Welcome, or No Trespassing

As Russia continues to dominate the news with its protracted war and stories of rebellions within the ranks, this 1964 summer camp satire is surprisingly relevant.

Originally censored by the Soviet regime, the film sheds some light on the upbringings of the country’s current leaders. The setting is a Communist Young Pioneer Camp, where children follow strict regimes for two reasons: 1) the camp director wants to keep them as safe as possible, and 2) his role is to prepare them to be responsible citizens of the Soviet Union. The director’s worst nightmare is the mischievous Kostya, who swims outside the designated swimming area (a minuscule square, an apt metaphor for the restrictions placed on Soviet citizens at the time) to the nearby inlet where the village kids swim. This is a big no-no, and he’s expelled from the camp. In one of the film’s funniest scenes, Kostya imagines how his grandma would die from embarrassment and how the entire town would blame him. It’s surreal and the perfect encapsulation of a kid’s imagination.

Rather than risk his grandma’s death, Kostya hides out at the camp. His fellow campers are happy to help, sneaking him food and outsmarting the adults. Not all of the counselors play by the book  – a first-year counselor, Valia, challenges the director and fights for Kostya to remain at the camp. The camp director isn’t necessarily a bad guy, but he is the embodiment of the regime and its scared rule-followers. He doesn’t allow the children to sing new camp songs; instead, they are subjected to preparing for the world’s cheesiest pageant for Parent’s Day, where he hopes to impress the uncle of one of the campers, who also happens to be an important party official. It’s a performance reminiscent of the absurd Thanksgiving Day in Addams Family Values. 

Solid comedic gags run throughout Welcome, or No Trespassing. (My favorite: a camper who keeps asking the other kids what they are up to, only to be shooed away.) The kids actually behave like kids, from awkward flirtations to hare-brained schemes. And for those cinephiles who can’t help connecting dots, another added dimension of relevance is the film’s tonal match-up with Wes Anderson style whimsy, which made me certain that Anderson pulled some inspiration from Klimov when making Moonlight Kingdom.