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Çağdaş Rus Sinemasında Hafıza Siyaseti: Sevgili Yoldaşlar! (2020)

Year 2025, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 62 - 90, 30.06.2025
https://doi.org/10.58306/wollt.1712539

Abstract

Bu makale, Andrei Konchalovsky’nin Sevgili Yoldaşlar! (Dorogie tovarishchi! [Дорогие товарищи!], 2020) başlıklı filmini, çağdaş Rus sinemasında hafıza siyasetine yönelik incelikli bir müdahale olarak irdelemektedir. Film, ideolojik baskıyı, kuşaklar arası travmayı ve otoriter tarih yazımındaki suskunlukları bir araya getirerek, hafızayı didaktik tarihsel yeniden inşa kurallarına tabi olmayan, parçalı ve tartışmalı bir alan olarak sunar. Merkezinde, bir işçi protestosunun devlet tarafından acımasızca bastırılması sırasında kızı kaybolunca siyasi inançlarını sorgulamaya başlayan sadık bir Stalinist olan Lyudmila yer alır. Burada hafıza, bir mirastan ziyade bir mücadele alanıdır. Bu makale, Susannah Radstone ve Katharine Hodgkin’in “hafıza rejimleri”, Michel Foucault’nun “karşı-hafıza” ve Marianne Hirsch’in “ardıl hafıza” kavramlarına dayalı üçlü bir teorik çerçeve geliştirerek filmdeki üç temel sahneyi yakından inceleyecektir. Kuşaklar arası çatışmadan şiddetin estetiğine ve çözümlenmemiş travmanın duygusal aktarımına kadar her bir paradigma, filmin hafızaya dair mimarisinin farklı bir boyutunu aydınlatır. Tarihsel gerçekçiliğin yanı sıra, Konchalovsky’nin biçimsel tercihleri—dar en-boy oranı, siyah-beyaz sinematografi ve titizlikle kurgulanmış sahne düzeni—yönetmenin hafızanın ideolojik çerçevelenişine yönelik eleştirel duruşunu da ortaya koyar. Sonuç olarak, bu makale Sevgili Yoldaşlar! filminin, Sovyet hafızasının sinematik bir incelemesi olduğunu ve inkar, çarpıtma ve kayıp bağlamında hatırlamanın ahlaki yükümlülüklerini ele aldığını savunmaktadır.

References

  • Andy, J. (2009). The Soviet military at Novocherkassk: the apex of military professionalism in the Khrushchev era? In M. Ilič & J. Smith (Eds.), Soviet state and society under Nikita Khrushchev (pp. 181-196). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Baron, S. H. (2022). Bloody Saturday in the Soviet Union: Novocherkassk, 1962. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Barthes, R. (1981). Camera lucida: reflections on photography. R. Howard (Trans.). New York, NY: Hill & Wang.
  • Brooks, X. (2020, September 7). Review: Dear Comrades! – Konchalovsky wrong-foots us with humour and horror. The Guardian. Retrieved May 30, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/07/dear-comrades-review-konchalovsky
  • Foucault, M. (1977). Nietzsche, genealogy, history. In D. F. Bouchard (Ed.), Language, counter-memory, practice: selected essays and interviews (pp. 139-164). S. Simon (Trans.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Foucault, M. (2003). Society must be defended: lectures at the College de France, 1975-76. M. Bertani & A. Fontana (Eds.). D. Macey (Trans.). New York, NY: Picador.
  • Gillespie, D. (2003). Russian cinema. Essex: Pearson.
  • Hirsch, M. (1997). Family frames: photography, narrative, and postmemory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Hirsch, M. (2012). The generation of postmemory: writing and visual culture after the Holocaust. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  • Hornsby, R. (2013). Protest, reform, and repression in Khrushchev’s Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hornsby, R. (2023). The Soviet sixties. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Kozlov, V. A. (2002). Mass uprisings in the USSR: protest and rebellion in the post-Stalin years, trans. and ed. Elaine McClarnand MacKinnon. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharp.
  • Kulavig, E. (2002). Dissent in the years of Krushchev: nine stories about disobedient Russians. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Macnab, G. (2021, January 18). Andrei Konchalovsky talks splitting opinion in Russia with Oscar entry Dear Comrades! Screen. Retrieved May 30, 2025, from https://www.screendaily.com/features/andrei-konchalovsky-talks-splitting-opinion-in-russia-with-oscar-entry-dear-comrades/5156304.article
  • Menashe, L. (2021). Review: Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky, 2020). Cinéaste, 46(3), 46-48.
  • Pulver, A. (2021, April 8). Interview with Andrei Konchalovsky: “I’m very glad I failed in Hollywood.” The Guardian. Retrieved May 30, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/08/andrei-konchalovsky-im-very-glad-i-failed-in-hollywood
  • Radstone, S. & Hodgkin, K. (2003). Regimes of memory: an introduction. In S. Radstone & K. Hodgkin (Eds.), Regimes of memory (pp. 1-22). London: Routledge.
  • Shpolberg, M. (2021). Review: Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky, 2020). Slavic Review, 80(3), 644-645. https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2021.165
  • Solzhenitsyn, A. I. (2007). The gulag archipelago: an experiment in literary investigation, vol. 3. H. Willetts (Trans.). New York, NY: Harper Row Publishers.

The Politics of Memory in Contemporary Russian Cinema: Dear Comrades! (2020)

Year 2025, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 62 - 90, 30.06.2025
https://doi.org/10.58306/wollt.1712539

Abstract

This article examines Andrei Konchalovsky’s Dear Comrades! (Dorogie tovarishchi! [Дорогие товарищи!], 2020) as a subtle intervention in the politics of memory in contemporary Russian cinema. The film weaves together ideological repression, generational trauma, and the silences in authoritarian historiography by presenting memory as a fractured and contested field rather than following the rules of didactic historical reconstruction. At its centre is Lyudmila, a devout Stalinist who starts to doubt her political beliefs when her daughter goes missing during the state’s brutal suppression of a workers’ protest. Memory here is not legacy but struggle. This article builds a tripartite theoretical framework by closely examining three key scenes, drawing on Susannah Radstone and Katharine Hodgkin’s “regimes of memory”, Michel Foucault’s “counter-memory”, and Marianne Hirsch’s “postmemory”. From intergenerational conflict and the aesthetics of violence to the affective transfer of unresolved trauma, each paradigm sheds light on a different aspect of the film’s mnemonic architecture. Alongside historical realism, Konchalovsky’s formal choices—constricted aspect ratio, monochrome cinematography, and meticulously composed mise-en-scène—also show the director’s critical stance towards the ideological framing of memory. Ultimately, this article argues that Dear Comrades! is a cinematic exploration of Soviet memory, addressing the moral obligations of remembrance in a context of denial, distortion, and loss.

References

  • Andy, J. (2009). The Soviet military at Novocherkassk: the apex of military professionalism in the Khrushchev era? In M. Ilič & J. Smith (Eds.), Soviet state and society under Nikita Khrushchev (pp. 181-196). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Baron, S. H. (2022). Bloody Saturday in the Soviet Union: Novocherkassk, 1962. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Barthes, R. (1981). Camera lucida: reflections on photography. R. Howard (Trans.). New York, NY: Hill & Wang.
  • Brooks, X. (2020, September 7). Review: Dear Comrades! – Konchalovsky wrong-foots us with humour and horror. The Guardian. Retrieved May 30, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/07/dear-comrades-review-konchalovsky
  • Foucault, M. (1977). Nietzsche, genealogy, history. In D. F. Bouchard (Ed.), Language, counter-memory, practice: selected essays and interviews (pp. 139-164). S. Simon (Trans.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  • Foucault, M. (2003). Society must be defended: lectures at the College de France, 1975-76. M. Bertani & A. Fontana (Eds.). D. Macey (Trans.). New York, NY: Picador.
  • Gillespie, D. (2003). Russian cinema. Essex: Pearson.
  • Hirsch, M. (1997). Family frames: photography, narrative, and postmemory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Hirsch, M. (2012). The generation of postmemory: writing and visual culture after the Holocaust. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  • Hornsby, R. (2013). Protest, reform, and repression in Khrushchev’s Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hornsby, R. (2023). The Soviet sixties. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Kozlov, V. A. (2002). Mass uprisings in the USSR: protest and rebellion in the post-Stalin years, trans. and ed. Elaine McClarnand MacKinnon. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharp.
  • Kulavig, E. (2002). Dissent in the years of Krushchev: nine stories about disobedient Russians. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Macnab, G. (2021, January 18). Andrei Konchalovsky talks splitting opinion in Russia with Oscar entry Dear Comrades! Screen. Retrieved May 30, 2025, from https://www.screendaily.com/features/andrei-konchalovsky-talks-splitting-opinion-in-russia-with-oscar-entry-dear-comrades/5156304.article
  • Menashe, L. (2021). Review: Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky, 2020). Cinéaste, 46(3), 46-48.
  • Pulver, A. (2021, April 8). Interview with Andrei Konchalovsky: “I’m very glad I failed in Hollywood.” The Guardian. Retrieved May 30, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/08/andrei-konchalovsky-im-very-glad-i-failed-in-hollywood
  • Radstone, S. & Hodgkin, K. (2003). Regimes of memory: an introduction. In S. Radstone & K. Hodgkin (Eds.), Regimes of memory (pp. 1-22). London: Routledge.
  • Shpolberg, M. (2021). Review: Dear Comrades! (Andrei Konchalovsky, 2020). Slavic Review, 80(3), 644-645. https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2021.165
  • Solzhenitsyn, A. I. (2007). The gulag archipelago: an experiment in literary investigation, vol. 3. H. Willetts (Trans.). New York, NY: Harper Row Publishers.
There are 19 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Russian Language, Literature and Culture, Stylistics and Textual Analysis
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Cihat Arınç 0000-0002-4344-2138

Publication Date June 30, 2025
Submission Date June 3, 2025
Acceptance Date June 25, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 6 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Arınç, C. (2025). The Politics of Memory in Contemporary Russian Cinema: Dear Comrades! (2020). Dünya Dilleri, Edebiyatları Ve Çeviri Çalışmaları Dergisi, 6(1), 62-90. https://doi.org/10.58306/wollt.1712539