Historical drama, action movie. Dear comrades, everything was coming to this. "The Best in Hell", "Granite" and "Tourist" were viewed, I liked all the listed pictures (I will review them all again, because they deserve it), so I wanted to complete this line of military cinema with a picture with which this studio and Evgeny Prigozhin personally began their activities, namely with the "Sun". And after watching such "masterpieces" of ukrofascist production as the patriotic TV series "Guardia" and Loznitsevsky art house "Donbass", I wanted to watch a true movie about the civil war in the east of the independent, which began in April 2014. And, after watching, I just want to note that "The Sun" is the best work of the studio "Aurum" at the moment, in terms of artistic elaboration. And here is my brief opinion for you - How the Lugansk militia fought with the Ukrofascists. I want to note right away that there are no flaws in the picture, but there are some rough edges that are definitely worth mentioning, although they could not have been, because this was the debut work of the guys. And this should end the much-needed introduction, and move on to the merits of this dramatic military and historical drama.
So, here they are:
1. The scenario - the picture tells us about a Lugansk family that is trying to leave the independent hell for Russia in 2014, fleeing from the massacre that ukrofascist gangs arrange with the support of the regular army, the National Guard and the so-called "dobrobats" who destroy Lugansk residents, mostly civilians, just because they do not they want to recognize the recent coup d'etat and forget their native Russian language and native culture. The head of the family, Vladislav, is a former Afghan who has passed, as they say, "fire and water". Due to some problems, he meets Pavel Gritsai, the commander of the Lugansk militia, with whom he strikes up a friendship. The hero does not want to fight, so he gets a job as an ambulance driver, and as a result becomes a witness to the inhumane war crimes of the ukrofascist punishers and their accomplices in the person of the American military and foreign mercenaries. The hero thought that the war was gone and it was time to forget it, but what will he do now when civilians are being killed in front of his eyes? Will he pick up a machine gun and stand up for his family? As you have already understood, the script does not shine with originality, there are no turns here either. The ending is guessed in advance, but all this does not make the script bad. It spelled out strong characters, charismatic characters through one, even historical events are shown accurately (for example, an airstrike on the building of the Lugansk Regional State Administration on June 2, 2014, or the destruction of an IL-76MD plane by a group of militias at the Lugansk airport, on board of which were Ukrofascist paratroopers and a group of foreign mercenaries on June 14, 2014). We are shown both sides of this conflict, their motley composition, aspirations, motivation, although the main character and commander Pavel (also a former Afghan) stand out among them.
2. The atrocities of the Ukrofascist punishers - some gifted personalities in various comments "were full of righteous anger" when they rang about the abundance of killed civilians in this picture and the consequences of Ukrofascist attacks and shelling of cities and towns. I want to ask such personalities the question "Why couldn't this be shown?" Yes, the creators did not show us half of the atrocities of the ukrofascists (like Elem Klimov in the cult "Go and See"), otherwise the picture would simply not have been allowed to be rolled. There is an abundance of blood, severed limbs, and long-term plans for the consequences of shelling. Tears from your eyes when watching are guaranteed to you, and "The Sun" is one of the few pictures of world cinema in which grown-up and strong men who have gone through hell cry from pain and terrible loss - and you believe it, and empathize, and even feel their pain. Yes, the picture hits emotions very hard, but did the creators lie to us about the atrocities of the Ukrofascists? No, that's why you believe.
3. Fights - there are not many of them here, compared to other pictures of this studio (there are only two pieces), but even these two fights are done perfectly (the guys have experience, and this is visible). Tactics, strategy, competent use of terrain, intelligent intelligence. And the fights are shown on both sides. Yes, and there is a spectacle, what a sin to conceal. Yes, compared to other studio paintings, it's relatively boring here, but you can have fun.
4. Drama - the intensity of the drama is very high here, because civilians are dying, and brutally dying under shelling and raids by ukrofascist gangs. And the emotional involvement of the viewer is huge, because the exposition was given a good ride (albeit with a title at the beginning of the picture). And the very beginning of the picture - from the start, according to the good tradition of "Aurum". I'm afraid that especially impressionable people may feel unwell when viewing the picture, and I'm serious about this.
5. The atmosphere is a civil war in the east of the independent as it is, when citizens in military uniform destroy their own citizens just because they did not accept the coup in Kiev, and in response to this disagreement they receive bullets and shells from their military, who should protect them. The topic is burning and scary, because even now such attacks continue, only now they are not firing at Lugansk and Donetsk residents (I mean the legal status), but Russians in Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Bryansk, Belogorod and Kursk land.
Now about some rough edges. For example, a dialogue with an independent colonel who was released from the "zone". It doesn't lead anywhere, then what is it for? The finale is somewhat crumpled and made for the sake of the appearance of PMCs fighters "Wagner" and their commander Colonel Dmitry Utkin himself under the call sign "Wagner" and a small legend associated with this call sign. And where are they going in the final on the long and wide Lugansk field? Riddle. Why does Pavel release two Ukronazist prisoners? Ah, this is our eternal kindness, kill us, torture us, but if you get captured by us, then you will be treated well, and then released. There are other roughnesses in the picture, but they do not affect the final assessment in any way, because this picture works too well as a work of art.
The actors did their best here, because the picture was shot in the Crimea, where such events Thank God did not happen (thanks to caring locals and "polite people"), so everything turned out extremely convincingly. But Alexey Kravchenko (militia commander Pavel) and Alexander Bukharov (the main character Vladislav) are especially good here. I also remember Vladimir Ilyin. All the others have coped with their roles to varying degrees of success, but in general do not cause antipathy. And with that, I upload a line of military films, and move on to a line of paintings by a very beloved director with an amazing imagination.
My rating is 10 out of 10 and my recommendation for viewing!
