Bespredel

This movie portrays the eternal struggle of the free-spirited against the 'natural order of things in society'.

There are two main groups - the sheep and the wolfs - the controlled and prayed upon and those in power. But then there is that very slim layer of society that deeply understands the injustice of this order and also the fact that it'd be so easy to turn things around and get rid of that injustice, if only a significant portion of those sheep realised how much force they were yielding in comparison to the wolfs.

The movie portrays brilliantly that idealistic endeavour via 2-3 main characters. And also that fundamental flaw of human nature that get from our animal beginnings to save ourselves at the expense of the wellbeing of the group. This flick shows what strength of character can mean even in the environment where only brute force seems to matter. And then it shows just how hard it is for the good to organise and act for the greater good. How society demolishes those few that raise their heads to go against injustice.

I recommend this movie to everyone over 30 or who has grown over the age of viewing this as an action movie. This is a very accurate portrayal of our society even if the setup is different in terms of decorations.

Later Soviet Perestroika movies were quite often bleak, hopeless, pointless, senseless, brutal, cruel, black endless flicks of terror and vile. Like this one, about typical Russian prison and the life of misery. It is very pessimistic, devoid of style, humanism or message. It is a sheer shot of silly snot, sheer blatant dark and vile film with no merit. Forget it