The quality of a cinematographic work, whether it is a propaganda film or a work of artistic value, can only be appreciated by the public, and the public needs to be educated, thinks producer Virgiliu Mărgineanu, president of the Moldovan Filmmakers Union.
“We need more education in the sense that we can differentiate between art films and propaganda films, because that is the big issue. But, in any case, we cannot deny the existence of war films based on propagandistic ideology”, said Mărgineanu during an IPN debate on whether Moldova needs a ban on war movies, as well.
Mărgineanu shared the opinion of other panelists that “in propagandistic war films the idea is promoted that human lives don’t matter; rather, it’s the state interests that matter”.
In this regard, Virgiliu Mărgineanu emphasized that the war films made in the Soviet Union were focused on promoting “the Soviet way of life”, and “the welfare”, which constituted “a systematic propagandistic ideology”. But in order to support this doctrine, the films needed “an evil and dangerous nemesis who could only be defeated by the Soviet army. The method is still used today”.
“During the Soviet era, the German army was the enemy that attacked the Soviet Union and had to be destroyed. However, another part of the truth came to light only after the 1990s, almost 60 years after the war, when it was observed that the country that was defeated in the war was doing much better than the victorious one. And that fairy tale we grew up with, that we are the best, the most beautiful, the strongest, the toughest, turned out to be a lie. Today, we know many inhabitants of the victorious country who prefer to move their place of residence to the defeated country. These phenomena raise many questions”, said Virgiliu Mărgineanu.
He believes that war films are not propaganda when they speak about real facts. “There are movies about war that do not pursue a manipulative purpose”.
“War movies must promote the right message. This process, obviously, must be controlled by the competent institutions, such as the National Center of Cinematography of the Republic of Moldova or the Audiovisual Council, which may allow the broadcasting of certain films or prohibit them”, he added.
In particular, Virgiliu Mărgineanu mentioned the need for information education and the ability to differentiate between artistic and propaganda films.
“Anyone can take a camera today. Therefore, the next generation will be put in a much more difficult situation to select which cinematographic works are worth seeing and which are made with bad intentions, for example”, concluded the film producer.
The debate was the 238th installment of the “Political Culture” Series, run by IPN with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
