Kentridge's Stalinist Ballet: Laughter in the Dark

William Kentridge's "Oh to Believe in Another World" is a remarkable cine-musical creation, presented at the Baku international arts festival alongside Shostakovich's 10th Symphony. This hour-long work masterfully blends collage animation with live choreography, delving into profound themes of humanity, grief, and idealism. The performance honors the 120th anniversary of Shostakovich's birth and his connection to Azerbaijani pianist Elmira Nazirova.

The animation uses masks and models of Soviet figures like Stalin and Lenin, presented with a dark, humorous twist. These characters, often blurred or scribbled, are integrated into meticulously crafted model interiors that become lifelike through green-screening. The effect is a surreal danse macabre of history and tragedy, evoking emotions from fear to awe.

Kentridge's creation, inspired by Shostakovich's 10th Symphony—a piece born from the Stalinist era—finds humor in the grotesque. The film's visual absurdity, reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's work, allows for a defiant laughter at historical figures, similar to Chaplin's approach to Hitler. This artistic choice imbues the performance with black comic pain.

The cine-musical is uniquely crafted to complement the music, rather than the other way around, capturing the symphony's yearning for a better world. It reflects on the lost idealism of the October Revolution and the enduring need for hope amidst tyranny and sacrifice.