Mikhalkov: Ever More Right-Wing
Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov (pictured), who has made two or three of my favorite movies (“Burnt by the Sun,” “A Slave of Love”), has been growing every more authoritarian in his politics. Latest example: the Oscar-winning director with close ties to Russian Prime Minister Putin, this week released a 10,000 political manifesto promoting “enlightened conservatism.” Even the increasingly religious powers-that-be in Russia weren’t impressed. They used the document’s release to remind people that Mikhalkov’s latest movie, a sequel to “Burnt by the Sun,” tanked earlier this year at the box office. And that an online poll in September ranked him as the director “the audience is fed up with.”
