The Russian Orthodox Church Released a Propaganda Film with a Harry Potter-Like Enemy

[muriel_volestrangler]

Russia’s military, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Ministry of Culture have all banded together to produce a propaganda film reminding children of the nation’s enemies… who apparently look like a mix of Harry Potter, Nazis, and NATO.

According to the clip, the main antagonists of the picture are represented by “an academy of sorcerers and wizards” in Scotland, who “mend the minds of children with presents and magic, that create demons, invisible to human eyes” and seek to “topple our country from inside”. Our protagonists are Russian military school students, who decide to rescue their peers from the castle walls of the wizard school.
The leader of the wizards is a man named Leonard, who, we are told “took to the occult and thus betrayed his homeland.”
“But this is not visible,” a narrator explains, with a picture of the smartly dressed Leonard, riding on his private airplane. “At first glance, he is Russian, but he hates Russia. He does not violate any laws or borders, in fact he is even very law-abiding. But he is an enemy, worse than the one 75 years ago,” the narrator explains, referring to the Nazis.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/09/the-russian-orthodox-church-released-a-propaganda-film-with-a-harry-potter-like-enemy/

Russia's anti-Semitic, anti-Harry Potter children's tale

Flying away from the burning castle, the heroes are confronted by NATO warships, deployed by the university’s demented headmaster. As they fall within the crosshairs of the vessels below, the children begin to pray together. A moment later, a bunch of Russian nuclear submarines surface, and the NATO ships immediately retreat.
...
In Zervas’ book, interest in Harry Potter (who’s a real person, in the story’s universe) is what allows the evil wizards to infiltrate Russia in the first place. Potter is described as Merlin’s greatest student (and, at the end of the book, he’s revealed to be Hermione’s hormone-injecting, transvestite sister). Public interest in Potter weakens the “spiritual shield” around Russia, which has until now preserved it as one of the world’s last bastions of Christianity.

Not all of the book’s villains are warped versions of JK Rowling’s beloved characters, however. There’s also Leo Ryabinovsky, Kokhan Kosh, and “the famous American wizard Moisha Skopidofl.” (These are all stereotypical Jewish names.)

The film is the work of the St. Sergius of Radonezh Charity Foundation, an organization that says its primary function is providing support to orphans, handicapped persons, and veterans. While the foundation says it operates without regard for “nationality, citizenship, or religion,” it appears to have close ties to state and religious officials in Russia. On its website, the group says it produced “Children Versus Wizards” with help from the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox publishing house “Foma,” and the Suvorov Military School, as well as the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Culture. It’s unclear what support exactly these groups offered to the film.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-03-07/lights-camera-propaganda-russias-paranoid-patriotism-gets-cartoon-movie

The good news is that the typical Russian reaction is that it's ridiculous "patriotic trash".

[rug]

1. There is only one proper response.

[trotsky]

2. Sounds like a must-see!