The scene Disney would not allow in their films

 

General Mikhail Kutuzov and comrades pray before the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk before the battle of Borodino against Napoleon’s troops, September 1812

                                                         Antonio Jose Rubi (Ryan)

In the Soviet 1966 Sergei Bondarchuk adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace novel, in Part 3 of the film, a procession of the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk is held for the soldiers before fighting at the battle of Borodino against Napoleon. Even the main character, Peter Bezukhov, played by Bondarchuk himself joins the prayer. This was also based on a real scene, when the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk joined the soldiers before fighting Napoleon’s troops at Borodino in 1812. This is not the only religious scene in War and Peace, as in the same film, the dying father of Peter is given the Extreme unction by the Orthodox priests saying ‘’Let us pray to the Lord’’ and ‘’Lord have mercy’’, common prayers in the Eastern rites of the church. This is not the only Soviet film to feature this scene, in the 1955 movie ‘’Heroes of Shipka’’ which is about the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, the Russian troops are seen praying the prayer to the Holy Cross before fighting the Ottoman Turks. In another Soviet movie, about Peter the Great released in 1937 in which an officer is wounded during a fight with the Swedish, a priest tends to his side before he ultimately dies. The movies were released under Brezhnev, Khrushchev and Stalin respectively, under the Soviet regime who endorsed atheism and even persecuted Christianity. The Soviet regime hated Christians, yet still wanted to put Christian scenes in their movies, especially the historical ones. One example is the 1966 movie ‘’Andrei Rublev’’ about a famous icon painter who painted a famous icon on the Holy Trinity. There is even a cartoon made by the Soviet equivalent of Disney, Soyuzmultfilm in which a family is depicted and to their back is an altar with icons. Compare this with Disney, an American company in which in America, freedom of religion is granted. Disney does not even have religious scenes in most of their cartoons, save for Robin Hood (1973) and Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Only two of Disney’s films has religious imagery, although the early Disney films have crypto-Christian messages, such as Snow White (1937) which talks about temptation, and Pinocchio (1940) which is similar to the story of Prophet Jonas and the whale, and a scene in which Snow White prays. That’s it. Snow White, Pinocchio, Robin Hood and Hunchback are the rare shows in which it features religious imagery, whether intentional or crypto. Most of Disney’s shows are very secularized, with no religious scenes in most of their films. Instead of the Disney characters placing their trust in faith, a priest and a crucifix, they place their trust in magic, a fairy godmother and a magic wand. Compare this with the Soviet Union, which despised religion, yet still wanted to put religion in their films, as opposed to Disney, made in a country with freedom of religion but rarely put religion in their themes. This is also in contrast with my cartoons and stories, in which religion plays an important role in the Filipino life, especially the Philippines is Catholic, and even Japanese anime even wants to put religions like Catholicism even in their anime.

 I would like to recommend Tradition In Action’s review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which can be read here: https://traditioninaction.org/movies/074_Hun.htm as well as this Filipino commenter who said about Disney promoting Filipino Christmas in 2020: https://www.traditioninaction.org/Questions/B999_M263-Tru.html