Young Soviet Army recruits are stuck in the bloody war in Afghanistan, that was started by politicians.Young Soviet Army recruits are stuck in the bloody war in Afghanistan, that was started by politicians.Young Soviet Army recruits are stuck in the bloody war in Afghanistan, that was started by politicians.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
21K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writers
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- Awards
- 13 wins & 22 nominations
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Fedor Bondarchuk
- Sergey 'Khokhol' Pogrebnyakas Sergey 'Khokhol' Pogrebnyak
- (as Fyodor Bondarchuk)
Aleksandr Sheyn Jr.
- Patefonas Patefon
- (as Aleksandr Sheyn)
- Director
- Writers
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
The film tells about the fate of a group of seven recruits, called up for military service in the Armed Forces of the USSR in the late 1980s from Krasnoyarsk, and after several months of training sent to the DRA. The picture partially describes the events that occurred in early 1988, during Operation Magistral, when the paratroopers of the 9th company of the 345th separate paratrooper regiment took battle at Hill 3234. —Tango Papa
- Taglines
- They stood together while their country fell apart
- Genres
- Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated R for sequences of strong bloody warfare, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and drug use
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaIn reality, only 6 of 39 soviet soldiers from the 9th company were killed on hill 3234. There were over 200 dead on the opposite side.
- GoofsThe battle took place in late February, not the summer months.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Day Watch (2006)
Top review
The Soviet Union's Vietnam.
As the movie opens and we see a squad of young, boisterous, Soviet civilians enter basic training, get their heads embaldened, and loafing around joking afterwards, my initial thought what "WTF? What kind of an army is this?" We see a recruit attacking his barber and cutting a swath through his hair with electric clippers because he didn't like the barber's twitting him. I had my hair cut off too, along with dozens of others, but everyone was hypervigilant, too nervous to gripe about any indignities. Then, now bald, the men pass the time in the barracks waiting to be told what to do and they share a bottle of VODKA and get loaded. This is the first day of basic training? Later they sneak off and gang bang a local girl, then pass around a joint. This is an ARMY?
There is the usual diversity among the men, but not very like an American combat film. No Texans or wise guys from Brooklyn. But there are class differences. One soldier who has eaten out of garbage cans snaps at another who is an educated artist. The training regimen soon turns earnest, rigorous, and brutal -- and much more familiar. The F bomb is generously deployed, along with plenty of single entendres. The battle-scarred drill sergeant always in a rage, swearing and humiliating the men. The growing cohesiveness and developing friendships within the squad. Actually, we get to like the guys because we can identify with them, just as in an American movie.
There's a touching scene involving the camp's whore, who is blond and rather plain. The squad are all stoned but the chuckling dies down as they trade ideas about wounds and death. The artist is sent by the others into the next room with "Snow White," the blond, told to lose his virginity and become a real man. The girl is sweaty and bedraggled but the young man sees beauty behind the ordinariness. He tells her so and she giggles in surprise, disbelief, and the kind of relief an animal must feel when, instead of the usual kick, he's petted instead. And when the artist pulls her naked back into the squad room, he shouts that he's found Venus rising from the sea. The other men, howling with laughter, throw themselves at her feet while she holds her fingers to her over-ripe lips and laughs in little bursts, half uncomprehending and half swooning with pleasure.
In the second part of the film the squad reaches Afghanistan and most of the jokes disappear. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. (Eventually something is going to kill you, though.) The combat scenes are savage and yet recognizable from American movies about Vietnam or, more particularly, from "Blackhawk Down." It takes a little getting used to because at first the uniforms, weapons, and military protocol are a little different from ours. And at first it's odd to hear up-to-date American voices and slang terms from other nationals but the pattern soon reveals itself and we can sit back and watch another movie about a futile war against the masked and black-robed Mujuhadin against whom we would send our own troops in another twelve or thirteen years.
There is the usual diversity among the men, but not very like an American combat film. No Texans or wise guys from Brooklyn. But there are class differences. One soldier who has eaten out of garbage cans snaps at another who is an educated artist. The training regimen soon turns earnest, rigorous, and brutal -- and much more familiar. The F bomb is generously deployed, along with plenty of single entendres. The battle-scarred drill sergeant always in a rage, swearing and humiliating the men. The growing cohesiveness and developing friendships within the squad. Actually, we get to like the guys because we can identify with them, just as in an American movie.
There's a touching scene involving the camp's whore, who is blond and rather plain. The squad are all stoned but the chuckling dies down as they trade ideas about wounds and death. The artist is sent by the others into the next room with "Snow White," the blond, told to lose his virginity and become a real man. The girl is sweaty and bedraggled but the young man sees beauty behind the ordinariness. He tells her so and she giggles in surprise, disbelief, and the kind of relief an animal must feel when, instead of the usual kick, he's petted instead. And when the artist pulls her naked back into the squad room, he shouts that he's found Venus rising from the sea. The other men, howling with laughter, throw themselves at her feet while she holds her fingers to her over-ripe lips and laughs in little bursts, half uncomprehending and half swooning with pleasure.
In the second part of the film the squad reaches Afghanistan and most of the jokes disappear. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. (Eventually something is going to kill you, though.) The combat scenes are savage and yet recognizable from American movies about Vietnam or, more particularly, from "Blackhawk Down." It takes a little getting used to because at first the uniforms, weapons, and military protocol are a little different from ours. And at first it's odd to hear up-to-date American voices and slang terms from other nationals but the pattern soon reveals itself and we can sit back and watch another movie about a futile war against the masked and black-robed Mujuhadin against whom we would send our own troops in another twelve or thirteen years.
helpful•83
- rmax304823
- Feb 15, 2014
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- 9-rota
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $9,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $26,146,165
- Runtime2 hours 19 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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