Russia 88

Language : Russian

Year of release : 2009

Run time : 1h44m

Genre : Drama / Mockumentary

Cast : Pyotr Fyodorov

The Russian mockumentary was inspired by the skinhead group Format18,founded by Maxim Martsinkevich.

The movie opens with the film maker who is documenting the events , checking the camera, then going to the leads, Sasha and his na$i gang, Russia 88, b3ating a random person on a train in the subway, because they didn’t like the way they looked.

Sasha and his na$i gang interview people on the streets of Russia, and on common transportation, asking them if Russia should be for Russians or not.

Sasha has a sister who dresses normally, being a normal person who doesn’t believe in the nonsense he does, who to him dresses like sh1t, because it looks “polished on the outside, but with sh1t inside”.

Sasha and his gang spend most time at their headquarters, in some basement, and all their antics are glossed over, as their “master” is friends with a police officer.

Sasha and his gang steal his father’s van whenever they get together to beat up others.

The film maker sees Sasha’s sister with a man they don’t approve of, and when meeting him (when the man comes to meet the family)Sasha gets his phone number only to call him and ask him to come with his people, so they’d fight !

I personally didn’t enjoy the movie, as it’s full of hatred. The characters hate people because of how they look or their religion, without knowing them as a person.

Most of the time they eat or b3at people up for no reason, just for existing.

The movie is filmed in the documentary or found footage style, and is mostly, 99% black and white, rarely being in color. Because the movie is filmed in this style, it doesn’t have a soundtrack, but it has music due to the lead, Sasha, being in a rock band, in which he plays.

The acting was good.

The movie was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, in the Panorama section, and it won the director the Nika (the Russian main annual national film awards) Discovery of the Year award.

You can watch the full movie with English subtitles, for free if you follow this link :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miu17wW58mQ

Rating : Could have been a contender !