"Aelita" is a strange, messy and not entirely logical movie. It consists of a science fiction part (that later turns out to be a daydream) and a non science fiction part.
The "science fiction part" contains a political message. The workers on Mars are suppressed and a Soviet engineer comes to their rescue.
The "earth part" has a romantic twist. Due to housing shortages there are many people living together in one house (a fact also mentioned in "Dr Zhivago" (1965, David Lean)). This leads to amorous entanglements.
Despite the messy character the movie can be used to illustrate some interesting points.
In the 50s in American science fiction movies the (hostile) aliens are often a symbol for Soviet communists. In this film the aliens are a symbol for capitalists suppressing workers.
In a lot of films non humans are intrigued by human love. The non humans can be robots ("AI", 2001, Steven Spielberg), angels ("Der Himmel uber Berlin", 1987, Wim Wenders) or aliens, as in this film.
"Aelita" is frank about corruption in Soviet society. Later this would be a taboo for a long time. We only see it again in "The cranes are flying" (1957, Mikhail Kalatozov) during the Khrushchev years.
There are some mild proaganda elements in "Aelita" but this is nothing compared to a real propaganda film like "Battleship Potemkin" (1925, Sergei Eisenstein), which was made only one year later. I'am not sure to what extern this is due to the belefs of Eisenstein himself or the rise to power of Stalin.
The "science fiction part" contains a political message. The workers on Mars are suppressed and a Soviet engineer comes to their rescue.
The "earth part" has a romantic twist. Due to housing shortages there are many people living together in one house (a fact also mentioned in "Dr Zhivago" (1965, David Lean)). This leads to amorous entanglements.
Despite the messy character the movie can be used to illustrate some interesting points.
In the 50s in American science fiction movies the (hostile) aliens are often a symbol for Soviet communists. In this film the aliens are a symbol for capitalists suppressing workers.
In a lot of films non humans are intrigued by human love. The non humans can be robots ("AI", 2001, Steven Spielberg), angels ("Der Himmel uber Berlin", 1987, Wim Wenders) or aliens, as in this film.
"Aelita" is frank about corruption in Soviet society. Later this would be a taboo for a long time. We only see it again in "The cranes are flying" (1957, Mikhail Kalatozov) during the Khrushchev years.
There are some mild proaganda elements in "Aelita" but this is nothing compared to a real propaganda film like "Battleship Potemkin" (1925, Sergei Eisenstein), which was made only one year later. I'am not sure to what extern this is due to the belefs of Eisenstein himself or the rise to power of Stalin.