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Ataman Khmil'
Movie

Ataman Khmil'

1924 • Unknown

Woke Score
6.6
out of 10

Plot

Revolutionary melodrama based on Lev Nikulin's story "Хміль". 1917. The main character of the film - a "bourgeois intellectual" - does not sympathize with any side and avoids revolutionary events. However, as a result of a series of adventurous adventures, love intrigues and communication with the people, he goes over to the side of the proletariat.

Overall Series Review

Ataman Khmil' is a 1924 Soviet revolutionary melodrama set during the 1917 revolution. The plot follows a “bourgeois intellectual” who initially tries to remain neutral and avoid the conflict. A series of personal adventures, including love intrigues and interactions with the common people, eventually leads him to abandon his privileged social background and join the side of the proletariat. The entire narrative is structured as a conversion story, where the protagonist's personal journey mirrors the required ideological shift of the individual away from the traditional, established society and towards the new revolutionary, class-conscious order. The film promotes the idea that class identity dictates moral and political truth, vilifying the intellectual/bourgeois class and elevating the proletariat as the only righteous path. It champions the complete rejection of pre-revolutionary Russian civilization and its religious institutions in favor of the new materialist, revolutionary state.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics9/10

The plot's core is the conversion of a “bourgeois intellectual” to the “side of the proletariat.” This frames class and economic standing as the primary determinant of character, moral righteousness, and political alignment. The intellectual/bourgeois class is depicted as inherently flawed and politically compromised, while the proletariat is the source of ethical truth. The narrative functions as a lecture on class privilege and systemic oppression that is overcome only by radical political alignment.

Oikophobia9/10

The revolutionary theme inherently demands the protagonist abandon his home culture and institutions. The pre-Soviet Russian society, represented by the intellectual and 'bourgeois' class, is framed as fundamentally corrupt and a barrier to moral development. The protagonist's conversion is a rejection of his ancestral, national civilization in favor of the new, ideologically superior revolutionary order.

Feminism5/10

The plot involves “love intrigues,” but the political conversion of the male intellectual is the central driving force. While early Soviet cinema often promoted women’s political and professional involvement, challenging traditional domestic roles, the main focus is not on gender dynamics. The score reflects the historical context of the time where revolutionary ideology challenged the 'bourgeois' family structure, yet lacks specific 'Girl Boss' or anti-natalism tropes without more plot detail.

LGBTQ+1/10

The film is a 1924 revolutionary melodrama focused on class struggle. There is no evidence to suggest that sexual identity is a central theme or that the narrative engages with modern queer or gender ideology. The structure is focused entirely on political alignment, leaving the sexual framework to follow a normative structure where sexuality remains private and secondary to the central political conflict.

Anti-Theism9/10

As an early Soviet film promoting the Bolshevik revolution, the narrative inherently adopts an anti-theist position. Traditional religion, particularly Christianity as embodied by the Russian Orthodox Church, was officially denounced as a tool of 'bourgeois' oppression and an enemy of the revolution. The protagonist’s political conversion is a secular, materialist process that replaces spiritual faith with revolutionary conviction and a new objective moral law dictated by the party.