Clouds over Borsk — anti-Pentecostal hysteria of the godless

· Video, Persecution, Vestibule, Pentecostals, Russia, Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the USSR Council of Ministers

The film was shot in 1960 following a speech by General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev and a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee on eradicating religion by 1980, when it was pompously promised that the last believer would be shown on television. At the same time, in 1961, two articles of the criminal code were introduced to repress believers (in the RSFSR these were articles 227 and 142; previously, article 58 had been used). Judases — informers — were recruited in churches, and provocateurs were planted. A certain quota of prison sentences among Protestants was established.

Such mass repressions had to be approved by the “Soviet people.” It was precisely for this purpose — to instill in godless people a feeling of hatred and revulsion toward Pentecostals — that the film Clouds over Borsk was created.

The ending of the film is especially blasphemous: it is a direct lie and satanic fantasies, insinuations about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the main character’s madness as a result of speaking in other tongues, her leaving school, and finally her crucifixion for her sins. At the end, a Komsomol member shouts to the people: “Run! The sectarians are killing Olya in the barn!” Everyone runs to the barn where the heroine is crucified. What is the police doing at this time, and why does no one turn to them? The film thus ends without the sectarian murderers being punished, thereby handing over vengeance for the young, beautiful, naive girl into the hands of the people, by whose hands it was necessary to deal with Pentecostal believers. And the thought is forced upon people that this must never be forgotten until one’s very last days, thus programming people to be enemies of the gospel and of salvation from Jesus Christ.

After the film was shown in cinemas, Komsomol provocateurs organized gangs of youth who went straight to pogroms of believers’ homes, smashed windows, threw bottles with incendiary mixture into windows, and if anyone happened to be caught, they were beaten. Thus the young believer Ivan Daurov from Nakhodka, who was not yet 20 years old, was beaten over the head with a metal rod by a Komsomol gang of atheists so severely that they thought they had killed him, but by God’s grace he survived and remained disabled.

Plot

Borsk is a provincial Russian town. It is identified with the Borsk district of the Gorky Region. High-school student Olga Ryzhkova is actively involved in social activities — she is a Pioneer leader, and she is tasked with preparing an anti-religious evening. But one day the girl confesses her love to her classmate Mitya Saenko, and this conversation is accidentally overheard by the school principal. The next day he publicly shames Ryzhkova for immoral behavior. The girl finds herself isolated; only Mitya does not abandon her. However, it turns out that Mitya is a member of a Pentecostal sect, into which he also brings Olya.

The atmosphere in the community sharply contrasts with everyday life. Moreover, Mitya turns out to be far more reasonable and attentive than other classmates, for example, Genka Bocharnikov, whose highest fantasy is a buffoonish stunt at a believers’ meeting. In the end, Olya leaves school. The sectarians decide that the girl is ready for baptism in the Holy Spirit. During the “meeting,” Olya begins to shout inarticulate sounds.

Schoolteacher Kira Sergeevna begins to raise the alarm about what is happening. She publishes an article in the newspaper Borsk Worker titled “Attention: Sectarians! Crawling out of the darkness,” after which a discussion with the participation of believers is organized in the House of Culture. The sectarians, for their part, decide to resort to a holy deception. Moreover, while Mitya is debating at the club, they decide to crucify Olya in atonement for her sins. However, the townspeople manage to “save” the girl.

The Tragic Fate of the Actress Who Played the Lead Role

Inna Gulaya, who played the lead role of Olya Ryzhkova, lived a tragic life. In 1974 her husband Gennady Shpalikov hanged himself, and 16 years later, in 1990, at the age of 49, Gulaya herself committed suicide. The circumstances of her death remain unknown to this day. According to one version, the actress suffered from lack of demand in cinema; according to another, the cause was an overdose of sleeping pills.

The actress’s talent was also admired by her husband — the famous screenwriter, poet, and director Gennady Shpalikov (“I Am Walking Through Moscow,” “The Ilyich Gate”). They married at the end of 1962. His brilliantly begun career, however, started to decline from March 19, 1963. That day — which also happened to be the birthday of their daughter, Dasha — Shpalikov made a fiery, accusatory speech at a Kremlin meeting of the country’s leaders and Soviet filmmakers. As Marlen Khutsiev recalled, the party apparatchiks were ready to tear the “young upstart” to pieces, to trample him for daring “to tell them how to live.” Understandably, after that outburst, the “high-ups” cut off the oxygen to the talented filmmaker and his wife… True, Inna still had work at the Film Actor’s Theatre, but that didn’t help them make ends meet. This went on for about ten years. The outcome was dreadful. First, Gennady started drinking heavily, and on November 1, 1974, he hanged himself at one of the writers’ dachas in Peredelkino. Inna was left alone — by her own admission, she had no right to take her own life, because she had a young daughter in her arms. Yet sixteen years later, on May 27, 1990, she also passed away. The death of Honored Artist of Russia Inna Gulaya is still shrouded in mystery. According to one version of the investigation, the cause was an overdose of sleeping pills… Actor Ivan Bortnik recalled: “Inna… A youthful love, utterly insane. We could never have been together. Our personalities were identical: both nervous, uncompromising, and it could escalate to the point of physical violence. And then her Gena Shpalikov appeared. Sometimes, when I’d had a bit to drink, I’d call there. Gena would pick up and let me have it: ‘Get lost!..’ Then one time, many years later, I got a call — Inka. We met and started keeping in touch. And then the torment began. She could call at four in the morning: ‘Vanya, I’m bored, come over.’ Some kind of craziness started in her head: she thought that Dasha, her daughter, wanted to poison her or stab her. I’d say to her: ‘Inna, are you an idiot?!’ — ‘What do you mean, idiot,’ she’d answer, ‘she keeps putting a razor blade in the bathroom.’ … It all comes down to being in demand. Inna wasn’t acting at all back then. She kept waiting: any minute now, they’ll call…” Only Mikhail Schweitzer, who had met I. Gulaya back in the mid-60s, continued to invite her to every new film.

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