The Film “Victory” (1984, dir. E.Matveev) in the Context of the Cold War Late Soviet Cinema

The film “Victory” (1984, directed by Yevgeny Matveev) was created during the intensification of the confrontation of the Cold War. It presents very clear ideological attitudes and is a convenient object for analysis. The film presents an univocal image of the West as the Other. This becomes especially noticeable in comparing “Victory” with similar Soviet films of the same period “Tehran-43” (1981, directed by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov) “The Shore” (1983, directed by A. Alov and V. Naumov) “The Choice” (1987, directed by V. Naumov ). The boundaries between positive and negative are partially blurred in these films. The main method in my study is Helmut Korte's systematic film analysis. This methodology allows to comprehensively analyze the film. Its important feature is the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The second important idea is the concept of a narrative template, introduced by James Wertsch. His concept provides tools for analyzing narratives. This is a significant part of the paper. The results of my study are the identification of certain narrative groups and their variations. Most likely, these types of narratives exist now in various forms, because they are strongly connected with the Great Patriotic War. This war and its memory are used to legitimize the state power in modern Russia. This becomes especially relevant in the year of celebration of the 75th anniversary of Victory.