Iron Lady lost in Russian translation
Margaret Thatcher depicted as a Hitler-admiring leader who wants to
destroy the working class in a pirated version of the film
Kevin O'Flynn in Moscow
guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 March 2012 14.56 EDT
Speaking to a crowd of supporters, Margaret Thatcher, as played by
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, explains what she would do as prime
minister: "Crush the working class, crush the scum, the yobs."
At least that is a scene from a pirated version of the film in Russia,
which has been inadvertently reviewed by one of the country's top film
critics without realising that some rather pointed changes to the
script had been made.
The pirated Russian translation of the film, voiced over in a monotone
by one man, depicts Thatcher as a bloodthirsty, Hitler-admiring
leader, whose fondest desire is to destroy the working class. While
some of her critics might say this is an accurate representation of
her plans, even her fiercest enemy would concede the Russian version
takes it too far.
[it's likely true that Thatcher wasn't a Hitler fan.]
The translation, no matter how over the top, has fooled at least one
film critic on the Russian newspaper Kommersant, who quoted parts of
the pirated version in a generally positive review.
In a scene from the original film, two Conservative advisers tell
Thatcher that she needs to soften her image after they watch her being
interviewed on television. In the Russian version, which has been
dubbed to have her say that she would crush the working class, an
adviser responds: "Of course you went a bit over the top ... One of
them [the workers] could be literate and have a television and see
everything and tell all the rest," he says, "and then rumours would
spread that you are a pitiless, heartless bitch."
Creating a new script over pirated films is nothing new in Russia; one
famous translator working under the pseudonym Goblin made his name by
making entertaining versions that were sometimes better than the
original. But this seems to be the first time that a mainstream film
has been so radically changed to fit in with a political viewpoint, in
which Thatcher and her ministers are shown as part of a world
conspiracy, controlled by shadowy leaders. The script veers from the
hysterical to the absurd – at one point Thatcher says she intends to
deliberately start the Falklands war with the help of fellow fans of
her favourite free market economist, Milton Friedman.
--
Jim Devine / "In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to
be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But
in poetry, it's the exact opposite." -- Paul Dirac
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