In Soviet author Mikhail Bulgakov's classic novel The Master And Margarita, first published in 1966, the devil -- named Woland -- tells writer Ivan Bezdomny that "manuscripts don't burn." The thread is woven through the entire piece: No matter how hard the authorities may try to ban and destroy works of art and literature, the ideas put forth are held by people and take on a life of their own.
Bulgakov's work was controversial at the time for its allegorical anti-Soviet rhetoric, and the treatment of his novel has long been a prime example of the author's point. Now, a screen adaptation of The Master And Margarita, first released in Russian cinemas on January 25, is raising the ire of pro-Kremlin bloggers -- commonly known as Z-bloggers -- who resent the director's anti-war stance, as well as the critical core of the work.
The fury has been such that some film critics warn the film is likely to be banned -- and have urged people to see it now, while they can.
The director of the film, Mikhail Lokshin, lives in Los Angeles. Due to his statements criticizing both the war in Ukraine and the Russian government, Z-bloggers have demanded that he be brought to justice and punished. The film itself, they maintain, is anti-Soviet and therefore anti-Russian.
Cinemas in Russia quickly sold out following the release of the film, which brought in 428 million rubles ($4.8 million) over the first weekend. One after another, positive reviews appeared on social media.
That all changed when Russian pro-government Z-bloggers discovered that the anti-war Lokshin received partial funding for the film from Russia's State Film Fund.
The State Film Fund financed two-thirds of the film's budget, the equivalent of $10 million. Shooting began a year before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which took place in February 2022.
Z-marked Telegram channels scrambled to publish screenshots of Lokshin's opinions on social media, including one where he discusses the reparations that Russia owes Ukraine and another where he details the investigation into the massacre of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces in Bucha.
In one such post, published on February 24, 2023, the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, he discussed the history of war crimes trials, saying: "I was trying to figure out if there could actually be any justice and change after Russia's defeat. A year later the hopes are the same: that the war will end with Ukraine's victory, that all those responsible for the invasion will be tried as war criminals, and reparations will be paid. This will lead to the defeat of Russia's imperial and nationalist ideas and perhaps cleanse the population of militaristic propaganda."
The Telegram critics rushed to label Lokshin a "scumbag," a "rabid Russophobe," and a "creature who wants to defeat his country," among other, sometimes obscene, epithets. There were calls for him to be included in Russia's ever-expanding list of "extremists" and "terrorists" -- branding for basically anyone who doesn't publicly toe the official line.
'Funding Russophobes'
While Lokshin was born in the United States, his parents sought asylum in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, claiming they were being persecuted for their socialist views. Though he lives in Los Angeles, he shot a previous feature film in Russia.
Vladimir Solovyov, a well-known propagandist, said on Russia-1's TV talk show Sunday Evening that it was necessary to find out why the film received Russian financing and how the film made it to Russian cinema screens.
"Now everyone is discussing a director who made a film partly with American and partly with Russian money.... Somehow the state gave him money...and with it he made a scathing piece on anti-Soviet, anti-Russian topics.... All this, together with the money, helps the armed forces of Ukraine," Solovyov said.
Along with Lokshin, the two leading actors in The Master And Margarita -- husband and wife Yevgeny Tsyganov and Yulia Snigr -- have also come under fire for their public criticism of the war in Ukraine.
The film's musical score was written by Anna Drubich, who has lived in the United States for many years, and Polina Aug plays the role of Alkaj Gela. Aug's mother, Yulia Aug, also an actor, fled Russia due to her active civic stances.
Z-bloggers also took aim at the Culture Ministry, saying it funds Russophobes in the country while "real patriots" are suffering and looking for donations for their art.
Propagandists noted with regret that in Josef Stalin's time -- the novel is set during Stalin's rule -- people were routinely beaten for criticizing the state, while now they can only be taken to court for spreading "fake news" about Russia's armed forces.
Representatives of a public movement called People's Voice appealed to the director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), among others, for a legal response. Previously, the FSB demanded the arrest of Russian singer Alla Pugacheva for "insulting the Russian people" and wrote up official complaints against the rapper Ligalize, who was named a "foreign agent" for his vocal criticism of President Vladimir Putin and the war.
'The Internet Remembers All'
Lokshin's controversial social-media posts have since been taken down. Zahkar Prilepin, a Russian writer and active supporter of Russia's invasion, claims the director deleted his posts to avoid public anger.
"Consistently pro-Ukrainian Mikhail Lokshin, after publications...that showed his hatred for the Russian world, decided to 'disappear.' After coming to his senses, he deleted all the posts from Facebook and completely closed his Instagram profile. However, the director, who was afraid to scold people, cannot avoid the consequences of such statements: the Internet remembers all of his words that Russians are obliged to pay reparations to the Ukrainian Nazis."
In order to justify its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has falsely asserted that the government in Kyiv is controlled by Nazi sympathizers, even though President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust.
In light of the Russian mainstream media's outrage over the film and the Z-bloggers' rage at the director, Russian film critics have warned that The Master And Margarita could very well be banned. But they're encouraging people to go see it while it's still possible.
"I didn't think I'd say this, but [the film adaptation of] The Master And Margarita is better than the book," said Yekaterina Vysgalova, a film critic and deputy editor in chief of the cultural website Kino-teatr.ru. "Watch it now before it gets banned. They really could ban it."
Journalist Igor Dimitriyev also advise viewers to hurry, because there is a "high probability" that it will be removed from Russian cinemas soon.
"It turned out that director Lokshin is waiting for the victory of Ukraine and the collapse of Moscow's imperialism. The film itself contains many mocking references to Russian reality," Dimitriyev said. But he also warned that viewing the film could in and of itself be perceived by the authorities as an unwelcome form of protest, noting that "there are already video cameras with facial-recognition software in the cinema halls."
Another Russian film critic, Anton Dolin, praised the adaptation of Bulgakov's work. In a review for the online news outlet Meduza, he wrote that Lokshin's film manages to maintain the sharpness of the original source, mocking the Soviet regime, while at the same time offering the audience an innovative understanding of the classic text.
"It's almost impossible to believe: Finally, a novel that took so long to make it to the screen that there was talk of a curse, found not only a worthy but also a successful, completely unexpected film reading," Dolin wrote. "All of Russia is watching The Master And Margarita. The evil forces, as they should be, are outraged and threaten to demand the banning of the film and the punishment of director Mikhail Lokshin who, despite everything, dared to openly express his opinion against the war."
