Happiness (1935)

Aleksandr Medvedkin's Happiness is a rural slapstick comedy that has the distinction of being the last silent feature made in the Soviet Union. This 1935 film stars Pyotr Zinovyev as Khmyr, a hapless farmer who can't seem to make a go of it whether he is under Imperial or Communist rule. Under the Tsar, Khmyr is beset by the usual Communist bogeymen: the aristocracy, the kulaks, the military, and the clergy. Whatever bounty he harvests is picked at by these vultures of society and Khmyr and his wife barely subsist. Things do not improve for him after the revolution despite the presence of tractors and a cadre of helpful Party members. Rejected by his long suffering missus, Khmyr descends into despair, but fate intervenes. He spies a disgruntled Kulak committing arson and saves the day, finally acknowledged by all as a valuable comrade in the struggle to achieve a more perfect Soviet farm collective.

Luckily for the viewer, Medvedkin seems to take nothing, not even Stalin's agricultural policy, too seriously. Where in 1929's The General Line a tractor ballet was featured, in Happiness the viewer is treated to a tractor running amok. There are plenty of pratfalls, visual gags, and an array of surrealistic moments: nuns wear see through blouses, soldiers wear identical masks, and dumplings fly. The tone is more absurdist than Marxist. Medvedkin's style is out of date for the period, but charmingly so. Medvedkin was profiled in Chris Marker's 1992 film, The Last Bolshevik. Happiness is streaming on Kanopy and is recommended to fans of Soviet cinema, slapstick, and Surrealism.