| Description |
1 videodisc (DVD) (90 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in |
| Series |
Hot Docs (Television program)
|
| Summary |
"Beginning with the tongue-in-cheek claim that jokes were the only good thing to come out of Communism, this documentary recounts a humorous history of the Soviet Union and its satellite states through the jokes that flourished under the oppressive regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe. Using animated sequences, archival footage, and sketches to resurrect the jokes, the film offers an ironic take on the history of Communism while simultaneously investigating the social and political impact of jokes under Soviet rule. Interviews with former Polish President Lech Walesa, Polish leader General Jaroszelski, German actor Peter Sodann, German satirist and author Ernst Roehl, East German newspaper editor and Politburo member Guenter Schabowski, and academics Christie Davies and Roy Medvedev address the role that jokes played in challenging and weakening the Communist system from the inside. (From Denmark, in English, Romanian, Russian, German and Hungarian, English subtitles) CC WS "--Website |
| Notes |
Off-air recording of SBS-TV broadcast October 24, 2006. Copied under Part VA of the Copyright Act |
| Credits |
Directed and narrated by Ben Lewis; Produced by Christine Camdessus |
| Notes |
Rated: PG |
|
DVD |
|
Available for Deakin University staff and students only |
| Subject |
Communism -- Soviet Union -- Humor
|
| SUBJECT |
USSR -- Humor
|
| Author |
Lewis, Ben
|
|
Camdessus, Christine
|
|
SBS-TV
|
|
