Red Army

Sorry to say, I was very disappointed with this movie. Having managed to persuade a hockey legend and a politician of Russia to agree to partake on a "hockey documentary" is unfortunately the biggest achievement of Gabe Polsky on this title. I was really hoping to see and hear a lot more about the golden CSKA Moscow era and how it supplied the Soviet hockey team with the core of their succcess, but there is literally zero mentioning of this in the movie. The setting of the ambiance and the interviews are in my opinion quite overdramatized and it is obvious from the reactions of the interviewees they felt the same way. This could have been a far better film if more space was given to players from other countries who were confronted with the soviet team.

Sometimes sports can seem like they have a bloated sense of self-importance but it can resonate in the grand scheme of geopolitics. The Cold War was indeed an era of tension and it manifested itself most publicly when the Soviet Union brought its teams to North America. It wasn't just teams representing countries, but they were representing ways of life - America, the capitalist way of life, and the Soviet Union, the communist way of life. And ostensibly, those lifestyles determine who has the better players, at least that's what they wanted the teams to think. When you hear that a country has beaten Canada at hockey, you know that means business. However, the documentary Red Army shows how the Soviet Union team members, who are all world class athletes, become disenchanted with their leadership and are recruited over to American leagues. As expected, the attitude of the Russians today in the interviews are amusing and intimidating. Director Gabe Polsky feeds off the candid moments he captures, even if that results in the participants condescending him. With very deliberate motions with the camera, he capitalises on moments that other directors would have considered an outtake. There's a sense of humour and a sense of danger constantly bubbling, and Polsky's collection of archive footage always perfectly illustrates the portrait that the anecdotes form. It shows a skill in hockey that I've never seen before and Polsky makes it quite poetic at times. However sometimes its drama is too boisterous, but it's only real crux is that with such a big team it's hard for it to stay focused and follow all its characters at once. While it's most likely drenched in bias coming from an American, but pushing politics aside, it's the individual lives that matter. 8/10

Left the theater very disappointed with the movie for the exact reasons as NWIWCHAR. The interviews were embarrassingly amateurish and the movie was terribly incomplete, choppy and disjointed. In addition, there was little to nothing regarding the Summit Series in 72. Also, Herb Brook's comment was taken completely out of context as were Wayne Gretzky's. Where are the interviews with Mogilny and Bure and Federov? The Soviets, while tremendous players, in their own right, where not superior to the best Canadian players. The Summit Series in 1972 took a Soviet team that had played together for years and matched them against NHL All Stars in their off season, before training camp had started and players that had never played together on the same team. It wasn't until exhibition games in Sweden that the Canadian players (who were minus Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull and Gerry Cheevers) began to play somewhat cohesively as a team. They won three of the four games in Moscow and yes, Bobby Clarke's slash was despicable.

To be honest, I thought the focus of this documentary was going to be a behind-the-scenes look at how the Soviet National Hockey Team reacted to the "Miracle On Ice" 1980 Olympics loss to an amateur U.S.A. squad, at Lake Placid. However, I was surprised that the movie really glossed over that event, and instead centered on an inside narrative of the Soviet team itself over a span of several decades. The great Soviet defenseman Slava Fetisov is really the focal point of the documentary, as he recalls his early enlistment as a child for the team, the incredibly rigorous training once he was selected, and eventually becoming part of the famed "Russian Five", perhaps the greatest quintet of players to grace the ice at the same time. That's just the beginning of the story though, as Fastinov recalls after "Perestroika", believing he would be able to join the National Hockey League, in North America, but how promises by his coach Victor Tikhinov, whom he disliked intensely, were never kept. After a defection to the West by one of the "Russian Five", and a threatened boycott by other players, Fetisov and other Russian players were finally able to leave and join the NHL. I thought it was quite interesting that even once in the NHL, the players were denigrated by fans, coaches, and even other players. Finally they found a home and great success with legendary coach Scotty Bowman and the Detroit Red Wings. This documentary was written and directed by Gabe Polsky, who seemed to struggle with his interview style, at times drawing ire from the interviewees, even at one point getting the "middle finger salute" from Fetisov. However, I got the feeling some of this was meant to be seen by the viewers and that the relationship between the two was warmer than depicted. All in all, despite the rough spots, I found the film insightful and interesting, and I felt I learned quite a lot from it.

I was aware of the hype surrounding Red Army since Cannes this year. However, the fact that I knew so little about hockey cast doubt on whether it's worth to see or not. Stellar ratings and reviews on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes eventually convinced me to see it at AFI Fest last week...and I was totally blown away by it. For starters, hockey is still the main theme here. However, it's not the only dominant element. Gabe Polsky utilized hockey to explore many facets of life such as family, friendship, politics, and patriotism. Furthermore, he found the perfect, complex main character in Slava Fetisov to build the narrative around. Depicted as a poster boy for the Red Army, Fetisov emotionally exposed individual and collective struggles of being a member of the USSR athletic system whilst uncovering the direct link to a larger force at work behind it that is Soviet government. There's no flat moment and it kept me entertained from start to finish. The fact that it has garnered serious Oscar buzz before widely released shows that Red Army is a must-see documentary, whether you're a hockey fan or not.

I came away from this movie deep in thought, trying to piece together the personal journeys of the cast, the context of life in the USSR, the changes and resulting impact upon the players lives. This documentary is well researched and highly viewable, it is not just a male only film. Women get to see stripped to the bare bone, deep male team bonding, open responses to complex relationships and real meaning as to how 5 men dominated a sport in the USSR and the Americas. The death of one of the cast members shortly after the movie added a melancholy touches, yet there is humour from both Gabe Polsky and Vyacheslav Fetisov. It was clever, I see this documentary staying around for some time, certainly one to watch again.

There has never been such beauty in sport than ice hockey performed by the Soviet Union at its best. How was it possible? It's pretty obvious that it all was due to propaganda reasons. The Communist human was superior, according to Soviet leaders. Or at least they wanted to think so; but the almost only way to prove it was through the athletes. The legendary Fetisov tells most of the story here. How the players were kept almost as slaves under the regime of KGB man Tichonov. And when finally the Soviet system broke down, Fetisov and his comrades were allowed to play in NHL. But had to give most of their money to the embassy. A sometimes breathtaking documentary and the system succeeded in creating some of the best athletes ever. And yes, they impressed the West. But the price was high.

The potential to delve into the mysterious Red Army hockey system had me excited to see this movie. Some of the footage, some of the interviews were awesome. It's what was blatantly overlooked or ignored in the documentary that had me feeling angry when I left the theatre. I felt that the the interviewer, Gabe Polsky, had the interview style equal to that of a "punk kid", with a blatant lack of interview skills or savvy to deal with extremely shy and introverted products of the Soviet system. His questioning was awkward, sometimes disrespectful, and even in the matter of someone like Kasatonov, oddly "compliant". (Why DIDN'T he stick up for Fetisov?!). There were no interviews with Makarov, Tikhonov, Mogilny. And there were so many others who could have been spoken to. I suspect they sized up Gabe and thought he was a schmuck and didn't want to talk to him. Fetisov left a lot unanswered...or did Gabe not know how to speak to him? There's got to be more to the story of the his transitions to the NHL, the Cups that he won with Detroit. Did he eventually win the acceptance of his western teammates? Perhaps we could HEAR from any of them? How about an interview with Steve Yzerman? He would have much to tell, I would think, about the coming of the Russians to the Wings. Then there had to be a story as to why he went back to Russia after Perestroika. And why was the tragic story of Konstantinov not addressed? What about the perspective of other NHLers? The Icing on the Cake was the depiction of today's Russian stars perceived lack of patriotism for their country....depicted by OVECHKIN shooting at nesting dolls of SOUP? Are you freaking kidding me???? Ovechkin was the FIRST Russian to say he was playing in SOCHI "no matter what" before the NHL had even given the go ahead for the pros to go over. An Oscar nominee??? You've got to be kidding me. It came off as student film at best.

You'll note that the only bad reviews so far are Canadian hockey fans upset that those too young to remember Russian Hockey dominance, will learn that Canada was never the defacto all Hockey rulers of the world as they like to claim. Fact is, Russia was the best in the world for quite some time. This is just a tough pill for Canadian hockey fans to swallow. My only complaint is the interviewer did come off as amateurish and disrespectful. Outside of that, I thought the film was very introspective with lots of old footage of the former USSR. Excellent interviews. And to the guy complaining about no Tikhonov interview, it clearly stated at the end of the film that Tikhonov declined an interview request. This is an excellent documentary. If you can put your patriotic homerism aside and respect it for what it is, you will enjoy it.

I don't know if this documentary is the "Hockey Movie For People Who Don't Like Hockey". Actually, it isn't - rather, if you love hockey, especially the history and progression of it (and particularly if you remember these players from the likes of the Red Wings or the Devils), you'll have a fondness for it. But it's the core and characters in this story that makes Gabe Polsky's first documentary so successful, past the moments of gruffness from the interviewees - actually, it's mostly the main subject, the leader of the Red Army Hockey Team in the heyday of the early 1980s, Vyacheslav Fetisov. Inspirational sports movies can be enjoyed by most people, sports fan or not, but this also brings on the politics and world affairs into the mix. How could it not, considering it largely takes place before the Cold War ends? And leave it to the hockey masters here to wonder what a "Cold War" even really meant, if anything at all. Of course by the end of the film we see why Fetisov and a couple of the other interviewees would say that - they currently hold ranks in the Russian government under the sports division (yes, there is such a group, but then this IS a country that has a nationalized hockey team in its military). Nonetheless, this is a story that involves us with these players who know almost nothing of hockey - rather, that's what's drilled in to them by a couple of coaches, one a sort of wise, awesome sage, and then another who is a ruthless and cruel taskmaster - and the games that made them legends. The lack of hyperbole with these interviewees, especially Fetisov, makes things grounded in a reality that sports docs usually on TV lack. Lots of great clips from the games, many from the Olympics of the 80's (including those classics where the Russians made their names against the US and Canada), highlight the film and draw the audience in to the action. Again, you don't necessarily have to love hockey to get into the film. On the other hand, Red Army's ace up its sleeve is that it may actually get you interested once it's over. It feature such unusual, frenetic action on display - the Red Army front, those five players, each with their own nicknames and personalities and deep friendships formed as 'Comrades' with sticks - that you can't help but get into it. It's like watching a form of dance much as it's a sport or game. And, I must say once more, the political dimensions heighten the weight and consequences that the players took on in the history: keep in mind that just as early as 1989, it was unthinkable Russians could be in the NHL. Now, they're as common to see as Canadians or any of the other major countries that usually bring in players. So buckle in for 80 minutes of a riveting story, often with a lot of unexpected, wild humor. Example: an elder ex-KGB agent is interviewed and gives his take on having to cover the Red Army players when first playing in Canada, and other instances of the secret politicos in the hockey arena. Watch as suddenly his grand-child comes in to the interview and humanity is revealed past the gruff exterior. It's priceless.