European Films

With an astounding prologue set in Chile, the Russian mockumentary Perviyje na lune (First People on the Moon) sets the tone for this wannabe documentary about a secret attempt from the Russians to land on the moon before anyone else in 1938. Russian writer-director Aleksey Fedorchenko presents us with unique “for internal use only” archive footage from the secret state archives of the USSR, which was shot by the director in black and white as if it was made in 1938 for real, surface noise and scratches included. In his attempt to reveal the details of this so far unknown story, he also blends in footage of the recent visits he made to some of the people involved in project back then.

 

After a somewhat laborious introduction to all the main protagonists, which feels like a countdown to the launch of the actual film, Fedorchenko picks up speed and does not let go again. Taking a cue from a popular 1935 sci-fi film about a landing on the moon that inflamed the minds of the people of the USSR, the government secretly decides to try and realise this dream, hand picking several cosmonauts for this dangerous mission and putting them through rigorous training. The testing of materials and prototypes is also a part of the film, which was allegedly shot by a type of Russian camera that is so small and silent that others never notice its presence. Fedorchenko and co-writer Ramil Yamaleyev display a knack for expertly blending the “various sources” they have used and their quirky sense of humour adds greatly to the charm of the picture.

 

It has more serious undertones, however, as the film implicitly satirizes the Soviet use of film to promote the communist cause. A comrade worker at the state archives says “everything here [indicating the cans of film] was filmed, and thus happened”. Another shot shows Soviet workers burning metres and metres of film to obliterate from memory whatever it was that had been caught on celluloid. Being a mockumentary, the format of the film itself also implies that certain exploits can be “made to happen” and the typical Russian theme of the circus that runs through the entire film subtlety underlines the fact that oftentimes people care more about a good show rather than the truth per se. Perviyje na lune certainly works on the level of pure entertainment, but it is much more intelligent than that; Fedorchenko and his cast and crew have delivered a film that, besides being entertaining, is also an exploration of and a social comment on the power of the moving image and the uses to which it can be put by those in power.

 

 

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