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I’ve been looking for this film for years! I only had shards of memory of it from my childhood. I knew I had seen it on television, and now I’ve learned that it aired on Creature Features. It’s a comedy about a man from our time who inadvertently ends up on an experimental space voyage which was intended for a cosmonaut and ends up on an alien planet of aliens which help him to return (accompanied by one of their own who can turn invisible), but because of Einsteinian time dilation he ends up in the future Earth where there is no longer want, war, competition, or social status. It’s kind of a quirky comedy with surrealist edges and sometimes kind of silly. Basically it’s all about how difficult it would be for someone from today to adapt to such a society. And although it’s kind of ridiculous at points, some of the writing and presentation of ideas is clever and thought provoking.
Years later as an adult I remembered some of the scenes. I had missed the beginning as a kid so I didn’t understand the set-up. But it’s basically a utopian socialist vision of the way individuals would be. It’s flawed – technology seems to have solved most problems and there are no details provided as to how the society is actually structured. It’s more a study of what people might be like in the absence of want, contrasting with the notion that you need a drive for power or wealth to be productive or creative. And that’s the dilemma for the character from our time – what’s the point of abundance and opportunity if it doesn’t bring you status? It presented the idea that maybe people can be driven to be creative and productive just because it’s what makes us human. It’s a proposition, whether it is consistent with actual human nature or not. With the fragmented memories I had of this black and white film I wondered how it could come to be during the 1950s – the images in my memory suggested that time period. How could a Utopian movie of this nature been released during the McCarthy era or thereabout? Turns out it was released in 1962 and it’s from Czechoslovakia.
And how did it end up on Creature Features? I have no idea what Bob Wilkins’ politics were, if he even really had any. What I do know is that he wouldn’t let politics get in the way of presenting a good film. I have been looking for it for years. I perused all sorts of lists of vintage science fiction movies. Time travel movies. “Utopian” movies. Finally someone on a FB science fiction fan page who was also raised with Creature Features in the 1970s and had seen it had come across a clip from the film on Youtube. And then in the comments someone posted a link. It’s not good quality, and there’s a scene which got damaged somehow – it’s a shame because it’s pretty interesting. But it may be the only dubbed version left. I’m told there is a DVD, but not dubbed or subtitled yet.
I just watched it and it’s even more interesting than I had remembered. And also more silly. The title is about as unoriginal as you can get (although someone has said that the Czech title is “Man from the First Century” which actually makes sense). The setup is kind of ridiculous. But if you can just ride with it until you get to the main character’s discussions with future people, and the soft-spoken style of the presentation of the ideas, I think you will be rewarded.
Also, there’s a giraffe.
Woman tells the reporter that her 8-year-old son has been sick for weeks due to COVID, but won’t get her family vaccinated because she doesn’t trust the government.
Remember when Jared Kushner said that COVID is a “blue state problem?” What goes around…
But I really do feel for the health care workers on the front line.
I love these kids! Hopefully one day I’ll get to see them in a venue like Berkeley’s Greek Theater.
Eureka City Councilwoman Leslie Castellano will join me on All Things Reconsidered tonight to update us with regard to Eureka, her Synapsis project, and politics in general. Join us at 7:00. We’ll start taking calls about 15 to 20 minutes in.
I really miss the old DSA led by the likes of Barbara Harrington, Cornel West, Michael Harrington, Francis Moore Lappe, and Irving Howe. Unfortunately since then it’s left the Second International and taken much more of a Third International approach to politics. And the implicit support of the Cuban regime is undermining their “we’re only talking about Denmark” messaging. The Fist and Rose is intended to symbolize democratic socialism. Democratic.
I wrote the following for a demonstration in SF in 1991 and the local DSA chapter voted to slap it onto a leaflet for distribution at the rally. I was, well, young and wrote with more adjectives than I would use today, but I would still apply most of these thoughts if I was to write one up today. It led to a lot of arguments at the rally, and we received angry phone calls for days afterwards – including angry messages left by some semi-famous left writers like Tony Platt and Betty Kano. The chapter head manning the phone at his home asked me to respond to the messages, and I called each of them back but only reached their message machines – about 3 or 4 of them including Platt and Kano. I said I was more than willing to discuss the leaflet in detail and left my own number. None of them called me. There was also some pushback from some of the SDS/NAM wing of DSA, but they were more upset about my writing style than the actual substance.
Some years ago I found a faded copy of the leaflet in my old stuff and typed it into a text for a blog post. I still have it. It still applies. But the DSA spokespeople at this point are mostly silent on the protests themselves and implicitly supporting the regime if anything. AOC is, thus far, silent. Bernie has come out in support of the protests and against regime’s crackdowns.
I do still agree that the embargo does more to reinforce the power of the regime rather than undermine it.
Here is what I wrote 30 years ago.
“Democratic Socialists of America is on record for its opposition to our government’s aggressive destabilization campaign against Cuba. We support the right of any nation to settle its own internal differences and establish its own political and economic system; and we oppose the arrogant concept of a superpower’s “realm of influence” that leads its citizens to regard their neighboring lands as “our own backyard.” Specifically we condemn the financing of Miami based organized criminals in their attempts to retake Cuba, the hypocrisy of an embargo of the sort we are afraid to levy on countries like South Africa or China, the insulting and provocative Radio Marti project (which doesn’t bother to recite Marti’s poems), and the climate of hostility that has prevented the “normal relationships” we have with other countries, “communist” or otherwise.
But while we decry the destruction the U.S. has levied on this country, we do not share some of the left’s romanticization of what is a very despotic and often brutal dictatorship. The cult-like worship of the charismatic image of Fidel Castro has led many of us to ignore some very harsh realities. The Castro regime tolerates very little dissent, censoring even periodicals from other communist bloc countries. Embarrassingly dogmatic rhetoric dominates what passes for the Cuban press while graft and corruption run rampant through all levels of government. The prisons are centers for wholesale torture, and a homophobic policy for AIDS has been implemented that would even make Lyndon LaRouche blush. As per the nature of Leninism, socialism in Cuba is defined simply as state ownership of the means of production rather that a process in which working people gradually claim power within their workplace and communities. This simply can’t happen in a system with no institutionalized checks on the power of the central committee. As the saying goes, “there cannot be socialism without democracy.”
But we believe the foremost concern for American progressives should be over the policies of our own government, which actually serve to maintain the status quo of Cuba. Still, in light of that concern, it’s important to speak for the whole truth, regardless of it’s momentary inconvenience.”
Viva Democratic Socialism.
Good on the effort, but really scary that it’s necessary. Will there be any salmon this far south in 10 years?
The Soviet Anthem in the background is a nice touch.
Sohum Parlance II 
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