Week 11 Assignment: The Elusive Avengers

In the 1960's, Hollywood began blowing huge budgets on movies called Historical Epics. These movies took legends, or historically true stories and turned them into blockbuster films. The most famous American Epics are probably Cleopatra and Ben Hur. Other parts of the world also made cheaper Epics. Russia, hoping to stop Hollywood from stealing a russian story, made a film adaptation of War and Peace. Being very successful, four different films were made to chronicle the story. Likewise, The Elusive Avengers was a russian Historical Epic that became very famous.

The story follows four teenagers who assist the red army during the Russian Civil war. The teenagers are spurred to fight the white army after one's father is murdered by a cruel official from the white army. The story is an exciting one, and very entertaining. However, there many interesting aspects to this movie, the first of which being that in the 1960's, things were beginning to change as far as what was acceptable for media to show.

The Elusive Avengers was released in 1966. One thing I noticed that was touched upon was the idea of interracial couples. One of the four, a gypsy boy of about 17 or so, is shown as though he loves the young girl of the group, who is about 15. The girl is a white, russian. Although never said allowed, it is implied that he loves her very dearly, and the feelings are returned. This shows how much had changed over the past decade, that this was allowed to even be considered by the audience. However, aside from this, the movie tends to, in a way, put these children who murder and violently attack people, in a hero's light.

The Gypsy Boy

The issue with Historical Epics is that they usually tended to glorify violence and war. The heros of the Elusive Avengers were the children. The villain was an official from the white's army, who seemed to ruthlessly kill anyone who was not a member of his political party. At one point he whips one of the boys. At the end of the movie, the young man returns the favor. It is seen as a just act of revenge. The villain was getting what he deserved. But, in reality, it was a boy beating a man who had hurt him. It was not an act of justice. It was a violent act of revenge. As well as this, the boys in the group kill multiple people. But hey, it's all in the name of revenge on evil people, and they are helping those who are hurting, so it is totally fine. Right? Similar to Robin Hood, these avengers kill the rich, to help the poor. (In a way...)

The movie, with it's flaws, is an exciting epic that captivates it's audience. Progressive in that it implies interracial love, it's heros were still violent. Perhaps, in way, that is more like reality. In the real world, could the Elusive Avengers actually have succeeded without taking a few lives? None of those that they killed were entirely innocent, but was it right? Could it have been avoided? Questions like these are left open for a more scrutinizing audience to ponder. However, for those just looking a for a fun movie, I would highly recommend The Elusive Avengers.

The Elusive Avengers