[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.14,0:00:04.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Devil has come to town.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.73,0:00:08.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But don’t worry – all he wants to do \Nis stage a magic show.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.81,0:00:14.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This absurd premise forms the central plot\Nof Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.48,0:00:16.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The Master and Margarita."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.48,0:00:19.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Written in Moscow during the 1930s,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.15,0:00:24.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this surreal blend of political satire, \Nhistorical fiction, and occult mysticism
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.79,0:00:28.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has earned a legacy as one of the 20th \Ncentury’s greatest novels–
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.79,0:00:31.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one of its strangest.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.28,0:00:35.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The story begins when a meeting between\Ntwo members of Moscow’s literary elite
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.69,0:00:39.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is interrupted by a strange gentleman \Nnamed Woland,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.48,0:00:41.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who presents himself as a foreign scholar
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.87,0:00:45.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,invited to give a presentation \Non black magic.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.41,0:00:49.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As the stranger engages the two companions\Nin a philosophical debate
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.65,0:00:52.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and makes ominous predictions \Nabout their fates,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.44,0:00:56.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the reader is suddenly transported \Nto first-century Jerusalem.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.11,0:00:58.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There a tormented Pontius Pilate
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.56,0:01:02.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reluctantly sentences Jesus of \NNazareth to death.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.86,0:01:05.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With the narrative shifting between \Nthe two settings,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.66,0:01:10.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Woland and his entourage– Azazello, \NKoroviev, Hella,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.47,0:01:12.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a giant cat named Behemoth–
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.95,0:01:15.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are seen to have uncanny magical powers,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.59,0:01:17.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which they use to stage their performance
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.81,0:01:22.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while leaving a trail of havoc \Nand confusion in their wake.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.51,0:01:26.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Much of the novel’s dark humor comes \Nnot only from this demonic mischief,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.94,0:01:29.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also the backdrop \Nagainst which it occurs.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.82,0:01:33.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bulgakov’s story takes place in the same \Nsetting where it was written–
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.82,0:01:37.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the USSR at the height of the \NStalinist period.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.47,0:01:41.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There, artists and authors worked \Nunder strict censorship,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.05,0:01:44.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,subject to imprisonment, exile, \Nor execution
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.46,0:01:47.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if they were seen as undermining \Nstate ideology.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.84,0:01:50.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even when approved, their work–
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.04,0:01:52.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,along with housing, travel, \Nand everything else–
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.54,0:01:55.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was governed by a convoluted bureaucracy.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.58,0:02:00.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the novel, Woland manipulates this \Nsystem along with the fabric of reality,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.67,0:02:02.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to hilarious results.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.68,0:02:06.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As heads are separated from bodies \Nand money rains from the sky,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.91,0:02:10.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the citizens of Moscow react with \Npetty-self interest,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.59,0:02:16.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,illustrating how Soviet society bred greed\Nand cynicism despite its ideals.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.27,0:02:19.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the matter-of-fact narration \Ndeliberately blends
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.70,0:02:22.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the strangeness of the supernatural \Nevents
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.08,0:02:25.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the everyday absurdity \Nof Soviet life.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.82,0:02:30.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So how did Bulgakov manage to publish \Nsuch a subversive novel
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.03,0:02:32.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,under an oppressive regime?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.40,0:02:34.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well… he didn’t.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.44,0:02:37.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He worked on "The Master and Margarita"\Nfor over ten years.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.64,0:02:39.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But while Stalin’s personal favor
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.58,0:02:43.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may have kept Bulgakov safe \Nfrom severe persecution,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.06,0:02:46.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,many of his plays and writings \Nwere kept from production,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.06,0:02:49.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,leaving him safe but effectively silenced.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.58,0:02:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Upon the author’s death in 1940,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.00,0:02:54.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the manuscript remained unpublished.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.20,0:02:58.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A censored version was eventually \Nprinted in the 1960s,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.04,0:03:01.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while copies of the unabridged manuscript \Ncontinued to circulate
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.18,0:03:03.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,among underground literary circles.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.38,0:03:06.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The full text was only published in 1973,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.84,0:03:10.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over 30 years after its completion.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.10,0:03:13.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bulgakov’s experiences with censorship \Nand artistic frustration
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.92,0:03:17.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lend an autobiographical air to the \Nsecond part of the novel,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.64,0:03:20.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we are finally introduced \Nto its namesake.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.26,0:03:24.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,‘The Master’ is a nameless author who’s \Nworked for years on a novel
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.62,0:03:28.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but burned the manuscript \Nafter it was rejected by publishers–
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.32,0:03:31.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just as Bulgakov had done \Nwith his own work.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.12,0:03:35.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet the true protagonist is the Master’s \Nmistress Margarita.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.38,0:03:39.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her devotion to her lover’s abandoned \Ndream bears a strange connection
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.63,0:03:42.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the diabolical company’s escapades–
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.37,0:03:45.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and carries the story to \Nits surreal climax.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.79,0:03:49.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Despite its dark humor and \Ncomplex structure,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.32,0:03:56.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The Master and Margarita" is, at its heart,\Na meditation on art, love, and redemption
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.57,0:03:59.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that never loses itself in cynicism.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.39,0:04:03.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the book’s long overdue publication \Nand survival against the odds
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.75,0:04:08.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a testament to what Woland tells the \NMaster:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.22,0:04:11.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Manuscripts don’t burn.”