A Wild Cossack Rides Into a Cultural Battle

Art is often said to imitate life, but in the case of a recent Russian film on Taras Bulba, a 15th century cossack glorified by Urkainian novelist Nikolai Gogol, it seems to imitate politics. In the current instance, it is Russia’s on-going struggle to restore special ties with the Ukraine, a former member of the Soviet Union. The movie, which took three years to make and was funded by the Russian Cultural Ministry, recreates Gogol’s story of eponymous hero Taras Bulba. According to director Vladimir Bortko, there was not one change from the novel, though critics have noted the occasional discrepancy. Reactions, too, have varied from adulation, in the case of many Russians, to muted appreciation or outright criticism, in the case of Ukrainians. Some feel the film is disguised propaganda that aims to show why the Ukraine should align itself with Russia rather than the West. While in the past, such films were unlikely to reach a global audience until after the political issues had subsided, that is not the case today. Global interconnectedness through telecommunications gives audience members from different cultures ready access to the issues and thus a chance to view the film not only as cultural product, but also as a political tool. – YaleGlobal