THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN CINEMATOGRAPHY. ON MEMORY CARRIERS (Wielka Wojna Ojczyzniana we wspólczesnej rosyjskiej kinematografii. O nosnikach pamieci zbiorowej)

The article deals with selected ways of presenting the Second World War in contemporary Russian cinematography on the example of several films produced in the years 2002-2008. The theoretical framework of the analysis is defined by issues pertaining to collective memory, its carriers and the medialisation of memory. In the background of the considerations is the thesis that the victory over fascism was and still is a vital factor in building Soviet and Russian collective identity. This effect is achieved by sustaining the state-controlled, heroic, one-sided and unrealistic image of the war to the exclusion of elements at odds with the paradigm of victory. Contrary to such an interpretation, the authoress of the article draws attention to the heterogeneity and polyphonicity of the Russian discourse on the past. Analysis includes films which adhere to the legitimized heroic discourse as well as those that present other, alternative or even subvertive narrations.