Aelita: Queen of Mars

Directed by: Yakov Protazanov

Release date: September 25, 1924

Aelita, originally a novel written by A. Tolstoy, was the first soviet science fiction film ever made (although many actually argue that it isn't sci-fi at all). It debuted in 1924 and had a significantly larger cast than most other movies of the time period. 

The film begins with a radio message from Mars being intercepted on earth. Los, a Soviet engineer, vows to make a spaceship that can reach Mars. All the while, numerous subplots develop involving bureaucratic corruption and murder. Ironically, Ianov Protazanov shows that the same atmosphere of corruption and distrust exists on Mars as in NEP Russia. Eventually, Los and two other characters set off to Mars to find a society that has the same structure of capitalist countries on earth. Los and Aelita, the Martian queen, create a union of soviet states on Mars by freeing all of the slaves. Their union was made in vain, and Aelita establishes her own totalitarian regime. In the end, however, all of the previous occurrences turn out to have only been Los’s dream. 

Aelita takes numerous punches at bourgeois behavior, lashing out against former members of the upper classes who wish to return to their previous state of wealth and prosperity. The workings of the police state are also shown and satirized through the character of the detective. Accordingly, the film was not received well by the new government or critics because of its ironic attitude to social progress. It was the essential example for many social activists for the fact that the film industry was not supporting Soviet interests.