Apparently the Cold War is back on, and this time there are wizards involved.
At least that is the premise behind a Russian movie aimed at school aged children. According to Newsweek magazine, the film was a joint effort by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian military, and the Ministry of Culture. It’s aim is to educate children about the various evils that are at work against them. Evils like Harry Potter and his friends, NATO and the Nazis.
The film, called “Kids Against the Sorcerers”, is in cartoon form, but the topics are hardly humorous. A Russian language clip is available on YouTube, showing excepts from the movie and including interviews with many of the people involved with the project.
The premise of the film is fairly confusing, pulling in both literature and history. The heroes of the film are a group of Russian military school students who have learned about a school in Scotland where children’s minds are shaped by sorcerers and wizards. That magical school turns the students into “demons invisible to the human eye”. They speak like Russians, look like Russians, and pretend to be average Russian people. But their souls are really foreign, whatever that means. They don’t even believe in God! In reality, they are trying to overturn the Russian nation.The school is lead by a villain who is improbably named “Leonard”. This guy has “Turned to the occult, and thus betrayed his homeland.”
The good Russian kids decide to go the wizard school to save their peers. A lot of fighting ensues before the good guys finally win. References are made to the battles in Kosovo, to the efforts by the Serbs to train young fighters, and even to the days of the Nazis. The narrator of the film warns at one point that Leonard is an enemy “worse than the one from 75 years ago.”
Finally the “real” Russian kids free the students from the wizard school, which turns out to be in cahoots with NATO. They use the power of prayer to get control of Russia’s nuclear arsenal and NATO and Leonard retreat.
Holy Crap. This is not your average school film folks. This is a scarily insane propaganda film aimed at tender children.
Featured imaged via YouTube screengrab.
