I haven't read the book, but finished watching the ten-part Russian TV series (2005). I can understand why both the Church and the Party hated this work: the Satan himself descends on Moscow, raises hell, especially in the circles of the literary establishment; and rewards the lover of an indexed writer who wrote a book on Pontius Pilate in the end; while the NKVD tries to prove that the band of devils was just a hypnotist.
Ethical message? I'm not sure -- and it seemed a bit reactionary.
THe TV series? It was big-budget, with lots of CGI; and at times out to draw the masses with the basest attractions (lots of spilling blood and bared breasts); but, at the same time, a great many good actors with remarkable faces: Kirill Lavrov as Pontius Pilate, Oleg Basilashvili as Woland/Satan, Aleksandr Abdulov as Koroviev... and so on. There was one major problem, though: the love between Master and Margarita just wasn't convincing. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
While it is explicitly meant to address the Soviet system, it has staying power. I've never read a more spot on depiction of the Moscow I knew. That's not a very politically correct thing to say, but it's true.
Not sure how I feel about CGI ... though how would you ever do it without CGI? "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
