Despite existing for a little over a century, cinema has become a powerful art form, capable of entertaining the masses, raising philosophical questions and moving people to tears. However, can cinema, as well as any other art form, become a political weapon? In 1968, a Czechoslovakian comedy-drama film called The Cassandra Cat (also known as When the Cat Comes), which had been released 5 years prior, was banned by the Soviet Party for being “too dangerous”. Nowadays, the only film bans reported on by the news are banned due to religious or cultural reasons. Barbie (2023), for instance, was banned in Vietnam due to a scene in which a world map can be seen featuring a nine-dash line, used to represent China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Cassandra Cat, however, was censored for a more serious reason, as it was seen as containing pro-revolutionary and anarchist messaging. The film is set in a small Bohemian village where, one day, a circus arrives with a mysterious cat wearing sunglasses. That night, the village gathers to see the circus, but as the cat’s sunglasses are raised, the village people change colour. Those who were good-intentioned were painted Red, while the unfaithful, envious and unruly were painted Yellow or Purple. At its core, the film is an allegory for the corruption and hypocrisy of authoritarianism. After the cat reveals the village people’s true colours, they try to have it killed. It is the children, finding the cat in the woods, who attempt to protect it. When the village finds out, they act quickly, taking the cat away from the young truth-seekers. In a final act of revolution, the children run away and hide, stating that they will return as long as the feline’s safety is ensured. This is where the true power of the film comes from, not from the scathing political critique of authoritarian officials, but from the children’s fight for what is true.

Reverse Historical Materialism

Marx and Engels, authors of the Communist Manifesto, developed the theory of Historical Materialism, which states that the material conditions of a society (i.e. its economic system) will dictate its history (culture, arts and politics). In other words, a society’s economic system cannot be shaped by its art and culture: one is always the product of the other. However, The Cassandra Cat challenges the deterministic reading of Historical Materialism. The film’s core was considered such a threat to the Soviet Union they had to put a stop to it. The fervent anti-authoritarian messaging was no accident, either. Vojtěch Jasný, who directed and co-wrote the film, had lost his father to Auschwitz and believed communism to be the tool to end Nazism forever. But after travelling across Stalin’s Soviet Union, he saw the true face of Stalinism. Jasný’s new goal became to create a Czechoslovak socialism which, unlike the Soviet’s, would be done “humanely and properly”. To answer the question posed at the start: films can be used as political weapons. But, like any weapon, it always comes down to whoever is wielding such power. Some will use art and film to create propaganda, while others, like Jasný, will call for revolution. In Jasný’s hands, cinema became that mythical sword, exposing uncomfortable truths and empowering the next generation to dream of a freer society.