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anonymfus

As Russian I want to share my first association:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-jcCWu31s

Westerners could try to understand it by watching entire movie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47CNxwlt9U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti9Qn4bZDg

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Highly recommend everyone gets a copy of Kin-dza-dza (with subtitles, if necessary) and watch it. Very quirky and amusing sci-fi. Apocalyptic/alien exploration crossed with Les Visiteurs.

Above linked YouTube videos have English subtitles.

Mosfilm, the huge Soviet-era movie studio, has published a sizable portion of their catalog for free viewing on YouTube: http://youtube.com/mosfilm.

A lot of them have English subtitles. Kin-dza-dza is indeed up there. Brilliantovaya Ruka (The Diamond Arm) is another favorite of mine available with subtitles. And perhaps the most popular is the holiday classic The Irony of Fate.

Thanks very much for sharing

The movie is about "some absurd country", which was a laugh at Soviet Union. A country that is developed enough to send shuttles to space, but on the other hand is an empty desert with overpowered police(in the movie they are called "ecilop"), dumb leaders that people worship etc. Movie is definitely a must-see.

It wasn't a laugh about Soviet Union specifically; rather a warning where one might end up.

I would say modern Russia is far more like Pluk (planet in the movie) than Soviet Union was - so that's where we actually got.

Planet Alpha near the end of the movie is another laugh at imaginary Socialist paradise - a planet with ideal ecology and society, where you have to wear a gas mask when your breath doesn't qualify. Also, decisions by wise post-human elders can't be overriden.

Ку!

Amazing movie. I remember when I first saw it: I was maybe 15 then, and was going to go out when the movie started. I stayed just to see what it was about and ended up staying for the whole of it.

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