“The world champion” and “Eleven silent men”: the normative order of modern Russian cinema and nostalgia for Soviet sports victories

The article focuses on the feature films “The World Champion” and “Eleven Silent Men” released by the domestic cinema in the winter of 2021/2022, which relate to the genre of historical films about a specific event. In the absence of a universal theory and methods of analyzing historical cinema, an attempt is being made to consider films based on the assumption that they broadcast the mythologeme “USSR - The West”. The current political situation is taken into account, characterized by the interest of the Russian state in the production of historical and patriotic motion pictures popular with the viewer, as well as the acute phase of confrontation between the Russian Federation and Western countries. The essence of historical films claiming to be connected with the modern context and going beyond the usual perception in the conditions of digital media communication is also taken into account. Using the example of the development of the “USSR - The West” mythologeme in feature films, the evolution of the “Us - Them” myth is shown and the approval of such a normative order in which Soviet sports victories acquire an epic scale and legendary dimension, and the actions of Soviet citizens are predictable, inscribed in the logic of rational, correct behavior. The actions of representatives of the Western world are associated with ambiguous, often caricatured images referring to heterogeneous socio-cultural phenomena. It is noted that an important factor in the success of films is what generation the audience belongs to, what forms of nostalgia they experience: this is both a restorative nostalgia, which allows us to recall the grandiose sports victories that the entire Soviet people were involved in, and a reflective nostalgia that focuses on details and contexts. After watching movies, the viewer begins to live as if in two realities. In one - cinematographic - the victories of Soviet athletes and almost fair play; in the other - objective - violations of international law and campaigns to discredit Russian athletes as heirs of Soviet winning traditions.