Russland 88 (2009)

A gang of skinheads 'Russia 88' are filming propaganda videos in order to place it on the internet. At the same time the camera records the life of the gang, they become accustomed to this ... See full summary »

Director:

Pavel Bardin

Writer:

Pavel Bardin (script writer)

Stars:

Pyotr Fyodorov, Kazbek Kibizov, Aleksandr Makarov

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Pyotr Fyodorov	...	Shtik
Kazbek Kibizov
Aleksandr Makarov	...	Otets Shtyka
Vera Strokova

Storyline

A gang of skinheads 'Russia 88' are filming propaganda videos in order to place it on the internet. At the same time the camera records the life of the gang, they become accustomed to this and stop paying attention to it. The leader of the gang 'Blade' discovers that his sister is dating a Caucasian guy. This family drama develops into a tragedy.

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Plot Keywords:

skinhead | nazi | fascism | digit in title | number in title | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

28 January 2009 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Russland 88

Company Credits

Production Co:

2Plan2

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

"Native Among Strangers"

Naum Vaiman, a novelist and playwright based in Greater Tel Aviv found this: A couple of respectable people advised me not to miss the movie "Russia 88". They regarded it as "a great movie about Russian fascism". The film tells us about everyday life of a gang of young skinheads, who under the slogan "Russia for Russians" beat foreigners, loot their shops and attack migrant workers. "The happy end" looks like a Shakespearean story of Veronese clans: the sister of the gang leader knick named Bayonet (played by Petr Fedorov) has an affair with a guy from the Caucasus, and she is going to elope with him. Bayonet is trying to prevent such eventuality and he commits an honor killing of the guy. Bayonet's sister commits suicide. The film contains some "hints" to the guiding and methodical forces of the business world and even government agencies that are trying to organize all these activities and keep the participants focused. The gang retains an "adult" instructor with military experience, who cares about the ideological readiness and the organization's security thanks to its ties with local police. Under the guise of a sports club the gang got its own room in some basement and the members make field trips devoted to sharp shooting and physical training. The film is made in the style of investigative journalism, in the form of a diary of a member of the gang. But the journalism seems like a coarse propaganda, it seems to be "a proper indoctrination" (yes, of course, we all have to "fight against fascism"), but still indoctrination, and, at best, uninspiring: the idea is simple, and the answer fits the question. The film finale a la' heart-rending Mexican TV sequel (or, perhaps, Romeo and Juliet?) is quite absurd, and has nothing to do with the dry documentary. All in all, the entire flick is "to spit and forget!" But wait; there is one stumbling block in this motion picture. The main chronicler of the fascist gang is a Jew (played by Mikhail Polyakov). He is "a childhood friend of the gang leader, and—being namby-pamby—sticks to Bayonet who is mighty and decisive. Gang members refer to their Jew with derision and condescension, and tease him with a diminutive name "Abrashka" but without any malice. Abrashka childishly takes offense and from time to time threatens to kill himself. This "pattern of relationships" seems to me to be identical (Is it a "paradigm" or "mythology"?) to the predicament of an assimilated Jew, trying at all costs to become a "native among the strangers," to fraternize with people hating him. Do you remember the plea of Osip Mandelstam?

And for that, oh, my father, my friend and my helper and boor... I, an unnoticed brother, outcast of the filial folk, - I shall build in the woods hereby hidden log-wells— tight for sure— For the Tatars, who'll lower their buckets of princes to croak."

In the pathetic finale Abrashka tries to persuade his friend struck with sister's death and his guilt, to leave this place, and to go somewhere where "all this" does not exist. The central personage—Bayonet—in his abrupt but nevertheless convincing and penetrating phrases, clarifies to the "childhood friend" one and only place of his in the "hierarchy of life": "What am I going to do with you there? Do you believe we are friends with you, eh?" You're a lackey, Abram, you are a fag! F*** off, you fag! F*** off, you damn boot licker, you ass wipe, get lost! ". Wow, this tirade is a Zionist cannon fodder! In this perspective, pathos of the film receives "another ideological content", and becomes completely justified! In this case, such a helpless agitation against the atrocities of the "Russian fascism" is cinematographically transformed into an eternal tragedy of the Jewish fate! Taking the film in at such an angle, I got interested in the movie maker: the name of Pavel Bardin said nothing to me. I just thought: Did a Russian guy make such a strong— in its ruthless frankness— "Jewish" film? Surfing the web, I became acquainted with the biography, and— most importantly—with the ethnic origin of the director, screenwriter and film producer Harry Bardin (Harry became Paul. Well, the apostle Paul, too, was once Saul. In an interview with Radio Liberty (http/www.svobodanews.ru/content/transcript/1602638.html) he says of himself: "I am a Jew, but I do not consider myself chosen by God and I do not see the Jews as a God's chosen people. I believe that all people are equal.And I despise those who do not adhere to this belief." I won't argue with the ideology of Mr. Bardin, it is his problem which is very similar to the problems of Abrashka, the hero of Mr. Bardin's tragedy on screen. Only one statement is important to me in this interview: "I am a Jew." These four words define destiny. I also discovered that the title of the movie contains the Nazi symbol of faith --"88" -- Heil Hitler! ". In German, both words begin with the letter H, which is the eighth letter of the alphabet). This is a Cabbalistic way to codify letters, albeit using the Latin alphabet. "Secret" meaning of the film suddenly became clear to me: a Russian Jew made a movie about the place of Jews in today's Russia—they are "lackeys", "Abrashkas ","faggots," and "whores".

Comment-cliché of the translator, a slightly Americanized Russian Jew: Some people are more equal than others. Some Jews are the so called New Russians (noveaux riches); they are kept in check by the Russian masters in the Kremlin. Many Jews left Russia and became New Americans, New Germans, New Israelis and New Canadians...