The movies that justify and glorify the aggression of a state against another state should be banned. It is the case of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The war started by Putin in Ukraine is an unjust and unprovoked one, expert Igor Boțan stated in IPN’s public debate “Stop war! Stop...war movies!”
“History tells about wars and consequences of war. What we should do is to condemn the unjust wars and wars started by aggressors. We must surely speak about the same war that is a defensive war for those who are attacked and should collect evidence about it. There are talented persons who can make movies about how the human beings behave in conditions of war, where the entire human essence is emphasized. This is the current developed by existentialists. If there are very talented artists who can show how the human nature manifests itself, we cannot say that such movies are reprovable,” said Igor Boțan.
The standing expert of IPN’s project said his generation was educated in the Soviet period based on movies that made a difference between Communist regimes presented as the embodiment of good and Capitalist regimes presented as the embodiment of evil. “We were taught that evil has always been on our side. We were the winners. We were the most heroic ones and every time defeated the bad ones and we continue to live with this message that was implanted in our minds. But this is not true as we see that those who carry particular symbols to glorify victory in World War II started an aggressive war against an independent state about which President Putin said that, together with the people of Belarus and the people of Russia, formed a trio. But two nations have dictatorial regimes, while the third nation has a democratic regime and therefore poses a threat to the other two. We realize this and our civic mission is to protest against such behavior of a head of state,” noted Igor Boțan.
Among propagandistic movies, the expert gave as example “Lenny Fisher” and “Triumph of the Will”, with the latter showing what President Putin recently invoked in a speech, saying that the international community is to blame for World War II, not the fascist regime as Germany was subject to considerable pressure after World War I and was made to pay unbearable reparations.
According to Igor Boțan, some of the movies about World War II try to subtly present this war as a patriotic one. Two totalitarian regimes fought against each other in that war. When it goes to ideological totalitarian regimes that claim virtues, such movies convey an ideological message and should be treated carefully. “The Russian nation in World War I lost 1 million people and a civil war broke out in Russia following the Decree on Peace signed by Vladimir Lynch Lenin and 10 to 16 million people died in this. We see how ideology distorts things.”
The public debate entitled “Stop war! Stop...war movies!” was the 238th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
