Russian propagandists furious as anti-war blockbuster tops box office

A box-office smash hit film in Russia is provoking anger from defenders of the Kremlin and pro-war campaigners in the country.

The Master and Margarita is directed by Michael Lockshin, an American citizen who was brought up in Soviet Russia. It was released in Russia on January 25, going straight in at the top of the box office charts and grossing more than 600 million rubles (£5.2 million) in its first week.

The film is based on a highly influential novel of the same name, written by Mikhail Bulgakov between 1928 and 1940 and published in Moscow magazine in 1966 and 1967. Set in the 1930s, the story revolves around a writer whose work is being censored by a totalitarian state, so he begins work on a book in which a satanic character emerges to challenge the propaganda of an overbearing and atheistic ruling state.

The film has been widely read as a direct critique of Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine and his increasingly authoritarian rule over his country.

A source close to the film has told Variety that allies and defenders of Putin are enraged by the film’s success. “The propagandists are both envious and also hateful that a movie with an anti-censorship, anti-totalitarian, anti-war message is getting so much popularity, that they have doubled down,” the source said. “It started out with just a few patriots. Now it’s on state TV. They want blood.”

The film is one of the most expensive ever made in Russia, costing approximately £13.5 million, and it received financial support from the state-backed Russian Cinema Fund, only further fuelling the outrage among right-wing observers.

Those who have spoken out against the film include the radical group ‘Call of the People’, who accused the film of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army and called for a criminal case to be opened against Lockshin. The channel Readovka Telegram, which boasts millions of followers, described the director as “an ardent Russophobe and a trans-Ukrainian”, while the high-profile television presenter Vladimir Solovyov called for a “serious investigation” into the film’s production.

The film was initially to be released in 2023 by Universal Pictures, but plans were shelved after the Ukraine invasion when major studios withdrew from the Russian market. Russian distributor Atmosphere Kino has now released it.

The film is not currently available to watch in the UK.

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