The Amphibian Man (Человек Анфибия ), Russia, 1961

Forget Batman, Superman and all the other super heroes you have known for many years... the Amphibian Man is the real thing! Well, not exactly. At least it was in the former Soviet Union, back in the sixties. This movie, based on a novel by famous Russian writer Alexander Belyaev, tells the story of a young man who can breathe underwater, and so he gets to be called the amphibian man. The movie holds the record in the box office of Soviet movie theaters.

It is your average low budget science fiction movie, only even more low budget thanks to the Soviet special effects crew, whatever that was. Our hero meets Guitare (that would a woman's name) and falls in love. You see, he feels lonely. He lives in a mansion on the top a hill only with his father, a famous scientist, who by the way was the person who operated him as a kid, removing one of his lungs and replacing it with fish gills. It all happens in a strange country (perhaps Cuba, telling from the signs in the streets). More than science fiction it is a romantic story for children. There is dancing and singing, and our hero the Amphibian man does anything he can to keep Guitare by his side. Of course Guitare is about to get married to a rich guy, Don Pedro (yes, that is also the name of a cheap Mexican brandy).

As usual in most Soviet movies, there is a hint of hidden but easy to perceive propagandistic ideology; the Amphibian man goes to town until to come across the "greedy" fish merchant who won't give fish to the poor, while his father the scientist is trying to create an underwater world where there'd be no rich nor poor and everyone would be equal. Does it sound familiar? It is funny because it is too obvious, but I was overall surprised by the DVD transfer; the colors are rich and clear. If you want to discover what science fiction looked like back in the communist Russia, this is a definitely a classic not be missed.