Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog

1414 Words3 Pages

End of the late 80s. Russia is at the turning point of it’s history. Everything around transforms into something new: the political structure, the lifestyle, and the way of thinking. At these new times people get opportunity to read books, which had been only passed under the cloud of a night before. One of those books is Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog. Almost immediately after the book’s publication, director Vladimir Bortko makes a screen version of Heart of a Dog. It is considered one of the best adaptations of Bulgakov’s works, and is widely praised in public. Popularity of this adaptation is not accidental. The movie Heart of a Dog is showed through the eyes of a person from 80s. The person who is fed up with proletarian oppression and who craves for the future, which is free from communism. Bortko supports public moods and creates basically anti-communism movie. In pursuit of the approval of a crowd, the director produces distorted adaptation of Bulgakov’s story. It is can be explained with consideration on how political situation and the spirit of a society influences screen adaptation of the book.
The story Heart of a Dog brings us to the flat of an outstanding surgeon of 20s, Philip Philipovich Preobrashenzky, who makes money by rejuvenation operations. One day he decides to experiment with his work on restoring youth by injecting hypophysis of a dead man into the brain of the stray dog Sharik. However, everything goes completely wrong when Sharik starts to turn into human. Unexpected transformation leads to an arrogant and ungrateful person Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov. He is rude with people, drinks a lot, harasses women, and with all that is firmly convinced in his rightness. Sharikov gets acquainted with the prolet...

... middle of paper ...

...ой контрреволюции." http://scepsis.net. Скепсис, 2005. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Кудрявцев, Сергей. "Историко-революционный трагифарс с элементами фантастики." 3500 рецензий. Москва: Печатный двор, n.d. N. pag. Кинопоиск. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

Шигарева, Юлия. "Владимир Бортко: «Человечество придет к социализму. Или умрет!»." Аргументы и Факты : объясняем, что происходит. АИФ, 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Яблоков, Евгений. "Беспокойное Собачье Сердце, или Горькие Плоды Легкого Чтения." Review. Литературная Критика Oct. 2010: n. pag. http://magazines.russ.ru. Журнальный зал, Oct. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

Янкова, Татьяна. "Автор и герой в «Собачьем сердце»." Скепсис. Научно-просветительский журнал Скепсис, 26 Oct. 2006. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

Cornwell Neil, and Nicole Christian. Bulgakov. Reference Guide to Russian Literature. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. 203-04. Print.

Open Document