“Little Vera” (1988) – “something so disgusting was never performed in our country…”. The outraged versus the enlightened. A contribution to a study on the mentality of “homo sovieticus” entering the new era

Abstract

The article is thought to be a contribution to a study on the mentality of homo sovieticus on the edge of a crucial period – perestroika. The basic material for the author were letters written by the audience to a movie screenwriter, Maryia Khmielik, and published as the last chapter of a film-based novel, both with the same title – Little Vera. This large body of voices stands up against – in their opinion – shameless and vile erotic scenes and against those few home truths which are presented. The portrait of homo sovieticus is fished out from fragments of the letters. Homo sovieticus seems to be sad, miserable, helpless and adrift in a new reality – just like the film’s characters.