100 Days Before the Command (1994)
"Sto dney do prikaza" (original title)

Five young Red Army recruits struggle for survival against the merciless violence that surrounds them on a daily basis. Their only means of saving their dignity is by preserving the ... See full summary »

Director:

Hussein Erkenov

Writers:

Vladimir Kholodov, Yuri Polyakov

Stars:

Vladimir Zamanskiy, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Oleg Vasilkov

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vladimir Zamanskiy	...	The Unknown Man
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan	...	Brigade Commander
Oleg Vasilkov	...	Elin
Roman Grekov	...	Zub
Valeriy Troshin	...	Kudrin
Aleksandr Chislov	...	Zyrin
Mikhail Solomatin	...	Belikov
Sergei Romantsov	...	Titarenko
Sergey Bystritskiy	...	Senior Lieutenant
Elena Kondulaynen	...	Death
Oleg Khusainov	...	Angel
Sergei Semyonov	...	Captain
Aleksei Volkov
Vladimir Puchkov
Pavel Stepanov

Storyline

Five young Red Army recruits struggle for survival against the merciless violence that surrounds them on a daily basis. Their only means of saving their dignity is by preserving the humanity and compassion they share for each other. Visually astonishing, erotically charged and emotionally jarring, this film is Hussein Erkenov's courageous and stinging indictment of Communisum. Banned by the Soviet censors upon its initial release the film had to be smuggled out of the country to make its world wide premier at the 1995 Berlin Film Festival.

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Plot Keywords:

army | child nudity | female frontal nudity | homoeroticism | male frontal nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

20 April 1995 (Germany)

Also Known As:

100 Days Before the Command

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gorky Film Studios, Goskino, Mir

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Atmospheric depiction of daily life in the red army.

At first sight, comparisons with Tarkovsky and Sokurov are inevitable. However, although this film is visually striking and very atmospheric, it seems to lack balance between the cinematographic and the narrative parts. Watching this movie, feels a little like watching a slide-show by a great photographer.An interesting experience, great to look at, but something is missing. Some parts are obviously dreams or hallucinations, but then I'm still not sure what statement the director intended to make by these parts. Maybe it's all intended to be a dream, and it does indeed have nightmarish qualities. At times I felt like I was watching life shortly before and/or after a nuclear catastrophe. Despite my criticism about "the missing plot" I can't seem to get this movie out of my mind, so it might be brilliant after all. If not, it's still an interesting look "backstage" at how life may have been for soldiers in the red army.