Far removed from the 007 movies in so many ways, this Soviet TV series is in so many other ways the same to those raised in the USSR as James Bond movies to the western world.
When asked to describe the plot or the action, I usually say that nothing really happens. For one full TV season nothing really happens - other than the main character's internal monologue.
This is not completely accurate: there are lots of events happening, in fact, there is History taking place right before our eyes. What's more, history is being made right before our eyes - and it sometimes seems it is being made by this one person - this one that is not really doing anything other than thinking. There is not much talking, no stunts that I remember of... there even are dozens of historical inaccuracies in the film - side by side with documentary footage. There are lots of plain blunders. And yet millions and millions of people have watched it hundreds of times. And you know what, it's more than worth it.
Russian Spies are still all over the internet, with comments ranging from "sexy Russian spy" for the one known as Anna Chapman ( I wonder what they would call her... "Анечка", "Анюта" or "Аннушка" who spilled the oil in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel the Master and Margarita) to Vladimir Putin allegedly stating that they all were betrayed (chuckle) and that severe punishment is awaiting the traitor.
Incidentally, an acquaintance of mine, who used to work for a US intelligence agency, burst into laughter when I mentioned this... saying that the now-famous Russian Spies were, indeed, betrayed - by their own stupidity. Apparently, this was one of the most poorly-trained and least professional groups of post-Soviet "intelligence".
Anna Chapman may be the Russian Spy star for the moment... and some may even associate the "sexy Russian redhead spy" with a Bond Girl... but did you know that NONE of the James Bond Girls were actually Russian? I mean, did you realize the Russian Bond Girl characters were never played by Russian girls?
See for yourself:
From Russia With Love (1963)
Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet Army Intelligence corporal assigned to the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul
Played by Daniela Bianchi, born in Italy
A View To A Kill (1985)
Pola Ivanova - a KGB agent working for General Gogol
Played by Fiona Fullerton, born in Nigeria
Goldeneye (1995)
Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova, a programmer for the Severnaya Space Control Center
Played by Izabella Scorupco, born in Poland
The only sort-of exception is the recent Quantum of Solace (2008), where Olga Kurylenko, born in USSR (now Ukraine) plays a Russian-Bolivian agent Camille Montes. But here is the kick: apparently, she trained with a dialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent.
Coming next: the James Bond of the USSR and Soviet spy movies.
The recent Russian Spy Ring affair has been getting quite a buzz - on both sides of the Ocean... Whatever that story is really about - I grant you, we will never know.
But it reminded me of something...
I remember asking what the difference was between "shpion" (spy) and "razvedchik" (scout or intelligence officer, depending on the context). How would you answer a question like that from a -say- five-year-old?
The answer I got was that when they are ours, they are "razvedchiki", intelligence officers. When they work for the enemy's side, they are, of course, "shpiony", spies. Other than that, the unspoken assumption was that they are the same. My first lesson in semantics... lol.
On a more serious note, once my mother - who understood some basic English - helped a confused foreign couple discover the store they were in did not sell "halva"... or rather was (rather permanently) out of that supposedly-Russian supposedly-delicacy. All she said was, "Halva? Halva - no! Halva no here." The following morning (!) she was called to drop by "Department One", where a non-uniformed officer asked her if she remembered the papers she had signed... about not talking to foreigners, you know, those papers... I guess Big Brother was watching.
