The Edge

This movie was rather unusual but luckily in an original kind of way. A Russian movie, set right after WW II, in which trains play a very central role. This doesn't really sound like your typical and average movie!

So yes, the movie and its story in general are quite unusual and original but this still would had all meant very little if the movie wasn't a good or interesting one to watch. And luckily the movie is really an interesting watch. It actually features a very simplistic and straight-forward story in it but things get developed and handled well and add to this the fact that the movie features some great characters in it.

It really isn't a very exciting movie story- or action-wise but yet the movie still feels that way. It's because the movie has a good pace, which is probably because it's a movie in with the main character is always on the move, with or without his locomotive.

Yes, it's quite amazing, the central role that trains play in this movie. They form an important aspect of the story and sort of become characters themselves in the movie. I know there are probably plenty of train lovers out there, who will get a blast out of seeing this movie, with all types of old Soviet locomotives in it.

But also otherwise this movie has plenty to offer. It's a nice 'little' type of movie, with humane characters and realistic events and emotions, while the movie still manages to go over-the-top with things and becomes an entertaining one to watch as well. It's hard to label this movie because it's doing so much and it's doing about everything in its own way.

One thing that the movie also has really going for it is its look. It has a great and grand sort of look over it, that makes this movie feel authentic as well as slightly epic. I liked the visual style and the fact that for a change it didn't just portrayed the Siberian hinterland as a cold, white and gray, depressing sort of place. The movie is actually quite colorful, without using that much colors really, as strange as that might sound.

A good and also original watch but I really wouldn't go as far as calling this movie a great one or a must-see. It's just a tad bit too simplistic and straight-forward for that.

7/10

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I saw this at the Toronto film festival on September 11, 2010, under the title, "The Edge". I walked in prepared for a heavy dose of Russian gloom. I like Russian literature, especially Chekhov, but I'm always reminded of these lines from a David Massengill song: "What's wrong with the Russians? Have you read their novels? They all die in brothels." In this case, there is nothing wrong with the Russians. This movie grabs you from the start and doesn't let go. Don't get me wrong, this is not a lighthearted movie; it has serious subject matter and complex issues that the characters must deal with . . . and there is plenty of gloom to go around.

Here is the situation in Siberia: At the beginning of World War II, while Stalin and Hitler were still honoring their non-aggression pact, Germans and Russians were co-existing in a remote labor camp. Eventually, Stalin sends his thugs to oust the Germans and declare the Russian inhabitants to be collaborators. At this point the film opens with a young girl running for her life. Four years later, the fighting is over and a Soviet war hero has arrived to work on the town's steam engine. The only Germans left are the illegitimate child of one of the Russian women . . . and don't forget that running girl.

I found myself missing some of the subtitles because I could not take my eyes of the compelling characters and the actors who play them. The standouts are Vladimir Mashkov as the hero and Anjorka Strechel and Yulia Peresild as the women who love/hate him. But his true passion is the steam engine, which he races through the snowy Siberian woods.

The steam locomotive chase sequences are the best put on film since Buster Keaton spectacularly crashed a Union train into Oregon's Rock River in The General (1927). It's as though director Uchitel is rebuilding the train and the bridge Keaton destroyed eight decades ago and a half a world away.

Unlike Keaton's masterpiece, which should have won an Oscar in 1927, this film is Russia's entry into the 2010 Best Foreign Film Oscar competition.

In 1945 a disgraced Red Army train engineer, Ignat (Vladimir Mashkov), is assigned to a Labor Camp in Siberia, which houses former Soviet POWs that Stalin assumed collaborated with the enemy and need "re-educated." His status immediately wins the affection of the in-house babe (Yulia Peresild), but Ignat sets his eyes on an abandoned steam engine cut off from use because of a washed-out bridge. The problem is a German refugee, Elsa (Anjorka Strechel), is using the locomotive as her residence. Then there's the issue of getting the engine back across the broken bridge.

Released in 2010, "The Edge" (or "Kray" transliterated from Russian) is a Russian film with English subtitles. If you favor (generally) realistic films that deal with trains or the northern wilderness, such as "The Way Back" (2010), "Transsiberian" (2008), "Dr. Zhivago" (1965) and "Runaway Train" (1985), I encourage you to check it out (a quality print is available on Youtube).

The film dares to make a German female in postwar Russia a potential heroine and possible love interest. People forget that German citizens like her were just as much victims of the war, which is easy to overlook amidst the horror of Nazi invasion.

This is a superb adventure drama with authentic locations and steam engines. It's simultaneously brutal, adventurous, dramatic and amusing. Train lovers should eat it up.

The film runs approximately 2 hours and was shot in Russia.

GRADE: B+

It's simply and excellent film about decent folk made horrible by the war. Trying to find a way to live again.

It's a good story, well directed, shot and edited. What more can one ask for as a lover of this art form. Any rating below a 7 is just ridiculous.

I guess this film can be seen as a railroad or train film as some of the reviewers of limited cognitive skills have already observed. And the film's not for anyone who dislikes foreign language films (unless you speak Russian). I love Russian films and this one did not disappoint one bit. But I almost passed on watching it due to some grossly shortsighted reviews left by a larger number of critics than I would have expected.

This unpretentious film is skilfully woven with fascinating period detail from post WW2 1940s Russian life. The well researched film demonstrates understanding and depth in its commentary on Politics and life under Stalin as well as everyday peasant life, the food, clothing, the unique colloquialisms (hopefully genuine) - all were a delight to take in, and I think most who give The Edge a chance will be pleasantly surprised.

Don't look for a complex or sophisticated plot in this film, although the human qualities demonstrated are as visceral and carnal as the large brown bear which appears several times. But the storyline easily hangs together and works quite well as the period vehicle for what it was intended.

Certainly anyone with an interest in trains and locomotives, engineering or physics will enjoy this film, but I feel sorry for the critic who is unable to appreciate the many other delights which the talented director Aleksey Uchitel has given us.