AESTHETICS WITHOUT LAW: CINEMATIC BANDITS IN POST-SOVIET SPACE

SergueiAlex. Oushakine,Princeton University

...thebandits belong to rememberedhistory, as distinctfrom the official history books. They are a partof thehistory which isnot somuch a record of eventsand thosewho shaped them,as of the symbolsof thetheoretically controllable but actu ally uncontrolledfactors which determinethe world of thepoor... -Eric Hobsbawm (145)

We do not condemnit because it is a crime,but it is a crimebecause we condemn it. -Emile Durkheim (1972, 124)

In theearly 1920s, Isaac Babel publisheda stringof shortstories about the lifeof gangstersin pre-revolutionary Odessa. In his Tales of Odessa, grue somepictures of extortionand murders were oftenpresented with an unusual sensitivityto thestylistic dimensions of thecriminal world. The interplayof social order and its criminaldisruption that normally structures narratives about crimel was presented here as a series of stylistic clashes. Tales of Odessa turnedthe criminal organization into a criminallife-style, that is, into a systemof aestheticpredispositions and choicesof Odessa bandits.Against thebackdrop of flamboyantcriminal "aristocrats [...] tightlypacked in rasp berryvests, shoulders covered with russetjackets, the azure leather[of boots] about toburst on theirchubby feet" (163), Babel's anecdotesabout robberies, killingsand clan feudsseem irrelevantif not altogetherredundant.2

I would like to thank Kim Lane Scheppele, Dmitry Bychkov, Helena Goscilo, Mark Lipovet sky,Andrei Shcherbenok, and Vlad Strukov for their comments and suggestions on earlier ver sions of this essay. 1. See Mandel; Oushakine 2003. For a discussion of current Russian popular literature on crime and detection see Goscilo; Levina; Nepomnyashchy; Olcott; Slavnikova; Trofimova. 2. This style of aesthetic clashes is by no means limited to semi-fictitious stories about Odessa's famous subculture. In his study of social banditry, Eric Hobsbawm cites a police report from 1938 that lists the "equipment" of a prominent Brazilian bandit. To quote one part of a long list: "Hat: leather, of the blackwoods type, decorated with six stars of Solomon. Leather chinstrap, 46 cm long, decorated with 50 gold trinkets of miscellaneous origin, to wit: collar and sleeve studs, rectangles engraved with thewords Memory, Friendship, Homesickness, etc. rings set with various precious stones; a wedding ring with the name Santinha engraved inside. Attached to the

SEEJ, Vol. 51, No. 2 (2007): p. 357-p. 390 357

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It is temptingto readBabel's portrayalof thecriminal world throughthe lensof a long-standingtradition of Rduberromantik,"bandit romanticism" (Hobsbawm142; see alsoKooistra). And Sovietmass culturehas enoughev idencefor such an approach:from a collectiveversion of Robin Hood, fight ing in the 1920s forthe power of theSoviets inElusive avengers(Neulovimye mstiteli,1966; dir.Ed. Keosayan) to thecharming petty thieves in thepost Stalin comediesof Leonid Gaidai (see Prokhorov126-33), to thefigures of Odessa's quick and resoluteunderworld in songsof Alexander Rozenbaum (Odesskii tsikl,1981). Conceivedwithin (or as an oppositionto) Soviet offi cial culture,these attempts to utilize thepower of transgressionwere mostly aimed at discoveringplaces and discoursesthat could bringback a feelingof adventure.After all, as Hobsbawm suggests,it is a longingfor "freedom, heroism,and thedream of justice" thathas kept thebandit myth alive for many years (143). While agreeingwith theBritish historian, Iwant topursue here a different direction. If the existence of law-right or wrong-is a necessary starting point forthe bandit myth toproduce itscaptivating effect, what are thefunc tionsof thismyth in a situationwhere theprinciples of justice suddenlyget blurred?If themass appeal of thebandit to a largeextent stems from his/her abilityto use illegalmeans to restorethe true nature/order of things,then how could thisjuxtaposition of thenorm and deviationbe playedout ina situation where differentiationbetween the legal and theillegal has notyet been settled? To put itbriefly, when thesocial polarization of the"civil world" and the"un derworld"is stillin progress, what could functionas a narrativedevice able to conveythis state of disarraywith somenavigating and structuringprinciples? FollowingBabel's suggestion,I construethe aestheticization of banditryas an approach that reveals the ambiguous status of law in contemporary Rus sia. When a lack of criteria renders such usual questions as "What has been done?" and "Who is to blame?" unanswerable, it is only the question "How was itdone?" thatproduces thenecessary differentiating effect. I am not in terestedin reading the obsessive fascinationwith thestylistic re-packaging of thecriminal world, stimulatedby themarket-driven efforts of Russia's cul turalindustry, as a signof theoverall criminalizationof thepost-Soviet soci ety. Rather, I argue that the aesthetic clashes of the bandit style can be seen as a historicallyspecific attempt to organize symbolicallythe stateof out lawry:When theopposition of the legal vs. the illegal loses itsnormative meaning, it is thestylistic excess of thecriminal order of thingsthat is called upon to reflectthe condition of social disorientation.

front of the hat, a strip of leather 4 by 22 cm with the following ornaments: 2 gold medallions in scribed 'The Lord Be Thy Guide'; 2 gold sovereigns; 1 old Brazilian gold piece with the effigy of the Emperor Pedro II; 2 others, even older, dates respectively 1776 and 1802. At the back of the hat, a strip of leather of equal size, also decorated as follows: 2 gold medallions, 1 small di amond cut in the classic fashion; 4 others of fancy cut" (Hobsbawm 92).

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Commentingon Babel's earlywork, Victor Shklovsky suggested that it was precisely thispersistent exposure of contradictionsbetween the everyday orderof things(byt) and criminallife-style that functioned as a formof em plotmentin Babel's prose (203). By constantlyjuxtaposing the criminal orga nizationof people and a highlystylized arrangement of things,Babel could produce a powerfulnarrative effect. Yet thisnarrative homogenization of pogromsand raspberryshoes came with a price.As Shklovskysomewhat causticallypointed out, "the essence of Babel's [narrative]device consistsin using thesame voice fortalking about starsand aboutgonorrhea" (201). Sty listicsensitivity to thehorizontality of co-existingforms and practices (crime as-byt),in other words, is accomplishedhere by neutralizing"any kind of af fectiveor ethicalinterest in theobject of representation"(Bourdieu 1984, 44). In currentfilm studies of thegangster genre, a similarprominence of aes theticshas become an importantobject of scholars'attention. Focusing on QuentinTarantino's films, many criticssuggest that the new gangstermovie of the 1990s replaced"ethics with exhibitionand personalitywith spectacle" (Creeber129).3 In thisessay Iwill explorea similarshift in theaesthetic orga nizationof criminalreality in thepost-Soviet gangster genre by using theTV seriesBrigada (dir.A. Sidorov,Avatar Film Company, 2002) asmy main ex ample.Following a long-establishedtradition in anthropology,Iwill demon stratethat the configurations and connectionsused toarrange space, thingsand people inBrigada, these"aesthetic frills," as E. R. Leach, a Britishanthropol ogist,called them(12), are neitherarbitrary nor value-free.On thecontrary, theysuggest a certainvision of emergingsocial space and theprinciples of its functioning.The post-Sovietcriminality in Brigada isoften presented through successiveoperations of thecriminal's literal and metaphorical dis-localiza tion.The moral or politicalcritique of the social practices,which produced thesecriminal figures in thefirst place, is replacedhere by a visual topology of spaces of emplacement(Foucault and Miskowiec 22), thatis to say,by a hierarchyof locationswhich make criminals'acts sociallypossible and cultur allymeaningful. I will explore towhat extentthese mutated, confused and crisscrossedterritories saturated with "informal"practices can be construedas a reflectionof broaderchanges thatmake thevery divide between thepublic sphereand theprivate sphere if not redundantthen at leastunhelpful for inter pretingpost-socialist developments.

TheBrigands of Brigada On Thursday,October 17, 2002, Rossia, a state-ownedRussian TV chan nel, finished itsweekly broadcastingof the new fifteen-episodeseries Brigada (TheBrigade). Impressedby thehigh ratingsand incrediblepopular

3. For a discussion see also Simpson; Andrew. For a discussion of Tarantino's aesthetics in the Russian context see Vdovin.

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ityof thefilm, the channel made an unusualmove. On Saturday,October 19, 2002,Rossia startedshowing Brigada again, so thatevery weekend all those who hadmissed thepremier could have a chance to familiarizethemselves with thelives and travailsof post-Sovietbandits. The unprecedenteddecision to re-broadcasta melodramaticsaga about the 1990s, inwhich Aleksandr Belov and his threefriends turned themselves into a brigada-a powerful mafia-likeorganization involved in drugs,weapons and real-estateopera tions- seemedeven more strikinggiven thegeneral reputation of thechannel as themain mouthpiece forthe Russian government. Themini-series quickly acquired popularity among viewers; Russia's pro fessionalTV criticsproclaimed it the "best televisionfilm" of the2002 2003 season.4Valery Todorovsky, the series producer, labeled Brigada "an archiveof the epoch" [arkhivepokhi] (Slavutskii2003), while Oleg Do brodeev, theCEO of thechannel Rossia, which fundedthe production of Brigada,maintained thatit was "theonly series [serial] thatwill surviveour time"(Politburo Dec. 12, 2002, 73). At the same time,a floodof publica tions explained again and again thatBrigada was the most expensive TV project inRussia, with a generalbudget of almost $3 million. The fifteen episodes of theseries were filmedin 350 locationsand included110 char acters,900 costumesand more than100 cars (Generalovand Korotkov 4). The serieswas quickly produced inDVD format,and by the summerof 2003 the shelves of major bookstoresdisplayed Brigada in itsnovelized form,too. Published under thename ofAleksandr Belov, themulti-volume book-setwas marketed as a "Russian gangstersaga" [russkaiagangster skaia saga]5 (figs.1-2). Simultaneously,the filmprovoked a negative reactionamong educators and politicians.Deputies of theSverdlovsk regional parliament, outraged by totallycorrupted policemen and noble banditsportrayed in Brigada, decided to createa special expertcouncil thatwould prevent"ethically questionable materials" frombeing aired on localTV stations(Regions.ru). Drawing atten tion to themass popularityof Brigada's romanticizedracketeers, a deputy Minister of Education, in turn,maintained thatsuch a successfulnegative identificationreflected the lackof "a decentobject foremulation in contem poraryliterature and video-culture"(CRAS). Surprised by the sudden and unexpectedlyenthusiastic reception of

4. For discussion see Sidorov 2003.

5. Sixteen books have been published so far; four of them are basically a slight adaptation of the scenario (see Belov 2003, vols. \-4). Additional books published later describe "flashbacks" thatwere not originally in the film and are presented as "a full version of the first gangster saga" (Belov, vols. 5-8). Since the final scene of the series left open the question of Bely's life or death, the publisher decided to bring Belov back. Starting with Volume 9, the book series de scribes Belov's "life after death," presenting his post-brigada adventures. When quoting from the books, I will indicate the volume and page in parentheses.

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Figs. 1-2. A Russian gangster saga froma Russian gangster: the cover of Aleksandr Belov's book Brigada. Vol. 1: Fights WithNo Rules (Boi bez pravil); Vol. 2: Fight ingfor a TrumpCard (Bitva za mast'). Moscow: Olma-Press, 2003.

Brigada, Aleksei Sidorov, the director and a co-author of the screenplay, tried to point out themoral aspects of the film in one of his interviews:

Question: How do you personally relate toyour characters and their prototypes? Sidorov: Exactly the same way I relate to all the other citizens in our country. We are human beings,and theyare humanbeings [liudi].There aremore monsters [vyrodky] among themthan in other social groups,but theyhave neitherhorns nor hoofs.Maybe the film's provocativeness has to do with the fact that we show normal people who sud denly starttuming into non-humans [neliudi]. Question: Could theygo back? Sidorov: Back? No. They are lostsouls. (Vremia MN, October 26, 2002)

There are two points in this quote that Iwant to emphasize. First, a difficulty with describing the bandits is overcome by relegating the criminal to the realm of the inhuman, asocial, and unexplainable. However, given the visual nature of the series, this process of dehumanization presents a certain diffi culty. Representations of post-Soviet monsters- devoid of their "horns and hoofs"- must rely on signification that goes beyond the typical language of the grotesque and ugly. Hence my second point: the domestication of "non humans" became possible through the aesthetics of incommensurability. By

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demonstratingtransgression, "non-human monsters" signal an acknowledg mentof a lackof rulesable toregulate (and normalize) a previouslyunknown situation(Haraway 180, 226). Inwhat follows,I tracehow thismonstrosity of thecriminals from Brigada is symbolicallyinscribed within the fabricof post-Sovietdaily life. The narrativeof Brigada is structuredas a storyabout fourfriends: Alek sandrBelov-or Bely [white],as he isusually called-Fil, Pchela [bee] and Kosmos (playedby SergeiBezrukov, Vladimir Vdovichenko, Pavel Maikov, andDmitry Diuzhev respectively).All fourwere born in thelate 1960s, grew up togetherand went to thesame Moscow school.Their pre- 1 990s experience is only hintedat, though;their allegedly sharedpast serves as a necessary backgroundthat justifies the friendship rather than explains thefriends' pres entconnectedness. The prologue thatopens the series takesus to 1997. In frontof Dolls, a flashyMoscow bar,Bely, Kosmos andFil are sayinggood-bye to Pchela, who is about to leave forthe airport in a Mercedes with a smallgroup of ostensibly non-Russian-lookingmen (kavkaztsy,i.e. men fromthe Caucasus). Finishing a previouslystarted dispute, Pchela assuresBely thatthey are still"brothers," regardlessof thecircumstances. Looking quicklyat his watch, Pchela asks the driverto hurryup. Bely,Kosmos and Fil leave togetherin a differentMer cedes, arguingabout Pchela's possiblebetrayal. In thecar, Bely suddenlyno ticesthat the hands of hiswatch quicklymove counter-clockwise.A close-up ofBely's Swiss Rado is followedby a somewhatblurred image of Fil's watch (Breguet?)and thenby a close-upof Kosmos's Breitling.Realizing thatthere is amagnetic bomb in thecar, Bely gives ordersto jump out. Abandoned, the Mercedes collideswith hugepanes ofwindow glass on thetop of a trailerthat comes along in the next lane. The next several shots go back and forthbetween the figure of a severely wounded Fil in the snow and the black Mercedes ex ploding in theopen space across fromthe Russian White House, theheadquar tersof theRussian government.Black cloudsof smokecover thescreen and bring the viewers back to the beginning of the story, in the year of 1989. The scene nicely epitomizesthe general tendencyof the series.From the verybeginning, transgression and perfidyare symbolizedthrough carefully arrangedyet dysfunctional objects of material consumption: the brand-name watches that are not in synch with the time they are supposed to show (fig. 3). By performingthe taskof "formalintegration into the field of public recog nition"(Mayol 100-1), theobjects of consumptionthat cannot be consumed point to an interestinggap between the symbol and itsuse. Designed to metonymicallyreproduce a necessarycontext, these failed signs demonstrate a collapse of expected trajectoriesof readinginstead. Metonymy becomes a metaphor:a brand-namewatch thatshows timegoing backward.The main question, of course, is about the social condition thatmakes this semiotics of malfunctioningpossible.

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Fig. 3. Placing products in post-Soviet film: a brand-name watch that shows time going backward. Film still fromBrigada. Courtesy of Avatar Film Company.

Following the prologue, the story-line brings the viewer back to the begin ning, where themain theme of the serial takes shape. Accompanied by the melody "Time, forward!", used during the Soviet period as the opening jin gle for the nine-o'clock official news program Vremia [Time], the "second" start of the series shows Bely's last days in the army, somewhere in the Pamir Mountains, as the book specifies. Shots of Bely's mother, watching a TV re port about thewithdrawal of the Soviet troops fromAfghanistan, clarifies the imaginary geography and explains the possible reasons forBely's location. After his return home, Belov wants tomeet Lena, his girlfriend, whom he has not seen formore than two years. His friends, however, inform him that the girlfriend has become a "whore." Trying to prove otherwise, Belov finds the girlfriend at a local disco. Their short conversation is followed by a fight between Bely and a group of men headed by Mukha [fly], a local mobster and Lena's current partner and patron. Used as a naffative shifter that bridges two different groups of men, the girlfriend-turned-whore never reappears in the series, yet it is precisely this female figure that sets Bely's life going in the wrong direction.6 During the fight Bely seriously hurtsMukha and escapes imminent death thanks only to the timely arrival of Kosmos's Lincoln. Reflecting on the events later, the narrator of the book would report BelovIBely's internal monologue: "He has no girlfriend anymore. But he has friends, real friends who are waiting for him now" (1: 69). What comes next is a sequence of seemingly random events that nonetheless result in the usual vector of the criminal genre:

6. I discuss the symbolic importance of the post-Soviet femme fatale inOushakine 2001 and 2005.

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The 'career'of a banditalmost always beginswith some incident,which isnot in itselfgrave, but driveshim intooutlawry: a police charge forsome offencebrought against theman rather thanfor the crime; false testimony;judicial erroror intrigue;an unjust sentenceto forcedresi dence [confino],or one feltto be unjust. (Qtd.by Hobsbawm 16) Visiting an illegalboxing match, Bely and his friendsnotice Mukha in the crowd.Mukha startsa fight,attempting to kill Bely, but getsmysteriously shot to deathhimself instead. As thenarrative unfolds, the viewer findsout thatMukha's cousin,Kaverin (playedby Aleksei Panin), a lieutenantof the local police department,is determined"to close Bely down" [zakryt'].The lieutenantinitiates a searchof Bely's apartment,where theinvestigators plant and then"find" a suspiciousgun. To avoid arrest,Bely hideswith thehelp of Kosmos. In a condensedform, this episode reveals themain themeof Brigada: be trayal-a concealed non-correspondencebetween a representedidentity or intentionand one's actualposition or motivation -is a major drivingforce, a major explanatorytool, and a major narrativedevice in theseries. Through out, it is theinstability of personal loyaltythat provides a feelingof suspense. Loyaltybecomes situational,demonstrating the impossibilityof moral judg ment in a situationwhere principlesand hierarchiesare skewed.The key questionseems tobe: "Have I been betrayed?Will I be?" Expectationof com mitmenthas no viable groundsexcept for themonetary one: thegirlfriend changesher partners depending on theirfinancial background; the same logic is followedby policemen."Loyalty, like everything else, has itsprice" (Hay ward andBiro 208). Bely's friendsseem tobe theonly major exceptionin thiscase, yet,char acteristically,even here thethreat of betrayalis alwayspresent. The brigada's internalcoherence is constantlytested, putting each member periodically undersuspicion. These suspicionsare not alwaysgroundless: at theend of the filmthe viewer learnsthat the mysterious killing of Mukha, which started Bely's long-lastingfeud with Kaverin, was actuallycarried out byKosmos. Hiding thisfact, Kosmos, nonetheless,"rescues" Bely frompunishment for a crime thatBely hadn't committed. The episode spells out an importantaspect of thispost-Soviet pragmatic configuration:It is the intertwiningof threemain vectorsof identification familyconnections, homosocial friendship,and relationswith organized (both legal and illegal) forms of power -that creates the context inwhich the brigada emergesand evolves.None of thesethree axes of identificationac quires a positive value inBrigada, though.In Brigada's "archive of the epoch," the 1990s aremarked by theeventual collapse of familybonds, the gradualcorrosion of friendshipconnections, and thecomplete corruption of politicalrelations. Perhaps itwould not be an exaggeration to add that Brigada not only archives the 1990s but also references the history of the gangster film genre

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as a whole. Itbrings to an end thefascination of themob filmsof the 1920s with the individualsuccess of people likeAl Capone; itexposes thevacuity of criminalorganizations and thecult of 'famiglia"epitomized so vividlyby The Godfatherin the 1970s (dir.Francis Ford Coppola); and itundermines theromantic nostalgic belief in themale bondingof the friendsfrom Once Upon a Time inAmerica (dir.Sergio Leone, 1984).

PrivateSpace UnderConstruction Summarizinghis discussionof tastein Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu writes: Taste is a practicalmastery of distributionswhich makes itpossible to sense or intuitwhat is likely(or unlikely) to befall-and thereforeto befit-an individualoccupying a givenposition in space. It functionsas a sortof social orientation,a 'senseof one's place', guiding theoccu pantsof a given place in social space towardsthe social positionsadjusted to theirproperties and towardsthe practices of goodswhich befitthe occupants of thatposition. (1984, 466) It is importantfor Bourdieu thata "sense of one's place" is a productof a practical,i.e. not always articulated,knowledge, just as it is a reflectionof one's positiontaken within the"space ofpossibles" (1993, 31). One's attach ment to a place can be understoodas a "process of elicitingmeaning" (Jimenez150); a senseof one's place is a resultof negotiationbetween one's own experienceand one's own aspirations,reified within theexisting field of practicesand possibilities.Brigada certainlyfollows this logic of presenting individualsand groups throughtheir spatial practices. However, it adds a post-Soviettwist to thetendency described by Bourdieu. A senseof one's own place ismaterialized here in a situationwhere thevery differential "space of possibles" is going througha massive reconstruction.Let me tracethe stages of thismaterialization. The visual narrativeabout the criminalhero inBrigada is necessarily framedas an endlessmovement of thespatial signification. The storyline is envisionedas a successionof Bely's dwellings,a successionwhich ismore a chainof displacementsthan a chainof positions.By itself,such a "dislocating localization"(Agamben 175) ishardly unusual forthe structure of thecrimi nal narrative,where hidingsand quick disappearancesare part of thegenre. It is theforms of thespatial transformations inBrigada thatendow themwith a distinctiveeffect. These spatialtransformations are, of course,deliberately de signedor carefullyselected movie sets;decor and actorsare theonly elements of featurefilms that are purposefullyexposed to thecamera (Affronand Af fron35). What is thenarrative role of thedecorative settings in Brigada, then? How do thesedecorative "frills" supplement, develop or underminethe main plot?What kindof "realityeffect" are theyto produce? Following theAffrons' description, I suggestthat the sets inBrigada tend tocombine two major functions.The visual prominenceof severallocales in

7. For a reviewsee Cawelti and alsoMessenger.

This content downloaded from 128.112.66.66 on Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:43:14 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 366 Slavic and East European Journal the series allows the settingsto "punctuatethe narrative" and thusto offer each timea "recognizablenexus of narrativeand decor" (38). Simultane ously, theevolution of thesettings in theprogress of theseries, i.e., theset tings'own visual histories,amplifies the dominant fiction of Brigada.8 At least twomoments make thesuccession of Bely's settingsin Brigada importantfor understanding the general trajectoryof thenarrative about de humanization.First, Bely's housing is seldom a hide-awayplace; it is nor mally an expensiveand symbolicallymeaningful property. As haphazardand accidentalas itmight seem, thechain of Bely's residencesdemonstrates a steadyelevation of his social statusand allows us to sketcha symbolichier archyof privatedwellings in post-SovietRussia.9 Criminal activityas a sourceof continuingincome is presented in theseries as one of theavailable "laddersof socialmobility" (Bell 129). The "steps"of thisladder take their shape throughBely's aestheticchoice of places and things.Secondly, every major changeof dwellingin thefilm usually signalsa major change inBely's familyhistory: personal biography becomes a derivativeof a particularlo cale.This rule,however, is not reversible:Bely's locationsseldom acquire the statusof a personalizedspace; theyremain "taken" rather than "occupied." Bely's initialmise-en-scene is theapartment of his mother (the fatheris missing)-typical late Soviet public housing in a high-risebuilding con structedfrom pre-fabricated concrete panels: twosmall rooms, a tinykitchen, a bathroomand an entry-hallpasted with brightmaroon wallpaper.Views fromthe apartment's windows display the threesteaming pyramids of pipes of a huge industrialpower plant. Associated with theprevious generation, this typeof housingwould be the startingpoint, the lowestpossible step from which thehero would climbup (fig.4). Nowhere in the film do we see a kommunalka, an apartment shared by sev eral families,usually perceived as themost characteristictype of Soviethous ing10and romanticizedin some Soviet films.1"To someextent, this disappear ance of the communalorganization of space,with all itsmechanisms of supportand control,indicates a generalfragmentation of social fabricand the vanishingof thepreviously established communities -be ita groupof tenants [zhil'tsy]or a "laborcollective" [trudovoikollektiv]. This disappearancealso demonstratesa differentprinciple of associationaround which new groups are being formed.A collectivity(forcibly) imposed by spatialboundaries is replacedby a collectivitybuilt around sharedpersonal characteristics(e.g.,

8. On the set as punctuation and as narrative see respectively ch. 3 and ch. 5 of Affron and Affron. See also Lamster; and Shiel and Fitzmaurice for useful collections of essays on the cin ematic representation of space. 9. For a review see Ruble. 10. See e.g. Gerasimova. 11. See, for instance, the film The Pokrovsky Gates (Pokrovskie vorota, dir. Mikhail Koza kov, 1982).

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Fig. 4. Life in a high-rise by a power-plant: Bely's friends in his courtyard.Film still fromBrigada. Courtesy of Avatar Film Company. age, gender,experience, etc.). Space inBrigada is perceivednot somuch as a list of physical boundaries that itmight impose but rather as a realm in which individualand group actions could be realized.Correspondingly, "blind spots" in theperception of space are a resultof a "spatialcensorship" rooted in one's practicalknowledge of certainspatial practices and space arrangements(Mayol 104). The absenceof thekommunalka in Brigada, inother words, indicatesa dif ferentvector for Bely's spatialtrajectory, an "orientingpractice" that points to wards thosewho possessed thefinancial and real-estatecapital during the per estroikaperiod: theSoviet academic intelligentsia.It is symptomaticthat the onlyprivate space thatis prominently displayed in theseries is theapartment of Kosmos's father,an academician.Yet even thiscase displays the same processof "alienationfrom residence" (Ruble 50): in theexpansive and styl ishlydecorated apartment with a niceview, we neversee Kosmos's own space. Hiding Bely frompolice, Kosmos bringshis friendto theempty dacha of yet another academician, a friend of Kosmos's father. Located not far away fromMoscow, thedacha of thisprofessor of astrophysics,who at the timeis lecturingabroad, is a big two-storystone building painted inpale yellow and stuffedwith books.Located ina forest,the dacha compoundenjoys thepro tection of a special post of police installed to keep an eye on-and guard when necessary-the Soviet academic elite. This accidentalupward mobility,'2 while stillenvisioned as a movement

12. For a discussion of "accidental" and "natural" upward mobility among the new Russian elite, see Ries (2004).

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fromone kindof urbanperiphery (a working-class district) to a differentkind of periphery(a settlementfor the intelligentsia), is presented nonetheless as a seriesof topological(industrial area vs. residence;urban districtvs. green park; high-risebuilding vs. two-storydacha) and class oppositions(public housingdevelopment vs. quasi-privatehouse; poor vs. affluent).To a large extentthis trajectory outlines a general trendof theearly 1990s,when simi lar statedachas leased earlierby thegovernment to theSoviet intellectual, artistic,military and partyelite became a prime targetfor occupation by the newly emergingclass of business elite.While theirperfect location and re spectablepast producedan effectof ennoblementby association,the limited quantityof available dachas instantlyturned them into objects of corruption, conspicuousconsumption, and perennialscandals.13 InBely's lifethis effect of spatialennoblement was realized literally:hid ingaway at theprofessor's dacha, hemeets his futurewife, Olga (playedby EkaterinaGuseva), a studentat theMoscow conservatory,who lives in the dacha across thestreet. The granddaughterof a famousmusician (thereis a shortremark about a hall in theconservatory named after Olga's grandfather), she is constantly practicing a concerto by Nicolo Paganini under an eye of her sterngrandmother (there are no parents).The grandmother'scomplaints about thematrimonial me'salliance between an heirof thefamous grandfather and a "youngman with unspecifiedemployment" quickly fade awaywhen Bely's trioof friendsgive theyoung couple as theirwedding giftan apart ment in theso-called "Stalin skyscraper"[stalinskaia vysotka] on theKotel nicheskayaembankment, not farfrom the Kremlin. Perhaps themost presti gious skyscraperin Moscow in theearly 1990s and thehome of prominent actors,politicians and military officers, the Kotelnicheskaya building was one of sevenbuildings constructed in thelate 1940sand early 1950s indowntown Moscow to celebrate the victory in thewar with Germany and to ensure the amalgamationof social and spatialhierarchies. 14 What is remarkableabout thevisual representationof Bely's attemptto get

13. For example, in 2000 the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti announced that Vladimir Kozhinov, an official who supervised property for the President's administration, decided not to renew the lease for a state dacha that had been occupied since 1995 by the notorious Russian entrepreneur Boris Berezovsky. The chief of Kremlin property indicated that Berezovsky's widely publicized information about the cost of the annual rent was false: the rent was $300,000, not $500,000, as the businessman liked to boast (Lenta.ru). In 2006 the allegedly il legal privatization of a state dacha by ex-prime minister Mikhail Kasianov became the subject of extensive media coverage and public debate (e.g. Chabanenko). See also Lovell 163-231. On the dacha in the Russian literary imagination see Barksdale. 14. Vasily Aksenov's 2006 novel about the vysotka in the 1950s provides an extensive dis cussion of this attempt to see in the post-war vysotnoe stroitel'stvo [elevated construction] a ma terialized metaphor for the consolidation of the Soviet "nomenklatura," vysotnaia gruppa grazhdan [the elevated group of citizens]. For a journalist's account of the building's post Soviet history see Nivat.

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Fig. 5. Remont as a lifestyle:Bely and his wife in theirvysotka apartment.Film still. Courtesy of Avatar Film Company.

self-inscribed into the habitus of the Soviet elite is that inBrigada the viewer can hardly see how itwas realized in practice. The vysotka-house never be comes part of the visual narrative; it never emerges as a part of a habitual landscape of the hero.'5 Nor do we see any conscious attempt to inhabit the new setting. For most of the series, the apartment remains in a state of perma nent reconstruction-with empty rooms in which walls and windows are plasteredwith newspapers(fig. 5). This failureto master thedistribution of thingsand positionspractically (Bourdieu 1984, 466) demonstrates a certain narrative tendency. The choice of available spatialpossibilities, while (almostautomatically) reflecting the previousdispositions of thecharacters, is rarelytranslated into a culturally distinctive and personally appropriated space. A spatial possibility, in other words, rarely becomes a place (see Menin 7). The setting inBrigada is never finally set, so to speak. In the absence of a differentiating template, a newly assumed location cannot produce an effect of identification.'6 It can always be turned into something else. Most often, it remains in the peculiar position of being vacant, that is, unoccupied yet assigned, a material trace of one's ab sence, the failedpossibility of being inhabited.Never a groundedposition, such a setting nonetheless serves for the characters of Brigada as a temporary platzdarm for future advancement, as a material point for temporary attach ment. Brigada's main character frames well this problematic correlation be tween the contextualized position and the goal of themovement: "war is bull

15. For an opposite symbolic use of the same vysotka in Soviet film, see Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Moskva slezam ne verit, dir. Menshov, 1979). 16. For a discussion of this trend in current Russian cinema see Stishova.

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shitbut maneuvers count [voina - khernia,glavnoe manevry]." It isprecisely thisclose-up perceptionof theconstantly changing social landscape ("tac tics") thatanchors the characters, without determining the direction of their furthermovement. Movement in space happens "withoutconcretization of thisspace," as theRussian filmcritic Nina Zarkhi recentlyobserved (Don dureiet al. 14).17 This symbolicnon-presence and structuralambiguity of an emerginggroup isnot a new phenomenon.Anthropological literature on liminalityand acqui sitionof a new statusis fullof examples indicatingthat transition often in cludesmanifestations of symbolicdivestment of "previoushabits of thought, feelingand action" (Turner105). In this context,remont [renovation] in Brigada is perhapsa less esotericbut no lessmeticulously staged operation of breakingpreviously created bonds.18 Apart fromits symbolic meaning, remont as a consciousattempt to aesthet icallyreconfigure space inBrigada capturesan importantsocial trendof the early 1990s,when an emergingclass was claiming itsown presenceby tak ingcontrol over its immediatesurroundings. Unable yet toconstruct its own housing,this group had to readjustand reconfigurefor itself already existing livingspace. Significantly,the attraction of thedwelling was determinedby thehistory of thesite rather than by theactual quality of thespace. However, thisconsumption of historycame with a price: convenientuse of the space had yet tobe created.19Hence, renovationbecomes a life-styleof theperiod, aptlyreflected in the term"evroremont" [euro-style renovation], i.e., a pro longedand professionallyguided attemptto completelyreconstruct an old space,mostly by using such newly availablematerials as drywalland re cessed lighting.20It is only fittingthat "evroremont"- despite thewide range

17. See also a discussion of the road-movie genre in this context in Dondurei et al., 17-19; see also Eyerman and Lofgen. 18. On the Soviet roots oiremont as a life-style see Gerasimova and Chuikina. 19. For a cinematic attempt to structure the plot of the film around the redistribution of sym bolically important Soviet property see Old Jades (Starye kliachi, dir. Eldar Riazanov, 2000). 20. Evroremont, a slim book of advice published in 1998, for instance, explains the essence of reconstruction in the following way: "We all live in an environment that is way too uniform. The level of this unification is different in different countries; it is the highest in the United States, it is lower in Europe [...]. Without rejecting the functionality and comfort of the dwelling [zhil'e], one wants to create one's own world, to establish personal relations with the place where one lives, with its history and nature. This is why there is a need to restore, so to speak, the ar chitectural image of past times, especially when it is well known from literature and favorite films. The "Anglo-Caribbean" style born in the nineteenth century in the slave South of Amer ica is a good example [...]. The United States of America is a 'young country'. Europe is repre sented in its history by a tremendous variety of architectural styles; there is a lot to choose from, if an architect decides to add a local flavor to a new building" (7-8). A displacement through which a desire to create one's own world is equated with restoration of the learned past is telling; one's own world is indeed someone else's history. The quote demonstrates an important shift in perceiving space, though: "history" here is not any longer a legacy to be reconnected with.

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of itsstylistic vocabulary inpractice is usually associatedwith minimalist design,white walls and relativelyempty space: a perfectcanvas fora picture which isyet tobe drawn.21 GrigoryRevzin, a leadingarchitectural critic in Russia, points to thecore of thisemptiness of stylisticattempts. Noting thateven by 2003, after"ten years of advancingcapitalism," there was no specificRussian architectural styleto speak of,Revzin rightlyconcludes thatsuch an absencehas nothing to do with a lackof creativityor talents.The lackhas todo ratherwith the factthat the very everydayness as a social environmentthat can routinelyre produce itselfthrough reproducing its own traditionshas startedto emerge only recently.The absenceof one's own traditionsof arranginginterior space correspondsto theembryonic status of one's own interior(Revzin 2003b, 27). In orderto be stylized,byt, daily life,the everydayness, has to "settledown" first,has tobe groundedin themateriality of daily ritualsand habits(see also McCracken). I thinkthat Revzin's observationcould be usefullyexpanded: private-space-as-an-object-of-constructionis not only a good metaphor for thegeneral lack of a settledprivate domain; inaddition, and perhaps more im portantly,such an obliterationof thedomestic in thefilm estranges Bely and his friends;it materializes the bandits' ungroundedness in daily lifeand famil ial space.22 The stylisticand social difficultieswith appropriatinga symbolically chargedlocation from the previous epoch inBrigada modify thevisual nar rativeof theseries. Episodes in theapartment are visuallyoffset by episodes next to theapartment. Thus thecouple's attemptto spendtheir wedding night at thenew apartmentis preventedby a hand grenadeplanted on the landing infront of theapartment. Subsequent shots of blackenedwalls, a crookedrail ing and deformedsteps leading to the apartmentremain as yet another metaphorfor the ladder of socialmobility climbed by Bely. The episodewith the"wedding grenade" is thefirst event that creates a profoundsense of sus picion and betrayalamong themembers of thebrigada. It resultsin thefirst collectivelyexecuted murder of thetraitor, who turnsout tobe Bely's driver, a murderthat binds thegroup together. The senseof theappealing and treacherousnature of old culturalsymbols is intensifiedin the seriesby an interestingset of visual displacements:the non-presenceof theKotelnicheskaya-building is oftenreferenced by images

a Rather, history is a depository of available cultural "styles," set of accessible spatial models. As a result, the aesthetic supremacy of "Europe" is determined by the range of its stylistic vo cabulary, unimaginable in "young America." In turn, one's own space, devoid of any "inherent" stylistic qualities, functions as a surface for available expressions. 21. For a very different attempt to perceive space as a possibility for restoring previous his torical connections, see A House for the Rich (Dom dlia bogatykh, dir. Val?ry Fokin, 1997). 22. For more on the absence of home in crime films see Krutnik. For a discussion of the post Soviet construction boom among the newly emerging elite see Gorelov.

This content downloaded from 128.112.66.66 on Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:43:14 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 372 Slavic and East European Journal of yet anotherStalin vysotka.The series is punctuatedby severalkey scenes shot in frontof themain buildingof Moscow StateUniversity, suggesting a post-Sovietmodification of theold themeof "myuniversities" most promi nentlystarted by Maxim Gorky (1949). Justas inGorky's autobiography,the symbolicprominence of theuniversity has nothingto do with formaleduca tionbut ratheremphasizes a lackof it,serving as a reminderof theunfulfilled dreamof becominga studentthat Bely cherishedin thearmy. Brigada will have a fullyfurnished and inhabitedcontemporary apartment ina post-Sovietluxury version of thevysotka, but it is an expensiveand gar ish place with purplewalls and kitschypaintings owned by (formerlieu tenant)Kaverin, Bely's principalenemy. The symbolic importanceof this real-estateaccomplishment of theenemy will become clearer laterin these ries,when theviewer sees how Bely methodicallyand single-handedlyde molishes theplace by using a grenade-machineon theground. Perhaps it is not accidentalthat the finalencounter between Bely andKaverin also hap pens in a vysotka of sorts -this time as a radical reversal of the previous semi otic dispositionof the low/high.Having killedKaverin, Bely dramatically drops theenemy's body fromthe top floorof a tallwater-park building into an emptypit prepared for a swimmingpool. Bely's inabilityto conquer the cultural hierarchy of theStalin vysotka results ina logicalspatial move: a switchto horizontality. The restof Bely's dwellings in theseries will be close to theground. The switchalso resumesBely's pre vious inclinationtoward the geographical periphery, reflecting an important modificationof theSoviet spatialhierarchy. Bely's movementfrom one form of peripheryto anotherstrikingly contrasts with theusual (Soviet)pattern of social and geographicmobility vividly elaborated in textsof Social Realism, where thecenter was theultimate symbolic destination (Clark 10-11). This post-Sovietperipheralization, however, has very littlein common with a usual politicsof marginality. Bypassing the"center," the "periphery" inBrigada functions as an autonomous space of activity and suggests a form of localization thatcannot be reduced to theusual centripetal/centrifugal movements.23With some rareexceptions, there is no recognizableimagery of Moscow in theseries. An absence of theexpected cultural core is presented as thecenter's decreased ability to functionas thedefinitive indicator of suc cess. By provincializingthe center (Chakrabarty), the periphery attains its own self-sufficiency.As a result,periphery becomes not somuch a signof the center'sinaccessibility but of itsgrowing cultural and social irrelevance.24

23. For more on different aspects of the increasing structural autonomy of the periphery in con temporary Russia see Kalashnikov; Ioffe et al.; Alexander, Degtyarev, and Gelman; and Kirkow. 24. Timur Bekmambetov, the author of famous television commercials for the Imperial bank in the early 1990s and the director oiNochnoi dozor (Night Watch, 2004), confirms in a recent interview that periphery becomes a conscious stylistic choice, a narrative device in contempo rary Russian film. As the director put it, "our prefabricated [panel'nye] buildings from concrete

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This reorientationtoward the horizontal and theperipheral marks a clear dissatisfactionwith thesymbolic and social opportunitiesthat existing spatial configurationsprovide, yet ithardly changes a generaldisassociation between buildinga home and actuallyhaving it.Bely's new dwellingsperform the al readyfamiliar role of objects of consumptionthat defy theprocess of con sumptionand materialize a contradictionbetween imaginedstyle and prac ticedbehavior, between arrangementof objects and sequences of actions, between configurationof space and configurationof one's life.25Thus, we will never see thefamily house inFlorida with "a tenniscourt, a pool, four bedrooms"that Bely boughtin order to mend theharm to his familyrelations provokedby his affairwith an actress.In turn,Bely's finalreal-estate ges ture-a huge pink castle in a suburb, with a fountain, a bridge with lampposts and a tallstone fence -will remainpractically unfurnished and mostly unoc cupied.Frightened by theexploded Mercedes, Olga firstreturns with her son toher grandmother's dacha, thenlater leaves forFlorida (figs.6-7). One can interpretthe symbolic importance of Bely's spatial localizations by exploringfrequent juxtapositions of thevertical and thehorizontal in Brigada. It is easy to see inBely's movementsthe embodiment of a constant interplaybetween "low" and "high,"whether it is thehierarchy of classes (workingclass/intelligentsia), spaces (high-rise/castle),or worlds (Russia/ USA). And theword "podniat'sia" [toascend, to rise]often used incontem poraryRussian todescribe financial and social success,certainly supports this temptation:the generational horizontality of the "brothers"in Brigada re quiresvertical means of distinction.26As I argueabove, though,the sinusoid ofBely's spatialfluctuations could also be readas a seriesof stylisticmoves. The choice and arrangementof one's own space is determinedby one's abil ityto materialize one's experiencein a hierarchyof objects.Within thisper spective,the succession of settingsin Brigada acquiresa differenttrajectory. The symbolicimportance of associationsthat a place could arouse (a Stalin ist vysotka; an academician's dacha) is replaced by a perception of place as a backdrop,as a surfacefor holding one's own personalreminiscences (a house inFlorida, a pinkpalazzo). A space as a siteof institutionalizedmemory is overshadowedby thespace as a settingfor one's own experience.27The se

panels are already cult constructions [kul'tovye sooruzheniia] [...] when for everyone in the world Moscow is symbolized by Zamoskvorech'e [one of the oldest districts in central Moscow?S.O.], itmeans that we all live outside Moscow, then. I want people to feel [chu vstvovat'] their own legends, their own myths" (Gazeta, July 7, 2004). 25. For a useful discussion see Humphrey 188, 193, 199. See also Podgorodnikov; and "Eto ne Kanary." 26. For an architectural version of this striving for elevation see Davydova; Papernyi. 27. For more on the aesthetic of reminiscence and the aesthetic of surface see Revzin 2003a, 85-109. For a cinematographic example of space as a way of re-connecting with the historical past see Russian Ark (dir. A. Sokurov, 2002).

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Figs. 6-7. Bely's pink castle (top) and its interior(bottom). Film stills fromBrigada. Courtesy ofAvatar Film Company.

ries, however, also shows that a new spatial arrangement of the private often remains unarticulated and non-symbolized. Private space, in other words, acts inBrigada as potentiality, a structural possibility whose internalmeaning and configuration have yet to be worked out. This lack of a stable private domain suggests an important social conse quence. When the private is devoid of the structuring nucleus of daily rou tines and localized interests', then the very line between the public and the pri vate becomes problematic.2 What lies at the foundation of criminality in this situation, then, is not so much a (purposeful) confusion and conflation of the private and the public, but rather theirnon-differentiation, theirhybrid or, per haps, mutated co-existence. It is the law that is supposed to introduce a clear boundary, tomark off the different domains and spheres of interests. But what

28. For a discussion within the early Soviet context, see Oushakine 2004.

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happenswhen the law itselfloses itsnormative function, that is to say,when itsordering and regulatingeffect is fragmented?I will tryto answer these questionsby lookingat representationsof public space inBrigada.

ExpropriatingProfessional Space The muted or "underdeveloped"state of theprivate settings of thebandits inBrigada interestinglydiffers from another film that is also focusedon a similar-albeit less "brutal"-process of forminga new economic class. In Pavel Lungin's Tycoon:The New Russian (Oligarkh,2003),29 a deliberatein vestmentin displaying one's life-style,in designing elaborate interior spaces, instaging excessive private parties is a partof thegame. Creating a luxurious House ofReceptions [Dompriemov], i.e., an institutionalizedsetting that use fullyblurs spatialborders between theofficial and theprivate, is just as im portant for tycoons as devising a new scheme of tax evasion. To a large ex tent,this difference in consumptionhas a class origin.Unlike thebandits of Brigada, thequintet of friendsin Tycoon comes froman academic back ground,and theirstriving to display stylistic distinction is amaterialization of previouslyaccumulated knowledge about thehierarchy of taste.Yet class ori gin alone could hardlyexplain theoligarchs' passion foractually inhabiting newlycreated spaces completely.It appears that demarcating a new "space of relationships"(Bourdieu 1985, 725) is not theprimary goal of institutional izationfor the brigada. The initialimpulse seems to be quite different.As Bely's failedattempts to spatiallyinscribe himself within thehabitus of pre viously importantsocial groups indicate,it is a desire tobecome part of the picture,a desire to finda place withinan existing/emergingfield of socially meaningfulrelations that determines the choice of topographicand aesthetic strategiesof thebrigada. Rather thancreating their own distinctivefield of action, thebrigada structuresits activity through the deliberate imitating of available stylisticcodes. Hence, a lackof functionalprivate space is compen sated forby a differenttype of spatialarrangement. An openmarket [rynok], an initialplace of thebrigada's racketeeringand extortion,acquires a literal andmetaphoric roof.30 By "offering"their protection service to a local busi nessman,Bely and his friendsexpropriate the businessman's office and start theirown "professionalized"career, implicitly sponsored by theFederal Se curityService. In thebook versionof Brigada, theoffice is describedin the followingway: The office [ofis]of the company"Kurs-In-Vest" was equipped in accordancewith the latest word inmodem technology.Even thebrief glance of an innocentvisitor could easily spot real

29. See also Yuly Dubov's original novel (2002) that was used as a base for the film. For a discussion see Lipovetsky (2003). 30. On "roof protection" see Yurchak; Humphrey 99-126; Kosals and Ryvkina 200land 2002.

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oak doors, stylishItalian furniture,deep leatherchairs made inGermany, thenewest office equipmentand long-leggedsecretaries. And nothingcould possibly indicatethat only several monthsago thisoffice on thefirst floor of an old house on theTsvetnoi Boulevard was occupied by an associationof thevisually impaired.(2: 22) This "careermove" radicallyalters the visual story-lineof Brigada: most of theseries is reducedto dialogues confinedwithin various typesof enclosed "workingspaces." Scenes in the"office of theprivate company," as Bely calls his own headquarters,are interspersedwith scenes inwhat he labels as kon tory[bureaus] of stateofficials. This relapse intothe stylisticof theSoviet proizvodstvennoekino [cinema about industry]is accelerated furtherby changes in thebandits' prozodezhda [businessattire].3" A new dress code (suits,white shirts,ties) makes the"brigade of capitalistlabor" almost indis tinguishablefrom their counterparts - governmental bureaucrats and statese curityagents. As Bely justifiesthe change ina conversationwith his friend,a drug supplier:"Because ofmy status,I cannotwalk aroundunshaved any more [polozheniene pozvoliaet nebritymkhodit']." Stylistic homogenization producesa homogenizationin habits, too: as thedominant trend of thebu reaucraticfashion of the1990s, tennisalso becomes a naturalpart of Bely's routine.It would be wrong to thinkthat tennis becomes Bely's passion, the novelizedBrigada explains,"but he has been visitingthis tennis club -the most prestigiousand most expensivetennis club inMoscow forhalf a year. As if itwas his job [kak na rabotu], everyWednesday and Saturday" (2: 285). The transformingmimicry of thebandits results in social cohesivenesswith formerenemies. The securityagent-with the tellinglast name Vvedensky (derivedfrom "introduction," vvedenie) -offers Bely cooperation,explaining that itwould be a "mutual process. On the one hand, you could count on our support in a critical situation. On the other hand, we would demand of you certainaction, when thereis a need."Cornered ina parkby Vvedensky ("this is a big political issueof state importance"),Bely agrees toparticipate in a massive supplyof weaponry toChechen fighters,initiated by anothergroup of criminalsand activelysupported by Vvedensky.What resultsfrom this (somewhatunwilling) cooperation is a close-knitnetwork of mutual obliga tionsand interdependencyof contradictory forces. What isperhaps even more telling is the fact that it isKaverin, Bely's "loyal enemy," who acts as a mid dleman between the state,the bandits, and theChechens. The network,in otherwords, is possible due to theprofound instability of personal loyalty, which is divided among thevarious sociomorallocations occupied simulta neouslyby thesame individual.It is thissituation of implosion,as Humphrey calls it (99-127)- i.e., a constant structural and individual oscillation within

was 31. From "proizvodstvennaia odezhda"; the idea of special business attire originally pi oneered by Varvara Stepanova and Lubov Popo va for Alexandr Rodchenko's industrial photos and Vsevolod Meyerhold's biomechanical projects respectively (see Lavrent'ev; Varst).

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Fig. 8. A business meeting: thebrigada and Kaverin discuss theirco-operation. Film still fromBrigada. Courtesy of Avatar Film Company.

differentand oftenconflicting fields-that determines the logic and direction of exchanges inBrigada (fig.8). Disagreeingwith Vvedensky's plan tosell theweapons andyet unable tore fusehis "offer,"Bely providesZorin, his tennispartner and a high-positioned state official fromRussia's White House, with a map for theweapon delivery inChechnya. Following themap, a divisionof spetsnaz[special taskmilitary formation]blows up theweapons and thegroup of rebels,and almostkills Kaverin.As a payback toBely, Zorin promises to finallymove aheadwith signingthe documents that would grantBely's foundationimmense import-tax breaks. The financial deal is accompanied by a symbolic contract, too. Zorin's promise, ".While we are bound [poka my v sviazke], nobody will touch you," isparried by Bely's quick and somewhatbitter confession: "One has todepend on someoneanyway [...]. Otherwise- ...Tchik,and you are gone." Importantly, as the series demonstrates again and again, inmany cases the state itself-or ratherfighting factions within the state structure-creates zones and areas that can be usefully exploited by newly emerging criminal groups.32Yet, it isnot theproduction of criminalopportunities that is signifi cant here. Rather, it is the normative effect that this state-induced criminality brings with it. In Brigada the "law" of bandits and the "law" of the state are notmerely co-existingor even competingwith each other.Instead, it is their supplementarity,the unwilling but inescapableco-dependency of the (civi lized) criminaland the(corrupt) official that makes profitableeconomic and politicalexchanges possible. In a conversationwith Vvedensky, Bely sums

32. For more on this see Humphrey 109-26.

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up thiscondition of institutionalizedsymbiosis in the followingway: "It is you and us who make up the state [gosudarstvo -eto my s vami]." Almost threedecades ago, FredericJameson in his articleon "Reification andUtopia inMass Culture"usefully pointed out that"the ideologicalfunc tionof theMafia paradigm"embodied inThe Godfatherwas tomanifest "an organizedconspiracy against the public, one which reaches intoevery corner of our daily lives and our political structuresto exercisea wanton ecocidal and genocidalviolence at thebehest of distantdecision-makers" (145). The Mafia conspiracyof The Godfatherfor Jameson was a "strategicdisplace mentof all therage generated by theAmerican systemonto thismirror-image of big businessprovided by themovie screen"(146). Briagada's ideologicalattempts to transformcriminal space and habitus into"business-as-usual" are rootedin a similarrage against the corrupt polit ical and economic systemthat took shape inRussia in the 1990s.However, there is a significantdifference. The professionalizationof criminalityin Brigada isnot somuch theresult of a strategicideological displacement but a utopian fantasy,a groundlessbelief in thecivilizing power of thecapitalist evolution.The bandits'visual normalization,their spatial and aestheticprox imityto thestate bureaucrats, becomes synonymouswith thebandits' "legal ization."Simply put, thechanging of thedress code performshere an equiv alentof money laundering(fig. 9). The question iswhether, in theprocess of theircivilizing circulation, professionalized bandits do not change thevery natureof the social field inwhich theircirculation becomes possible, i.e., whetherthe genealogy of their"profession" does notundermine the profes sional fieldas a whole.33 Brigada isnot alone in itsutopian hope forthe normalizing effect of man ners,and a similartrend can be easily tracedin currentsociological studies and popular literatureon criminalityin Russia. For example,Vadim Volkov, a Russian sociologist,writes: [...] statefornation, taken in itsstructural rather than substantive aspect, entails simply the for mation andmaintenance of boundaries,such as thosebetween public and private,formal and informal,legal and illegal, impersonaland personal. [...] stateformation [then], or at least the most importantaspect of it,coincides with divergenttrajectories of violence-managingagen cies: some are integratedinto themarket economy and get transformedinto business firms,

33. In their study of the mafia in Sicily, Jane and Peter Schneider convincingly demonstrate that "normalization" of this institution of contract enforcement is not always an option. As the anthropologists conclude, itwas "the persistence of a clientelistic pattern of political mobiliza tion at national, regional, and local levels [...] that nurtures mafia since the 1800s until 1992" (251). Raimondo Catanzaro similarly points to the importance of the cultural predispositions of mafiosi. As the sociologist indicates, "the passage of the mafiosi from power brokers to entre preneurs" results inmodification of old patterns of relations rather than in their disappearance. The symbolic-emotional nature of relationships is transformed into a patronage-exchange rela tionship that brings together "business groups, political factions and parts of the apparatus of the state" in order to ensure financial predictability within certain sectors of the economy (50).

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--K6HHETMERBEEBA HOBblROPJIRA H

A 4 'v

.~~~ _

Fig. 9. "Bandits became managers." Cover of a special issue of theRussian Newsweek (March 6-12, 2006) on post-Soviet gangsters.Courtesy of Russkii Newsweek.

some become separatedfrom the economy, become subjectedto centralcontrol and make the coreof thestate. Ideally, both sides shouldbe interestedin boundary maintenance. (61)34

Such an attempt to rhetorically rationalize crime by using the vocabulary of businessmanagement brings with ita correspondingdiscursive construction of the state, or rather statehood, as a field to be appropriated by competitive "marketagents."35 This understandingof violence as a marketablecommod ity,consumption of which could be forcefullyimposed on potential"cus tomers," however, appears to be missing a crucial point. The primary, consti tutive component of crime depends not so much on whether various "agents" succeed in carving out and monopolizing a spatial segment of themarket that could professionally "sell" violence but rather in the relation of these agents to the law. Comparing the economic effectiveness of the regime of violence ex ercised by the state with that of organized criminal structures, the business styled analysis of post-Soviet criminality tends to replace the notion (and in stitutions) of law with the "logic" (and institutions) of the market (see e.g.

34. For foran analysisof corruptionfocused on therole of thestate see Timofeev. 35. In some cases, the teleologyof "state formation"and market mechanisms logicallyre sults in the thesisabout the"necessity of gangstercapitalism" as a inescapablestage in the processof capitalaccumulation (see e.g.Holmstrom and Smith).

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Volkov). Consequently,the mechanism of law enforcementbecomes analyti cally split:the status and functionsof law are leftunquestioned. Instead, not unlike theportrayal of theevolution of manners inBrigada, thefocus of atten tionshifts to practices of enforcement. Itmight be instructiveto make a shorttheoretical detour in order to see how thisidea of thesupplementary nature of crime isproblematized in a dif ferentcontext, more specifically,in thework of Emile Durkheim.As iswell known,for the sociologist "crime isnormal because a societyexempt from it is utterlyimpossible" (1966, 67). This "normality"of crime,however, is not based on theinevitable presence of certainpeople with certain"deviant incli nations."Instead it stems from laws existingin a given society.The criminal ityof an act,as well as thecriminality of violence associatedwith thisact, in otherwords, is not definedby thenature of theact itself.As Durkheim sug gests,a criminaloffense is constituted by thecollective norms and sentiments ("commonconsciousness") that this offense challenges. The key argument,in otherwords, is contextualrather than structural. This basic presumptionreflects a differentpicture of societyand themech anismsof itsproduction and disruption.It appears thatfor Durkheim the main taskof all threemechanisms of subjection(law-crime-punishment) is to re produce thesocietal framework-either through restricting and re-enforcing a listof acceptableacts (law andpunishment), or throughattempting to ex pand it (crime).36 It is "social solidarity" -rather than monopolization/frag mentation of the protection market-that functions as a primary target of crime inDurkheimian sociology (see Durkheim 1971, 123).3 Without the contextof "certaincollective sentiments," without theconscience collective, as Durkheimdefines it, crime is impossible(1971, 123).Hence punishment, thatis, theorganized violence used by the state, is aimed differentlyhere: "[society]punishes, not because chastisementoffers it any intrinsicsatisfac tion,but so thatthe fear of punishmentmay paralyze thosewho contemplate evil" (124). Perhapsone could see in thispicture of society,rooted in sentiments about the legitimateand the illegitimateand re-enforcedby punishmentwhose primarytask is toproduce an emotionaleffect,38 the core of Foucault's later argumentabout bio-powerand the disciplinarypractices of the "juridico anthropologicalfunctioning" of themodem state.As Foucault puts it,disci plines takethe body of theindividual as theirprimary target to assure "the or dering of humanmultiplicities" (1979, 218). What is importantfor my discussion here is the fact that in both cases there is a certain social "mecha

36. On crime as a form of subjectivization see Salecl. 37. For an in-depth discussion see Greenhouse. 38. To quote Durkheim: "Punishment is, first and foremost, an emotional reaction" (1971, 124).

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nism" thatframes and brings these"human multiplicities" together-be it Durkheim's"collective conscience" or Foucault's embodied"panopticism of everyday" (223).Differently achieved and enforced,these mechanisms appar entlywere capable of producingcertain feelings of social order in relationto which an individualcould definehim/herself and others. Utopias of evolutionarynormalization of crime39outline an absence of such a mechanismof socialmediation. To be more precise,as Brigada and functionalistsociology demonstrate, the mediation task ismostly appropri atedby illegalstructures.40 What I have been suggestingthroughout this arti cle, though,is thatby lookingat representationsof space and spatialpractices inBrigada, we can drawcertain conclusions about mediating mechanisms of symbolizationthat have not yetbeen consciouslyarticulated. Social bound aries are actualized by making and remaking space. As Jean and John Co maroffhave pointed out, "in the face of material and moral constraints, [humanbeings] fabricate social realitiesand power relationsand impose themselveson theirlived environments" (295; see also Ries 2002). It is pre cisely such a fabricationof environmentthat effectively disrupts the steady pace of theimaginary transformation of the brigada's "thugrealism" (Weiss) intothe stylish professionalism of a groupof powermanagers. As theseries develops, dialogues in officesbecome interspersedwith scenes in hospital wards. The enclosed and secureworld of the "workplace" is increasingly overshadowedby thedangerously open "outside."41The externalenviron ment quickly turnsinto a threateningand contestedlocation, a liminalzone where rulesdo not existand boundariesare constantlyundermined.42 For in stance,the very act of Bely's recruitmentby Vvedensky takesplace inan end less,dark, empty alley surroundedby tallgray walls (fig.10). Similarlystructured are settingsof multiple assassinations, arrests and mur ders:Bely's drugsupplier is killed ina publicpark; Kaverin is severelyhand icappedin an open fieldand killedon a constructionsite; Pchela andKosmos aremurdered just outside of theiroffice. Even thefinal scene of theseries, with Bely decidingon theramp of theSheremetievo International Airport not to leaveRussia, endswith thesound of a gunshot.Far frombeing a traditional

see 39. For a sociological discussion of prospects of such an evolution e.g.: Rawlinson; for a theoretical framework see Elias; for a fictional version see the economic detectives of Yu. Latynina. 40. On themafia as an institution of mediation see Hess.

41. In a different context, Boris Rodoman frames well a similar process in the polarization of post-Soviet space on a larger scale: "Owners of bio-toilets, air-conditioners, and buyers of mass bottled drinking water are less interested in sewage treatment, and in quality of piped water and street air. The clean and lively space equipped with modern conveniences lessens, as shrinks around the elite, and the remaining space is driven into dirt and dark". (35; quoted in Ioffe et al., 77). 42. For an interesting potrayal of the outside as a prime site of unrestricted violence see Ko rotkov's screen-play Mertvyi.

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Fig. 10. The dangerous outside: Bely in an alley before a meeting with Vvedensky. Film still fromBrigada. Courtesy ofAvatar Film Company.

sign of unrestricted freedom,43 the open space becomes an unbounded-and often deserted-temrtory, only to be animated by multiple acts of razborki (" sorting things out") between bandits"4 Public space emerges as a visual equivalent of the uncivil45 (fig. 1) Without an established pnivate sphere and with a steadily shrinking public domain, what kind of spatial position could be available for the bandits of Brigada? What could act as a meaningful location within their ""space of pos sibles" that denies any possibility of a stable position? Given the characters' simultaneous striving formateriality and mobility, it comes as no surprise that themost personalized and inhabited space inBrigada is epitomized by cars. They shorten social and geographic distance; they act as a protective shield; they serve as a location available for serious private negotitiions.6 In the ab sence of other forms of mediation, cars inBrigada perform the vital function of a socio-spatial interface that connects socially and geographically dis

43. On open space as a traditional symbol of freedom inRussian culture see Likhachev 6-10. 44. This tendency of conceiving the outside as a site of ultimate contest was taken to its log ical limit inAntikiller (dir. Egor Konchalovsky, 2003). Clashes between different groups of ban dits as well as between bandits and security services are staged here in settings that are conspic uously devoid of any strangers. 45. There is one possible exception to this general rule in Brigada. A casino, prominently featured in the series, suggests an interesting gray zone thatmediates between the uncivil pub lic outside and uninhabited private space. A liminal zone of sorts, the casino, nonetheless, pro vides the brigada with certain rules for conduct and interaction in a semi-public location. I thank Mark Lipovetsky for drawing my attention to this. 46. Perhaps, ironically, the only shopping scene in the film that presents an act of choice of an object of consumption depicts Bely and his wife Olga in a surprisingly empty store arguing about buying yet another form of materialized mobility?a baby carriage for their son.

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_!~~~~~~77?

Fig. 11. Public space as a place of razborki. Two groups of bandits "sort out" their business. Film still fromBrigada. Courtesy of Avatar Film Company.

jointedparts. The omnipresenceand unavoidabilityof cars inBrigada often suggesta contemporaryincarnation of thedivine machine: in severalcases Bely's salvationis possible onlydue toa miraculouslyarriving vehicle. Cor respondingly,a failureto properlymonitor others' access to one's own car could have a grave consequences: theexplosion of theMercedes in thepro loguewas a resultof Fil's negligence;the "wedding grenade" was plantedby Bely's driver;another Bely drivermurdered Fil, Pchela andKosmos. Tellingly,several recent Russian filmsuse cars as a prime locusof thecin ematographicnarrative. In The Kopeck (Kopeika, dir. Ivan Dykhovichny, 2001), thefirst model of theSoviet Zhiguli acts as a centerof material con nections,allowing themetonymical tracing of thecountry's recent past. The narrativeof Bimmer (Bumer, dir. Pyotr Buslov, 2003) is structuredsimilarly. In this case a stolen BMW (or "Bumer") is both a means of transportation and a narrativevehicle: thecharacters' trajectories are determinedby thecar's abilities.47 Cars inBrigada are equally distanced from the extremepersonalizing fetishismof theautomobile in Kopeika and theno less extremealienation of it inBumer. Kosmos's Lincolnwith flamewings painted on thesides ("by AndyWarhol," as Kosmos insists),Bely's black Jeepwith scarletleather up holstery,or his respectablyblack Rolls-Royce suggestan interestingway of capturing"the multiple mobile [...] relationshipsthat involve the complex and fluidhybridizing of public-and-privatelife" (Sheller and Urry 2003, 108). The shrinkingof public space discussed earlierpreempts any chance of using a car inBrigada as a pretext for displaying a cityscape or for turning it

47. For a discussionof cars inSoviet filmssee Prokhorov.

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...... ,

Fig. 12. Against thebackdrop of cars: Bely aftermurdering his driver.Film still from Brigada. Courtesy of Avatar Film Company.

Fig. 13. Cars in landscape: Bely and his frienddiscussing a drug deal in frontof their mobile entourage. Film still fromBrigada. Courtesy Avatar Film Company.

into a motorized version of the post-Sovietfldneur. 48 Cars in the series seldom provide a point of view fromwithin; rather they themselves are the objects of the cinematic gaze. A camera is normally positioned in frontof the car, above it, or on its side, often presenting the car as part of the environment (figs. 12-13). The landscape, the outside, is not distanced here from the privatized space of the car but rather is envisioned as a necessary condition for the very act of mobility. Cars here simultaneously compress space and keep it frag mented, while negotiating (from a distance) the "heterotopia" of relations.49

48. For a discussion see Clarke (1997). 49. In their essay "Of Other Spaces" Foucault and Miskowiec explain "heterotopia" in the following way: "The heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible" (25).

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Perhaps,unlike any otherform of spatialarrangement, the brigada's cars point to a new typeof emergingsociality, aptly called "automobility"by Mimi Sheller and JohnUrry. A floatingsignifier of sorts,this "'iron cage' of modernity"(Sheller andUrry 2000, 745, 744) is firmlylocated within the spatiallyordered environment and yet it is devoid of any symbolicmeaning apartfrom the aesthetics of itsform.

By lookingat therepresentation of space andmobility inBrigada I have triedto understand to what extentthese figures of criminalscan be seen as a necessarysign of therenegotiation of new social positionsand themodes of theirsymbolization. The instabilityof themain character'slocalization, I have suggested,often acts in theseries as a spatialmetaphor for social disas sociation.In my interpretationof thisstructural ambiguity I have attempted toavoid theusual tendencyto see itsorigin in theSoviet legacyof institution alized duplicitythat stimulates corruption and blurs theboundaries between theprivate business and thepublic office.As portrayalof space in thevisual narrativeof Brigada shows,the very distinction between these spheres is ex tremelyproblematic in thepost-Soviet context. By drawingattention to a persistentincommensurability of thingswithin thecriminal symbolic order displayed inBrigada, I have also pointedout the gap between themateriality of the signifierand one's failureto locate it within thesignifying chain. Imaintain thatsuch attentionto thematerial in general,and to theaesthetic organization of thingsthat this attention pro vokes inparticular, should be takenseriously. For theaesthetic can be under stood firstof all as a primarymechanism forproviding forms for ideas, ex periences and concepts thathave not yet acquired a stable locationwithin existingsystems of social relations.50In thiscontext, criminality functions as a signifyingstructure, a syntaxthat unites different objects and institutions inorder toproduce a meaningfuleffect (Siegel 34). Bringing togethera di versityof forms,relations and experiences,the aesthetics of criminalspace inBrigada offersa peculiar trajectoryin thereading of theshifting state of thepost-Soviet cultural landscape.

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