Gruz 200 (2007)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Aleksey Balabanov

Writer:

Aleksey Balabanov (writer)

Release Date:

14 June 2007 (Russia)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer and subsequently abused by the lawman gone mad. |

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Rape | Soviet Afghanistan War | Kidnapping | Murder

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Agniya Kuznetsova	...	Angelika
Aleksei Poluyan	...	Captain Zhurov
Leonid Gromov	...	Artem, Professor of Scientific Atheism
Aleksei Serebryakov	...	Aleksey
Leonid Bichevin	...	Valera
Natalya Akimova	...	Antonina, Aleksey's Wife
Yuri Stepanov	...	Mikhail, Colonel
Mikhail Skryabin	...	Sunka
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sergei Aleksandrov
Valentina Andryukova
Konstantin Balakirev
Aleksandr Bashirov	...	Skinny Alcoholic
Alyona Falaleyeva
Yuliya Glazunova
Dmitri Karpov
Marina Korolkova
Dmitry Kubasov
Igor Malukhin
Lyalya Miropolskaya
Andrei Mokeyev
Aleksandr Mosin
Anzhelika Nevolina
Mariya Nikiforova
Ilya Plyatskovsky
Irina Rakshina
Mikhail Sokolov
Aleksandr Ustinov
Lyudmila Yegorova
Pavel Yulku

Also Known As:

Cargo 200 (International: English title) (USA) (new title)
Груз 200 (Russia)
Freight 200 (International: English title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:III | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R18 | Italy:VM14

Company:

Kinokompaniya CTB

Trivia:

Leonid Bichevin lied that he knew how to drive to be cast for the part of Valera. A stuntman from the crew taught him on the set.

An odd trip

The title of the film is a code name for the return home of a body from the battle field. The reason why this title is chosen becomes clear early in the film - but the build of the film would allow a lot of different titles and each one of them would be matching for this film goes far beyond a body returning from the battle field. As the story rolls the film switches back and forth between a number of people and tells their respective tales - and the way all of them connect in one way or the other. The stories are not altogether happy but are not too dark either so the film doesn't turn too dreary. It is very grim though. As each of the stories turns to its conclusion one can not escape the biting cold reality of them.

Played out well enough to be believable and quick enough to be entertaining this film does pretty well. It's ending is fitting, its after-taste is bitter. But, above all, it's an interesting watch.

8 out of 10 broken bottles of vodka