ironhorse_iv Review of Red Army

Red Army (2014)

Puck Yeah! This movie indeed reach its goal! It was very informative.

[8/10 · 28 September 2016]

Made to capitalize on the fact that Russia got to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, this documentary directed by Gabe Polsky looks and acts like a propaganda film by its trailers. It sounds like it was going to tell the story of the Soviet Union's dominance of ice hockey during the Cold War, however, after watching it, it's really doesn't explore much of that. It's more about the social and cultural parallels between the collection styles of the Soviet Union vs the Individual. It told from the perspective of its captain, Viacheslav "Slava" Fetisov, who witness it, during the early and late 1980s. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to see a story about a man fighting against the system, but I thought it was going focus more on CDKA (Centralnyy Dom Krasnoy Armii) AKA Soviet Union's Red Army hockey club and its members, throughout its 46 years history. The film barely talk about the past members of the hockey team like Vyacheslav Starshinov, Boris Mikhailov, Vitaly Davydov, and Viktor Yakushev during the pre-1980s era, nor does the movie explore or explain the different between the Soviet Union national ice hockey team and that of the CDKA. The film makes it seem like, all of the championships was completed all by the same team, when technically; it wasn't. It's like if a movie was made about the New York Rangers, and made them, seem like they won, all the Olympic golds for Team USA when in truth, they're two different teams. It's a bit misleading. The film also fails to talk about the discussion of steroid use, a drug that the Soviet Union was very open in using in sports in that time, nor the fact that there were scandals, where other Russian hockey's clubs intentionally lose to the Red Army in order to make the CDKA look strong. Also, the depiction of today's Russian stars perceived lack of patriotism for their country was a bit misleading. Internationally, Alexander Ovechkin has represented Russia in multiple tournaments. Also, the movie is a bit misleading when it comes to Fetisov and his relationship with the NHL. The film makes it seem like Fetisov didn't have an interest in joining the NHL, until the late 1980s, in reality, Fetisov had been interested in joining, even before the 1980s Winter Olympics. In fact, he was drafted by the Montreal Canadians in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft eleven years prior to Soviet's newfound glasnost policy, but couldn't committed to it, due to trouble with travel papers. Also, Fetisov's trouble transformation from Soviet Union's style of hockey to NHL's style was also somewhat fictional. He debuted with the Devils in 1989–90 and recorded eight goals and 42 points, both NHL career-highs for Fetisov. In fact, most of the years, he spent with the Devils, they got to the playoffs. Plus, the film fails to mention that Fetisov was their assistant coach for some time. The film also fails to mention, the June 13, 1997 limo crash that Fetisov, along with teammate Vladimir Konstantinov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov got injury from. It would had help the human story that the film is trying to tell with Fetisov's backstory about friendship and the death of his brother. I like that side of the story about brotherhood, and I think you would like it, too, even if you're not a sport fan. There is a wonderful shot of teammate, Alexei Kasatonov getting interview about his betrayal of Fetisov, and you can't help, feeling bad for him. In my moment, most of the talking-heads interviews were beautifully lightened, place, and shot, even if some of them were awkwardly put in, like the ex-KGB member, Felix Nechepore, being interrupted by a little girl about his sunglasses. It adds to the charm of the film. Even Fetisov is introduced to us as a douche bag, but softly shown as a very complex, but busy, old morals good person. It really took me completely by surprise. The film is also very good at its editing. The archive sport event/ training footage mix with the interviews, match so well. The music and effects for it, was amazing. The pacing, not so well. For a movie about the Red Army, it really stop talking about it, 2/3 in. Yet, it was also very surprising that they would talk about the 1980's 'Miracle of Ice' moment so early, in the movie. 20 minutes in. I thought, that would had been the climax, but whatever. In the end, 'Red Army' is a must-see documentary, whether you're a hockey fan or not. Overall: I highly recommended seeing this film.