Circus

Another beautifully made talking picture, Circus is a fine example of not only socialist realism in russian film, but also the ability for the film to cause even people far removed from Soviet Russia, to feel compassion and be able to see how, through theatrical fabrication, one could convince the masses of a happiness they had not had previously, nor a happiness they had when they returned outside to find their brothers and sisters being black bagged into Siberia. Marx once said "Religion is the opiate of the masses". Replace religion with cinema, and you have Stalinist Russia.
The film itself was wonderfully made and even included a story line that made, I'm sure, more than just a few people take a look at american race relations in the pre civil rights era. The American, believing his big foil to be his knowledge of the acrobats secret, that she is the mother of a black child, a crime most disgusting in the U.S., is met with disbelief and compassion, not towards himself, but towards the child. As each person in the stand's takes turns passing the child around, lullying the child to sleep, one cannot help but feel a sense of compassion and connectedness with the audience. Reminded of the rascism in our country, no longer hyper prevelant but still somehwta, we look at Russian understanding of multiple races as a sign of what should have been in our own country long before it was. One can attribute it to different histroies, different cultural upbringings, and just a different place different time idea, however one looks at Communism accepting as an ideology of all people, something that actually drew in many American Blacks during pre and post civil rights era times. However, the question remains...is that how russia really was?