!!

I agree, I like him. Also was the film set in a time when the soviet union was what the film portrayed? I haven't seen it yet so I cannot say but if it is time specific like his other films were then the time frame of the story matters to it's historical accuracy. Not saying it is historically accurate, just a question.

Well, i feel it is right for me - as former member of young communsts union :)

Well, i read this article in Russian a few days ago. In short it does not worth to pay attention to it. The organization which issued the report is as comic as movies with Lessly Nilson (i maiht be wrong with spelling his name - he acted Naked gun) - indeed.

Nobody knew in Russia this small organization of old brain-damaged idiots until this report.

Bad psychology help is one of the main problem of modern Russia. Almost all of so-called "opposition" looks like to be not quite adequate persons.

The first reason why this speech become so widely know is what Russian government uses anti-american (mostly anti-britain in the time) propaganda to calm down russian people and to draw away them from the price growing and corruption.

There's no new under the Moon, and all governments are the same.

The second reason what reaction of these jerks is very funny even in Russia, so many web-sites made link to it in their "Humor column".

The only big and real disadvantage of the movie is the uniform of the KGB agent. It is too close to nazi and has no in common with soviet one. And you should know how many Russians lost their lives in WW2, and we are still very picky about this. It is not a subject for jokes.


btw. you can see photos of that idiots: http://www.kplo.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=512&Itemid=5



pay attention to this remark.



yes. It is pity most of humor was last in translation. The phrase "The dirty Blanshets's face of whore" becomes almost so popular in ru-net (russian part of internet) as famous (i hope) "preved medved!".

No, now that is just shameful. The series should die with Harrison Ford. I didn't even care for crystal skull too much as an Indy movie. It was too far off base. I mean it was entertaining, but it wasn't indiana jones. Too much action, not enough story. I mean the story was almost non existent.

*Sighs*

Next the aliens will be protesting... I am sure they couldn't have been happy about their portrayal in the movie.

dude, spoiler alert.. what are u thinking.

There would be not big deal if the aliens will pay millions of their oil-bucks to Hollywood :)

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Russians need to get a sence of hummer.

When I saw the headline, I laughed, I figured I'd share my amusement with everyone else.