Word: potemkin
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...irrational, which is history as it endlessly reveals itself: "A vicious circle develops as each side suspects the other of superior technical performance. Lacking any means to validate this performance, the claims become even more outrageous and expensive ... In Russia, where the spirit and practice of the Potemkin village (a false front, as in motion picture sets) still lives, the national mania for secrecy only makes the problem worse. The possibilities are endless, as is the expense. Even more dangerous is a national leader believing the illusions...
This episode alone is not what makes Napoleon memorable. That quality derives from its shooting and editing. D.W.Griffith demonstrated the limitless scope of the screen's ability to tackle big scenes in Intolerance (1916). Eisenstein, in pictures like Battleship Potemkin (1925), showed how the juxtaposition of disparate images could create, through montage, meanings that were more felt than consciously understood. Gance's great contribution was to set the camera free of the tripod, making it a participant in, as well as an observer of, the action. His tracking shots were unprecedented...
...Peking has begun to disclose that Dazhai may have been no more than a Potemkin façade. In a rare exposé, the People's Daily reported that Xiyang county, where Dazhai is located, consistently falsified production figures between 1973 and 1977. The paper charged that nearly 300 million Ibs. of nonexistent grain, or 24% of real production, had been added to the county's claims over the five years. In one particularly bad year, county reports inflated actual yield by 60%. The exposé was an unmistakable criticism of one of the late Chairman...
...prosperous collective silk-spinning plant near by. The peasants have radios, watches, bicycles, money in the bank, food on the table. Some of them treasure framed red certificates, whose bold black characters commend them for having achieved "wealth through diligent labor." Clearly, the Jin Ma commune was no Potemkin...
Afghanistan aside, the Moscow spectacle is not shaping up as the kind of party that many democratic countries would feel comfortable attending. As the Soviets prepared to receive 150,000 or so visitors (about half the total expected before the boycott), Moscow resembled a giant Potemkin village being gussied up by a heavy, totalitarian hand...