Aelita.

Review #1682: Aelita.

Cast:

Yuliya Solntseva (Aelita, Queen of Mars), Igor Ilyinsky (Kravtsov - amateur sleuth), Nikolai Tsereteli (Engineer Los / Evguieni Spiridinov), Nikolay Batalov (Gusev, Red Army Soldier), Vera Orlova (Nurse Masha, Gusev's Wife), Valentina Kuindzhi (Natasha, Los' Wife), Pavel Pol (Viktor Erlich, Sugar Profiteer), Konstantin Eggert (Tuskub, Ruler of Mars), Yuri Zavadsky (Gol, Radiant Energy Tower Guardian) Directed by Yakov Protazanov.

Review:

Long staircases, filled with wide shots of people in costumes that try to portray what it would be like if there were people on Mars, wrapped in a narrative of imagination along with a look into the conventional life of a time long since passed that show some parallels within a quasi-focus on science fiction. Yep, sounds like Aelita, also known as Aelita: Queen of Mars and released in an edited form in the States as "Aelita: Revolt of the Robots". Tellingly, as a movie from the Soviet Union, it was released by the studio Mezhrabpom-Rus, part of Workers International Relief (initially created as a counterpart to help with contributions to famine relief that was a counterpart to Western efforts that probably humbled the Soviets, and it is likely worth further research for the curious). This is based on Alexei Tolstoy's 1923 novel of the same name (one key difference in transition involved the Martians not being descendants of Atlanteans). Aelita was not a major success in its time, but it serves an early example of what could come from science fiction on film, particularly with its designs that could be thought of as an inspiration to subsequent works within the genre (such as Metropolis or the Flash Gordon serials). At any rate, the director responsible was a veteran director in Yakov Protazanov, who had been involved with film since 1907, which he had done after rejecting the profession that his father and others had done before him as merchants. He directed a variety of features in the decade of the 1910s before emigrating out of Russia in 1920, for which he did not return for three years. At any rate, he would continue to make films until his death in 1945.

Sometimes the past turns out to be stronger than any one person can be. Or perhaps the real message is for one to get on with their lives and focus on a collective effort rather than individual dilly-dallying. I guess you can make any kind of inference when the emphasis isn't so much a man trying to get to Mars as it is a look into what makes the difference in a society that needs people to engage with reality instead of fantasies or vices of the mind. Weirdness works out best when it comes to near century-old cinema that happens to dabble in science fiction that might as well be thought of as an offbeat fable, which I suppose plays into whoever wants to believe in the film's moments of imagination (one can interpret it as a parable for communism, particularly with its imagery, although since we are talking about imaginary entertainment, you can imagine my amusement at describing it as such). On one side, there are slaves that are seen being put into the cold storage when used up to contrast with people running away on spaceships after shooting folks for imagined betrayals. So yeah, it kind of sits well with those type of American silent movies that dabbled with a genre 25% of the time to go with the conventional angle, complete with a "uh huh, sure" type of ending (in other words, 1924 expectations); it all starts with a message of "Anta Odeli Uta" and some constructivist sets (it is best described as "abstract and austere", with the best example being the Shukhov Tower). These sets were done by Issac Rabinovich and Victor Simov, while the costumes were done by Aleksandra Ekster. Solntseva made her debut with this film, the first of six in her career (her last film was Earth (1930), made by the famed Alexander Dovzhenko); she would become a director after a variety of work with her husband Dovzhenko that included Chronicle of Flaming Years (1961, which won her the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, the first and only women to win it for a half-century). She does well here, playing to the flair needed in a role with wires that quietly asks for histrionics without needing to chew all of the scenic routes. Mystery comes easy when paired with Eggert for Martian scheming. Tsereteli fits the conventional counterpart just fine, where one isn't begging to be back on the Red Planet instead of focusing on obsessions and quirks within oddballs like Ilyinsky or troubles involving revolution/kissing. At 113 minutes, it might beg a bit too much on one's patience if it doesn't fit your mindset of what one thinks of when it comes to science fiction, or perhaps its attempts at social commentary will hit the nail just fine (or it will hit like a bloody stump, evidently). I thought it was a decent movie, one that certainly seems more interesting when on Mars than back home, but that could apply to a good number of sci-fi movies at any rate. The historical value of its style and execution certainly will prove more than enough to deliver for one's attention after all these years.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.