jromanbaker
A response to moronic reviewers.The majority of the bad reviews here come from America, where it seems there can be no positive reaction to beauty of image, poetry, or an understanding of Russian cinema. It is lamentable that this film does not get higher ratings, but then I sense homophobia to be at work. Arguably the Russians have got used to coded images in their films, especially towards the beauty of the young male face and figure. From Eisenstein, through 'Ballad of a Soldier' to 'Father and Son', and if homoeroticism is there, under a cruelly oppressive series of political regimes, the code is necessary for survival. America needs no codes, it just ignores positive representation, and those that exist get lost in independent gay film which rarely gets seen outside of festivals.This is a beautiful film. Watch it as you would read a poem. 'Mirror' by Tarkovsky is applauded as a masterpiece, and this film, in all its glorious mystery of image and action, stands, needing no comparison. There is a place beyond traditional meaning, and that place is the imagination, and of course it is not a film that releases all its meanings, subtexts and observations on Russian life to a reductive interpretation. The homophobia of some reviews is never quite stated, but is there; what is less obvious is an understanding of the profound inner soul of Russian cinema at its best.
film watcher
This is the first film I have seen where there is no plot. Apparently that is the plot???? A friend of mine who did his military service in the Soviet Army during the late 1980s said that the film's portrayal of the uniforms and barracks etc are very accurate. There was however no apparent mention of the dedovshina endemic in much of the Russian Army. Dedovshina (Law of the grandads) is the bullying (often very violent) of the new soldiers or dushi (spirits) by the older soldiers known as deds or dembels (grandads).Many have commented on the supposed homoerotic scenes in the communal bath or banya, where the soldiers are seen washing each other down. According to my friend this portrayal of the banya is accurate, however the homoerotic interpretations are NOT!!! In the USSR homosexuality was considered to be a mental illness, and in the Soviet military it was an imprisonable offence. In addition there is substantial and often violent homophobia in Russia, nowhere more so than in the military. According to my friend if you were even suspected of being gay, let alone getting turned on by the sight of your fellow soldiers naked in the banya you would not have left the banya alive - literally.....BE WARNED!!!! All in all this is a very odd film. There is clearly some deep an inner meaning in it somewhere, but I'm afraid it was a bit too deep and inner for me.
securityman-1
Oh my .... my Russian film kick has turned up a rarefied film. Its vaguely about a Russian boot camp. Lots of young soldiers looking at the camera, looking at each other. Marching by in uniform, by the dozens. Swimming. Mass sponge baths. Yes they give each other sponge baths.This film makes me speechless. Can a movie possibly be this bad? And its quite artistically filmed, with lots of locales and a big cast. Nothing really happens during the movie, although there seems to be some subtle winking going on between the soldiers. But then there's other soldiers that keep exclaiming "Don't goggle me!".The movie manages to be as slow as a snail, yet impossible to figure out whats going on.the camera slowly dollies past each scene, which is generally a bunch of soldiers doing the same thing. They may be standing at attention.... they may be walking down the hallway, but you get to watch all 200 or so soldiers pass, every time. When they pan over the faces of the soldiers standing at attention, you get to see the motionless expression of, like all of them!
vargaslaw
This movie was either too deep and beyond my simple intelligence due to language and sufficient English subtitles or the people making this movie were uncertain of what the movie was suppose to convey. The movie was very vague, confusing and just left me feeling that I had wasted about 3 hours of my time. Yes, 3 hours, because I had to keep going back from the beginning to see if maybe I had missed something. Were these guys in boot camp? Were they in an insane asylum? Were they in a prison? I wish I could get the writer to tell us what he was trying to convey. I am really unable to give a summary because this movie jumps around from scene to scene. I don't know if at one point it is a real scene or someone's dream or imagination. In the end, I am uncertain if all the characters in the movie got killed, died or committed suicide. I do not recommend this movie.
AD
