WARNING: The following article contains significant spoilers for the first ten episodes of Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut, currently streaming on Funimation.
On Lev's good luck and Irina's going away party, which is actually a date that Anya contrived for them, the pair get sidetracked by a poster for a movie called "The Heavenly Voyage." Seeing three astronauts on a strange green landscape pointing up at the moon, an incredulous Irina says, "They're on the moon?! It can't be real!" The reaction implies that she has not only never seen a movie before, but is not familiar with what they are. Lev tells Irina the truth and invites her to watch it.
What is shown in the movie itself is quite simple. A spaceship takes off and lands on the moon, two cosmonauts float in space, and the craft returns to Earth at which point one of the cosmonauts disembarks to a crowd of supporters. Similar to the student film episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the scene finds creative ways to use animation to depict the limitations of live-action filmmaking. A shot of the spacecraft ostensibly flying through the sky pans up as the ship appears suspended in the air, but the clouds don't move past it, implying it is actually stationary. In the following shot, the ship is absent for a few frames.
Interestingly, the theater is almost empty. The space legacy the UZSR are pursuing so ruthlessly may not be as important to the people's morale as they seem to think it is. Fortunately, it is Lev and Irina's passion for space that makes the story so engaging, rather than the UZSR's desire for superiority and potential weapons development. This is also ironic given that later scenes in the episode imply that the film carries great significance in the UZSR. In real life, Soviet editing techniques became a key influence on mainstream cinema around the world. Perhaps the impact this movie has on Irina, as well as the important role cinema has in the episode, are intended to reference this chapter of film history.
Like an excited child, Irina gets Lev's attention to rave about the "awesome" moon landing scene in the movie they are still watching. When the spacecraft in the film has a rocky landing, Irina balks sympathetically, getting so scared that she drops half of her popcorn. Lev smiles and says, "Look what you did." Irina's smile when she apologizes shows how much she's enjoying herself: both the comfort of Lev's company and actually enjoying being scared by the film, putting her real fears of death and space travel behind her long enough to enjoy the experience. It is endearing how much the usually cynical Irina loses herself in the movie. Even in this episode, she is reluctant to admit that she wishes Lev luck in being chosen as the first human cosmonaut.
When the movie spacecraft lands, Irina gives an impromptu standing ovation, prompting the moviegoer with the misfortune to sit directly behind her to complain and ask her to sit down. Irina can't help but talk about how relieved she is that the fictional cosmonauts safely returned to Earth. This may be because the waving light-haired cosmonaut at the end of the film reminds her of Lev. This would be another example of how the usually sarcastic Irina feels more comfortable expressing her genuine feelings through the cipher of fiction. More likely, her relief is so palpable because she engaged so deeply with the characters in the film, especially since she only recently learned that they weren't real.
Lyudmila, the secretary of Supreme Leader Gergiev, tells Lev and Mikhail that their "daily lives" will be filmed, but that these will be recreated in Zirnitra's capital city of Sangrad so as to conceal the research city Laika44 where they have actually been living. Irina, who is in Sangrad along with Anya, sees Lev being recorded and tries to approach him before being blocked by security guards. In the earlier scene, the awkward-looking movie and Irina's dazzled reaction to it seemed like funny breather moments, but this scene reinforces the impact that a movie and its message can have on a nation.
Lev and Mikhail's shoots may seem more artificial and obviously like propaganda, but perhaps both they and "Heavenly Voyage" serve the same propaganda purpose of flattering the cosmonauts and encouraging the people of the UZSR to identify with them. In fact, Viktor implies that Lev was ultimately chosen to be the first human Zirnitran cosmonaut because of how much more potentially inspiring he is than the seemingly flawless Mikhail. Even if "Heavenly Voyage" is not directly funded by the government, in a nation where a mysterious "delivery crew" disappears people for political dissent, the filmmakers likely had no choice but to portray its cosmonauts flatteringly.
Irina is engrossed in the movie, and never expresses indignation that it fabricates a version of the UZSR space race that eliminates her accomplishments as a vampire cosmonaut. This is partly because Irina is enraptured simply by space travel and the desire to go to the Moon. She doesn't care about fame or acknowledgment for doing so. Even so, both it and the propaganda movie of Lev are examples of how the UZSR tells the story of the space race to itself, and both of them exclude Irina. As Lev and Chief Korovin discuss his and Irina's call signs, both of which are flowers that symbolize a desire for Irina to stay safe, at least some people in Zirnitra acknowledge her value.
