"I love my motherland ..." According to Pavel Lungin, before the film “Oligarch” no one filmed “political thrillers”. This genre, apparently, is popular in the States, because even the domestic viewer unmistakably defines a separate category of products in which the American president, some senators or heads of the FBI and the CIA are important actors.
But everyone, of course, understands that the American senator of the 80s, 90s or zeros is not the same as the presidential candidate of Russia from the Fatherland party in the post-default 1999. Therefore, any adaptation of a foreign “political thriller” on domestic soil will always be more than just an adaptation. More because we, not America, had the real terrorist attacks in 1999. And this year we almost impeached the president for the genocide of the people.
The disclosure of the characters of Major Bragin, released from six years of captivity, and Anna Zimina, an employee of the Counter-Terrorism Center, takes place in a heated political atmosphere. Lungin masterfully grabs half-forgotten fragments of recent history, forming images from them that are not completely reduced to any particular event or politician. But the essence of the events was conveyed exactly - there were actually the military in the top three of the list of newly formed rescue and patriotic parties, and scandals with the ransom of prisoners, and the belt of martyrs, and longing for the lost homeland for some reason.
The image of the Motherland in the series is fluid and elusive, just as it was elusive all the 90s. In one episode, a group of "people" men talk to Bragin. One of them has a brother left “out there”, in the war, and the Motherland for him is not just a territory, but something that has forever entered the life of his family and requires registration. He looks at Bragin’s face with disbelief, wanting to see signs of this design in him. But can anything take shape under the wing of a thief-oligarch? “They will make you like a child.” Sit in a Mercedes and forget everything. And the truth: catching the “trend”, at the turn of the century like mushrooms from the rain of war appear “Honor and Motherland”, “Fatherland – all Russia”, “Motherland”, united in the series under the common name “Fatherland”.
The equanimity and monolithic image of Bragin unscrupulous politician is ready to sell everyone as an image of the Motherland. But what’s even worse is what’s really behind the character. The essence of Bragin is tragic and remains unrecognized to the end by none of the heroes. Only a teenage daughter notices that “Dad is cunning”, and Anna Zimina’s ingenious intuition reveals to her that the form of the major is nothing more than a mask. It seems that in the nightmare of the 90s it was impossible not to go crazy, while trying to selflessly serve Russia. A brilliant analytical mind, with pressure and tastefully conducted interrogations and investigations - for Anna, serving the state became a real vocation and passion. But the double or triple bottom, which the doll opens to her in the image of Bragin, begins to break Anna.
To say that it is people like Zimina who are supported by the state is probably not quite correct. And at the same time, she becomes exactly the person who is able to change the fate of the whole country. And here, if you think about it, it becomes scary from what you saw in the last series ... Bragin's behavior and Zimina's struggle are the actions of just two people. Only two people can change the fate of an entire country.
And they can change it only because the oligarchic regime of the 90s has put a huge number of people out of brackets, on whom anything has ceased to depend. The election results are manipulation, patriotism is a mask, the main siloviki in the film is bought by “patriots”, almost no one has a civil position, because there is no image of the Motherland. Just as there are no people in Kulikovo Field during his visit to Bragin. Lungin chooses a vivid image of an empty and sacred place and event for all. But the time will come, and the sacred places will be filled with people, the sacred dates will gather the people together, and everyone who comes will see the image of the Motherland. In the series, this will not be - after all, we have a story about the 90s, after which the country miraculously survived. And that's a lot.
9 out of 10
Original