Malenkaya Vera (Little Vera) (1988)

I'm taking a class this semester on Russian contemporary culture, which is really interesting and new to me since I know very little about Russia. Most of the course focuses heavily on the fall of the Soviet Union and of residual effects on Russian lifestyles and questions of identity. Our first film (of which there will be several, so be ready for lots of Russian cinema in the coming months!) is Little Vera, one of the last movies made in the Soviet Union, which was radical for its time due to its frank depiction of sex and familial dysfunction.

Vera (Natalya Negoda) is a typical rebellious teenager: she listens to rock and roll, bleaches her hair, doesn't devote much time to her studies, and talks back to her controlling parents (Yuriy Nazarov and Lyudmila Zajtseva). She starts sleeping with Sergei (Andrei Sokolov), a frequently-shirtless college student, and in short time they decide to get married. Vera's parents are disheartened by this decision after finding her fiance to be disrespectful and selfish, but after a little while they allow him to move in with them. Sergei clashes time and again with her alcoholic father and jaded mother, making Vera more and more miserable as she questions her choices as well as her loyalties.

Little Vera's story isn't very good, it's true. Vera and Sergei are in "love" after less than 24 hours together yet the only thing they seem to have in common is their mutual desire to bang one another at every possible moment. Mom and Dad allow this asshole guy to move in and sleep in their daughter's bed, despite how openly rude he is to them. None of this is believable, yet these are major plot points. However, Little Vera really isn't about the specific story, but more about the characters and the various situations they find themselves in due to the cultural and sociological atmosphere.

Most of the characters range from contemptible to sympathetic at different moments, with a score of awful things happening to everyone. Everything just gradually worsens, and the film never lets its audience go for a second, piling up these brutal and raw scenes full of sex and aggression. While it doesn't openly criticize the Soviet Union, the dismal living conditions and pressures experienced by its inhabitants are clearly expressed but in subtler ways, seen in the father's brooding alcoholism and a lonely black child watching racist cartoons about Africa (this took place during the Soviet-Afghan War), among other examples. The loose morals and indifferent attitudes of the teenage characters can be seen as products of their overly-strict environment. There are a lot of little details highlighting daily life in the Soviet Union that I didn't think about until my professor discussed the film, such as the fact that Vera generally only wears two outfits (it was uncommon to own a lot of clothes) and the importance of certain guest behaviors at family dinners.

Learning more about how Little Vera reflects the culture and social customs of the period gave me more appreciation for the film, as it provides rare insight (for me at least) into a certain type of people and lifestyle with which I've had little contact. While I didn't find the story very engaging, I was intrigued by the characters' complexities and interactions, which make for a gritty but realistic drama.

3.5/5