‘You’re not supposed to like us, you’re supposed to fear us’

‘You’re not supposed to like us, you’re supposed to fear us’: Recent cinematic representations of the state in the provincial Russian town

Scholars of Russian cinema have recently noted filmmakers’ ‘turn’ towards the provinces as a setting for their films in the twenty-first century. This current decade (2010s) has seen films with a provincial setting present more overt social commentaries than in preceding years, with particular critique reserved for state institutions. Despite their varied aesthetic approaches, in these films representatives of the state (particularly the police, but also social workers, nurses and teachers) are portrayed in a deeply unflattering light, ranging from the indifferent to the sadistic. All are invariably shown to fail the obychnyi chelovek, who is left no choice but to deal with strife on their own. This is striking, as official state discourse of nationhood presents the state as a powerful, protective framework which is the Russian people’s greatest value. Drawing on several examples from a dozen or more films, I will argue that these films’ representations of the state can be read as a counter-discourse to official narratives of nationhood, and that the provinces represent an ever more crucial site for projecting ideas of Russian nationhood in the post-Soviet period.