THE CINEMA IN RUSSIA TODAY
Cinema is one of the most important means of entertainment  and  propaganda.
It is an ideological instrument  of  the  political  party  at  power  in  a
country. Cinema is a mirror  reflection  of  the  county  rulers  and  their
policy.
   If you want to go to the cinema in Russia today you will  have  to  face
two problems. The first is to find a cinema in your locality which is  still
showing films and which has not been turned into  a  disco,  bar,  amusement
arcade or a furniture salon-shop.  The  second  is  to  find  a  film  worth
seeing.
   The large industrial cities used to have five  or  six  cinemas  in  the
centre and about thirty  in  the  suburbs.  Even  small  towns  had  several
cinemas.  But  since  the  advent  (прибытие)  of  television,   video   and
perestroika, cinemas have been closing down at an alarming rate. Now if  you
want to see a film there only few central cinema halls at your disposal.
   There are several reasons why the film industry is losing audiences.
   Many film makers put the blame on television and  video,  and  this  was
certainly a major cause at the beginning. But  since  television  and  video
audience  figures  have  now  passed  their  peak,  while  cinema  audiences
continue to decline, part of the answer must be sought  in  the  quality  of
the films now being produced.
   If some fifteen years ago under the socialism, our film  industry  aimed
to make better films filled with love, friendship, struggle  for  the  cause
of peace and justice, nowadays many of the film tycoons (магнат;  заправила;
шишка; воротила; «акула»; тайкун) in our  country  have  found  the  exactly
opposite solution making stupid third-rate comedies and action  films  about
prostitutes and killers.  Cinema  in  Russia  has  been  gradually  becoming
Americanised. Of course, Hollywood is a great film centre, but they  on  the
one hand try to lure the public back into  the  cinema  with  all  sorts  of
films with an accent on horror and the lowest kind  of  pornography  and  on
the other hand propagandise violence,  promiscuity  and  individualism.  The
most recent  box-office  successes  combine  all  features  in  a  blend  of
savagery, racialism, anti-socialism, sexual degradation  and  violation!  It
works for with a certain category of cinema-lovers typically  teenagers  and
spiritually sick people.
   Another solution to make cinema popular again is the introduction of all
kinds of technical  developments  like  wide-screen  and  cinemascope,  3-D,
Cinerama, Dolby surround sound, power-driven chairs, etc.; but  despite  the
advantages of improved techniques, the audiences  continue  to  decline.  It
only  proves  that  cinema-goers  very  quickly  get  accustomed  to   these
technological advances and they want more from the  point  of  view  of  the
film’s ideological content and message.
The present state of cinema leaves me no chance of  going  to  see  a  corny
film in a dilapidating building with bad  sound  and  picture  quality.  I’d
prefer to stay in and watch the good old  Soviet  “Twelve  Chairs”  or  “The
Caucasus Prisoner”. Though some oversea productions are worth  seeing,  too.
   There is only hope that our country regains its status  of  the  world’s
highly spiritual and cultural film production centre.