Russian

Downfall

The riveting subject of Downfall is nothing less than the disintegration of Adolf Hitler in mind, body, and soul. A 2005 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, this German historical drama stars Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) as Hitler, whose psychic meltdown is depicted in sobering detail, suggesting a fallen, pathetic dictator on the verge on insanity, resorting to suicide (along with Eva Braun and Joseph and Magda Goebbels) as his Nazi empire burns amidst chaos in mid-1945. While staging most of the film in the claustrophobic bunker where Hitler spent his final days, director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment) dares to show the gentler human side of der Fuehrer, as opposed to the pure embodiment of evil so familiar from many other Nazi-era dramas. This balanced portrayal does not inspire sympathy, however: We simply see the complexity of Hitler's character in the greater context of his inevitable downfall, and a more realistic (and therefore more horrifying) biographical portrait of madness on both epic and intimate scales. By ending with a chilling clip from the 2002 documentary Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, this unforgettable film gains another dimension of sobering authenticity. --Jeff Shannon

Day Watch (Unrated)

The dizzying supernatural Russian epic started in Night Watch continues with Day Watch, in which once again the battle between the forces of Light (the Night Watch) and Dark (the Day Watch) threatens to crack open the world as we know it. The plot centers around Anton (Russian superstar Konstantin Khabensky), an Other (one of many beings with varied supernatural powers) whose son, Yegor, has joined the Day Watch, who are grooming him to be their superpowerful savior. Anton's protoge, Svetlana, also has high-capacity power, and if Yegor and Svetlana come into conflict, the resulting devastation could shatter everything. The key to success seems to lie with the Chalk of Fate, a simple piece of chalk that can rewrite reality. Day Watch is full of plotholes and underdeveloped story points (at one point, to keep him safe, Anton's consciousness is switched into the body of his Night Watch colleague Olga--but mere moments later the Day Watch knows what's happened, before any suspense could be mined from it; as a result, this promising plot twist seems only to exist to allow for some girl-on-girl action), but it's forgivable. As with the first film, Day Watch bubbles over with its wildly imaginative world, its ravishing style, and its fantastic visual effects. If a Hollywood blockbuster had half as much creativity, it would be praised to the skies and be the hit of the year. Don't let the subtitles put you off (particularly since even the subtitles reflect the movie's wit and imagination)--Day Watch is a cinematic feast that any movie fan should devour. --Bret Fetzer

Like The Matrix, Day Watch combines cutting-edge digital effects and mind-blowing action to create a stunningly original world. This Unrated Edition takes you on an even wilder ride with more intense thrills and incredible effects.

Only one thing stands between peace and Armageddon: the supernatural agents of Day Watch, who fight to control the armies of light and darkness. When the son of a senior Day Watch officer turns to the darkness, forces beyond the imagination are unleashed and the fate of the world hangs in the balance!

Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition

Russian master Alexander Sokurov has tapped into the very flow of history itself for this flabbergasting film. Thanks to the miracles of digital video, Sokurov (and cinematographer Tilman Buttner) uses a single, unbroken, 90-minute shot to wind his way through the Hermitage in St. Petersburg--the repository of Russian art and the former home to royalty. Gliding through time, we glimpse Catherine II, modern-day museumgoers, and the doomed family of Nicholas II. History collapses on itself, as the opulence of the past and the horrors of the 20th century collide, and each door that opens onto yet another breathtaking gallery is another century to be heard from. The movie climaxes with a grand ball and thousands of extras, prompting thoughts of just how crazy Sokurov had to be to try a technical challenge like this--and how far a distance we've traveled, both physically and spiritually, since the movie began. --Robert Horton

A modern filmmaker magically finds himself transported to the 18th century, where he embarks on a time-traveling journey through 300 years of Russian history in Alexander Sokurov's masterpiece. Filmed in HD with directors commentary

Stalker: A Film by Andrei Tarkovsky

Challenging, provocative, and ultimately rewarding, Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker is a mind-bending experience that defies explanation. Like Tarkovsky's earlier and similarly enigmatic science fiction classic Solaris, this long, slow, meditative masterpiece demands patience and total attention; anyone accustomed to faster pacing is likely to abandon the nearly three-hour film before its first hour is over. On the other hand, those who approach Tarkovsky's work in a properly receptive (and wide awake) frame of mind are likely to appreciate the film's seductive depth of theme and hypnotic imagery. Set in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic future (although the time-frame is never specified), the eerie and unsettling story focuses on the title character, Stalker (Aleksandr Kajdanovsky), who leads characters known only as the Writer (Anatoli Solonitsyn) and the Scientist (or Professor, played by Nikolai Grinko) into a mysterious region called The Zone. Tarkovsky films their journey as a long odyssey, or religious pilgrimage, and center of The Zone--said to be under an alien influence--is where each of these men hopes to find a kind of personal transcendence. Despite obvious parallels to The Wizard of Oz, Tarkovsky's film is devoid of special effects or any fantastical elements typically associated with science fiction or fantasy. Instead, Stalker makes astonishing use of sound and bleak-but-beautiful imagery to envelope the viewer into the eerie atmosphere of The Zone and the dank, colorless landscape that surrounds it. And while the film's glacial pacing may be off-putting to some viewers, there's no denying that Stalker has a mesmerizing power of its own, including a thought-provoking and highly debatable ending that propels the film to a higher level of meaning and significance. --Jeff Shannon

The Italian

The Italian, a film that aims to expose the overcrowded, impoverished conditions in Soviet state-run orphanages, is a chilling portrayal of contemporary Russian life. Director Andrei Kravchuk conveys, from inside orphanage walls, the sense of responsibility that employees feel to the children, and how desperate economic straits drive these same dedicated employees to sell their kids for a few Euros. Vanya Solntsev (Kolya Spiridonov), nicknamed "The Italian," is a six year-old abandoned at birth. His jealous peers envy his invitation from an Italian family to move to Italy, but young Vanya is determined to find his real mother, which means forfeiting this rare opportunity for adoption. Kolyan (Denis Moiseenko), the gang leader Vanya "works" for, and Natasha (Polina Vorobieva), a gentle caretaker, try to convince him otherwise through scare tactics and beatings to no avail. With the help of teen prostitute, Irka (Olga Shuvalova), Vanya learns to read and catches a train to the city, living as a runaway hunted by his orphanage supervisors who want to sell him to The Italians. Shock sets in upon imagining a society of child vagrants roaming Russian streets, not to mention women abandoning children as expendables. Given the tragic subject matter, it is tempting to assume that this is a chronic social problem in Russia, but hopefully The Italian merely fictionalizes an extreme example of this sad topic. Convincing performances by Spiridonov and Shuvalova add to the film's documentary feel. If nothing else, The Italian serves as biting social commentary that is culturally enlightening though heartbreaking. --Trinie Dalton

For most Russian orphans the chance to be adopted is a dream come true. But six-year-old Vanya Solntsev has other hopes. After discovering his mother is still alive the abandoned boy teaches himself to read so as to learn her address from his personal files. Before a wealthy Italian couple can claim him for their own Vanya sets off on a perilous journey to find his only remaining family. Pursued by orphanage staff and the police the determined runaway must now face the most difficult challenges of his young life in this incredible story inspired by true events.Runtime: 99 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 043396170889 Manufacturer No: 17088

Solaris - Criterion Collection

The Russian answer to 2001, and very nearly as memorable a movie. The legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky made this extremely deliberate science-fiction epic, an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. The story follows a cosmonaut (Donatas Banionis) on an eerie trip to a planet where haunting memories can take physical form. Its bare outline makes it sound like a routine space-flight picture, an elongated Twilight Zone episode; but the further into its mysteries we travel, the less familiar anything seems. Even though Tarkovsky's meanings and methods are sometimes mystifying, Solaris has a way of crawling inside your head, especially given the slow pace and general lack of forward momentum. By the time the final images cross the screen, Tarkovsky has gone way beyond SF conventions into a moving, unsettling vision of memory and home. Well worthy of cult status, Solaris is both challenging art-house fare and a whacked-out head trip. --Robert Horton

Prisoner of the Mountains

Two Russian soldiers - a fresh recruit named Vanya and a hardened veteran named Sacha - are taken hostage by Chechen guerillas after a deadly ambush leaves all of their comrades dead. Their captor a battle-weary village elder wants to use them as a bartering tool to get back his own son held prisoner by the Russian army. But when the trade goes sour and all trust is broken Vanya and Sacha realize their hours are numbered and attempt to escape before they're forced to join their comrades in death.System Requirements:Starring: Sergei Bodrov Jr. Susanna Mekhralieva Oleg Menshikov Djemal Sikharulidze Directed By: Sergei Bodrov Running Time: 99 Min. Color Copyright 2003 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616887498 Manufacturer No: 1004708

There's a beautiful irony in the way that the most specific war tales are often the most universal. Set high in the imposing, isolated Caucasus mountains, where the 20th century meets ancient lifestyles, Sergei Bodrov's drama of the Chechyn war finds two opposing cultures locked in conflict for so long that the reasons seem moot. Young Russian grunt Vanya (Sergei Bodrov Jr., the director's son) and his jaded veteran Sergeant (Burnt by the Sun's Oleg Menshikov) survive an ambush by Chechyn guerrillas and wind up hostages of a village elder, a war-weary widower who has lost almost everything to fighting and wants merely to swap them for his POW son. Bodrov's humanism is directed with empathy and stirred with harsh realism--he takes no sides and offers no fantasies of happy endings, only small miracles of kindness that refuse to be swallowed in the destruction and mistrust. --Sean Axmaker

Ostrov (The Island), NTSC version with English subtitles (2006)

ENGLISH subtitled DVD !!! Import, NTSC (USA & Canada), ALL region, Anamorphic Widescreen. AUDIO OPTIONS: DD 2.0 Stereo, DD 5.1 & DTS RUSSIAN. Original Russian artwork.............................................................. SYNOPSIS: Winner of 5 Nika Awards (Russian Oscars) including Best Film. Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives a very unusual man. His fellow-monks are confused by his bizarre conduct. Those who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future. However, he considers himself unworthy because of a sin he committed in his youth. The film is a parable, combining the realities of Russian everyday life with monastic ritual and routine.

Come and See

War & Peace (1968)

This 3 DVD six-and-a-half-hour set features the 1968 film and brings all the passion and turbulence of Leo Tolstoy s epic masterpiece dramatically to the screen.The book was written in the nineteenth century and gives a graphic insight into Russian society at the time and is still considered to be one of the greatest novels ever written.This classic film directed by Sergei Bondarachuk is considered to be the most faithful to the original novel and with a combination of amazing large scale battle scenes and intimate character portrayals this film is many peoples favorite interpretation of Tolstoy s classic novel.The story follows the fortunes of the aristocratic Bolkonsky and Rostov families as Napoleon s armies sweep through Europe culminating in the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The evil effects of war are a significant theme and war forms the backdrop as it influences the lives of these families and their many associates.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 823880021855 Manufacturer No: HURDV2185

Like Tolstoy's novel, this epic-length War and Peace is rough going, but worth the effort. Winner of the 1969 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film and widely considered the most faithful adaptation of Tolstoy's classic, Sergei Bondarchuk's massive Soviet-Italian coproduction was seven years in the making, at a record-setting cost of $100 million. Bondarchuk himself plays the central role of Pierre Bezukhov, buffeted by fate during Russia's tumultuous Napoleonic Wars, serving as pawn and philosopher through some of the most astonishing set pieces ever filmed. Bondarchuk is a problematic director: interior monologues provide awkward counterpoint to intimate dramas, weaving together the many classes and characters whose lives are permanently affected by war. Infusions of '60s-styled imagery clash with the film's period detail; it's an anomalous experiment that doesn't really work. Undeniably, however, the epic battle scenes remain breathtakingly unique; to experience the sheer scale of this film is to realize that such cinematic extravagance will never be seen again. --Jeff Shannon