Red Stuff: The True Story of the Russian Race for Space (1999)

Leo De Boer

Netherlands

78 min, B&W/color, Russian (English subtitles)

I bought this DVD with mixed feelings and had pretty low expectations, mostly because of the sensationalism in the title. The true story? As opposed to what? Not much has been known about the Russian space program until the opening of the archives, and I thought that maybe the Dutch documentary would discuss them. It does not. What it does do, is splice together interviews with some of the surviving 20 original cosmonauts, show some (little) archival material, and accompany that with a sometimes misleading translation.

There is little to surprise those who actually know something (anything?) about the Russian space age. On the other hand, I've always enjoyed interviews with legendary people (these are legendary, and not just because all of them have their busts on display while stile alive) and the little human touch that lends volume and depth to the flat propaganda characters.

The film talks about Sergei Korolev, the father of the Russian space program, and the man who almost single-handedly put artificial machines in space, first Sputnik, then the dog Laika (who, unfortunately, stayed in space), and then the cosmonauts. Mixing B&W archival footage with contemporary shots, the film takes us to the training grounds in Star City, through the preparation (and death) of the cosmonauts, and then briefly through some of the more famous accomplishments. Of course, the accidental deaths of 5 of them are also mentioned, although not with the sinister twist given in the other film (Spaceman).

Obvious shortcomings: the film is apolitical and ahistorical. Very little is said about the space race, the context, and the development of rocketry. Although some (not much) space is devoted to Korolev, nothing is said about Tsiolkovsky. The movie also runs out of steam fairly quickly and never bothers to mention another "first" for the Russians: Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. The film does not even talk about Gagarin's tragic decline and death, but fortunately the second feature on the disc does rectify this somewhat. Nothing about the politics of the space race, nothing about the failed Moon program. The cosmonauts do not reveal much except that apparently everyone hated "the system". Yeah, right. From what I remember, this is at least a slight exaggeration, or maybe a gross lie.

The second feature, Starman, is a brief documentary on Yuri Gagarin. It is a bit melodramatic with all those "poor peasant family" origins, and the like. (I should note that the "from a poor peasant family" was a formula for success in the communist societies, even in Bulgaria. Heck, my grandfather, an upright Communist, falsified his own biography and ended up being from a "poor peasant family" even though his father owned a lot of land and animals.) At any rate, the documentary talks about Khrushchev's patronage of Gagarin, his use of the hero for political propaganda purposes (very successful), and the pilot's fall from grace when the Premier got ousted by the stupid geriatric Brezhnev. Thankfully, the film does not dwell on the less glamorous details (like Gagarin's infidelity), and even delivers a verdict on his suspicious death. Well, if everything was so clear and innocent (e.g. people falsifying testimony to conceal incompetence, not a conspiracy), then why are the plane remains still sealed?

Overall, a DVD worth its price of about $12. The picture (original 1:1.66 on the Dutch film and full-frame on the Gagarin documentary) is sharp and with reasonable colors. The sound is fine too although sometimes parts of the spoken narrative are not quite audible. The English subtitles (non-removable) are fine, but I must say they lose quite a bit in the translation. Not factual inaccuracies, but mood delivery. There are no extras, just scene access for both features. The second one is dubbed in English.

August 7, 2003