People often ask me how we felt about living in the Soviet Union. Here is an anecdote that perfectly illustrates out feelings.
When Tarkovsky’s 1973 film Andrei Rublev first came out, my father was discussing it with his mentor.
“I have no idea why this film is being persecuted by the authorities,” my father said. “It is about the Middle Ages, and there is nothing anti-Soviet about it.”
“You are mistaken, Misha,” the mentor replied. “This film is very subversive.”
“How so?”
“Well, to give just one example, do you remember this scene where horsemen are riding down a muddy road?”
“Yes,” my father said. “So what?”
“This slurping mud that the horsemen trample with the hooves of their horses is precisely what we, the Soviet people, are.”
Clarissa's Blog 
Andrey Tarkovsky was my favorite film director in those Soviet times… I expected every new film by him, and I was happy to see it. Tarkovsky was, in no way, a Soviet artist. He belonged to the Universe, I believe…
As to the dialog in ‘Andrey Rublev’ (by the way, the initial title of the film was ‘Andrey Passions’), the blogger is mistaken :). In fact, it was a dialog between her father, i.e. myself, and her father’s schoolmate. The latter asked me, ‘Misha, what do you find anti-Soviet about this film?’ To which I replied, ‘The slurping mud. Don’t you see the striking similarity?’
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Oh, OK, you were the insightful guy in this conversation. 🙂 Sorry for the confusion. 🙂
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