Fascist Boots on our Homeland

Directors: Aleksandr Ivanov & I. Vano
Release Date: 1941
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

Like ‘4 Newsreels‘, ‘Fascist Boots on our Homeland’ is a so-called ‘political poster’, a short propaganda film that knows no competition in its vicious imagery.

In ‘Fascist Boots on our Homeland’ a horrific fascist pig marches on, trembling several European countries until he gets beaten by the Red Army. The film also contains a very patriotic song and rather associative imagery, including that of Russian soldiers riding horseback, a heroic image from the Russian civil war (1917-1923).

It’s interesting to compare the Soviet images of Nazis with that of American propaganda films from the same era. Whereas in American propaganda, like ‘Der Fuehrer’s Face‘ fascist leaders were caricatured and ridiculed, in the Soviet Union they were depicted as monsters and swines. The whole difference may be that the Soviet Union was invaded, while the United States were not.

Indeed, the US were less kind to the Japanese, who did stain American soil: they were all portrayed as silly, but treacherous Untermenschen, whom one could easily kill without remorse (e.g. in ‘Bugs Bunny nips the Nips’  from 1944 and the Popeye film ‘You’re a sap,  Mr. Jap‘ from 1942).

Watch ‘Fascist Boots on our Homeland’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Fascist Boots on our Homeland’ is available on the DVD box set ‘Animated Soviet Propaganda’