Putin, a FILTHY communist pretending to be democratic

Uncle "Vlad" Putin, now? Someone needs to off this guy before he

makes himself "ruler for life." Now he's got shills in his

entertainment industry making propaganda films just before elections.

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Out on DVD for Valentine's Day across Russia is

a heartwarming drama about a man and a woman who love each other and

their country -- and who bear an uncanny resemblance to Vladimir Putin

and his wife, Lyudmila.

Anatoly Voropayev, producer of "The Kiss is Off the Record", says its

basis is a "collective image"

Just when it seemed like the Russian president's public image had been

burnished to a spotless shine by state television, along comes a film

that appears to cast the steely former spy in a softer light -- as

smitten suitor, loving husband and dedicated dad.

While acknowledging "many similarities" with Putin, producer Anatoly

Voropayev coyly claims the lead character in "The Kiss is Off the

Record" is based on a "collective image," not the president himself.

"We believe that since today we are not ashamed of our leader, why not

make heroes who are like him?" Voropayev told The Associated Press.

The film appears designed to fill a gap in the hagiography of the

popular president by providing an inspirational back story for his

rise to the Kremlin.

Its nationwide release Thursday on DVD comes 17 days before of the

election of his successor, at a time of uncertainty about Putin's

future role.

"It's a film about the life of a politician, about love, about people

in general and the human relationships every person has," Voropayev

told Ekho Moskvy radio last week.

Few people, however, have so much in common with Putin.

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Like Putin, the main character courts his wife-to-be in Leningrad, now

St. Petersburg, and moves with her to Cold War East Germany -- where

Putin was a KGB officer. He then returns home for a stint in St.

Petersburg and scales the heights of power in Moscow.

The character, Alexander Alexandrovich Platov, has more hair than

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, but the style is the same. Seen from

behind on the promotional poster, the actor playing Platov is a dead

ringer for the Russian president.

Another giveaway: Platov, like Putin, is always late.

Few of the people who packed a special screening at a central Moscow

movie house Monday night were in doubt about the subject of the film,

which will not be released in cinemas.

Natalia Serebrovskaya, who attended the showing, knew Putin from his

days in St. Petersburg and said that she recognized the president's

speech and gait.

Some opposition activists disrupted the viewing with shouts of

"Putin's an executioner!" and unfurled a banner from the balcony that

read: "Putin is a criminal." Film critics alternately lambasted it as

crude propaganda and sniffed it's so bad it couldn't have been

commissioned by the Kremlin -- too embarrassing.

Over the past eight years, the Kremlin has spent a lot of effort

promoting images of Putin in his public role as a decisive, stalwart

and indomitable leader. Television viewers see him almost every night

-- flying in a jet fighter, speaking in ornate Kremlin halls, chewing

out Cabinet ministers.

But little is known of his private life. He seems to talk about his

dog more than about his family. His daughters' lives are nearly

invisible.

First lady Lyudmila Putin is rarely seen, even more rarely heard.

Putin often travels without her, and she appears uncomfortable in

front of cameras.

"The Kiss is Off the Record" changes all that. The daughters are

prominent, and Platov's wife, Tatyana, is in focus as much if not more

than her husband.

As a family man, the hero is a mixture of regular guy and miracle

worker.

He sometimes has trouble juggling his family obligations and the

demands of his high-pressure job. But he's always there when it

counts, helping his wife walk again after a car crash and rescuing the

girls from a burning dacha.

There's even a bedroom scene. And Platov appears faithful: When the

limping Tatyana sits up one night fearing the worst, he returns with

flowers and a cane that he spent hours seeking out.

"My view of the president has changed," said Galina Makarova, a film

company employee, after attending the showing. "It shows a new side of

our president."

The film's timing has raised eyebrows. Shot in 2002 and 2003, it is

being released ahead of the March 2 election, when Russia is expected

to ratify Putin's choice of a successor, First Deputy Prime Minister

Dmitry Medvedev.

Putin must step down in May, but has said he would accept Medvedev's

offer to serve as prime minister -- a switch that would leave him in

the thick of politics and poised for a return to the presidency.

Voropayev told The Associated Press that he neither sought nor

received Kremlin approval for the release -- a statement few

government critics would believe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

Putin's administration "had nothing to do with the film."

Denis Fadeyev, a 30-year-old businessman, liked the movie. But he said

that if it was meant to benefit Putin, it was too late.

"We're more interested in Medvedev now," he said