Last night I went to see a Russian movie at BYU's International Cinema with some friends. The movie is Burnt by the Sun. I didn't really know what to expect because I didn't know what the movie was about, but it ended up being really interesting. It is about the beginning of the Great Purge during Stalin's reign of terror. At the beginning, Stalin had all of his closest and best people executed. I guess he was paranoid of the power/influence that they had, paranoid that they were like him and would take power if given the chance. The movie shows one such close friend of Stalin: Colonel Kotov, who lives with his family on a dacha and is revered by the people in the community. An old friend of his wife's family shows up, disturbs the peace, and *SPOILER* turns out to be a member of the secret police, come to arrest Kotov and invent false charges on which he can be tried. Until the very end, Kotov thinks he is untouchable, but weeps when he finally realizes where the order must have come from. It was interesting because I've been reading Soviet literature this semester in my Russian Lit class. That made it all the more understandable for me compared to some of the people I was with. *SPOILER* (end of spoiler).
Anyway, that movie gave me some things to think about, even the people who truly supported communism were not safe during the reign of communism. You can see why everyone would be scared when nothing really could save you, especially not proximity to the leader. You can also see why some people would stop striving for greatness since that made you stick out, and were therefore a target.
Then today I had a Russian language test over the phone for a job that I applied for. I don't think it went very well. . . I guess I will find out soon enough.
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