The genre of military-patriotic action film in Russian cinema is much worse than overseas. Until now, our filmmakers praise the past feats of domestic heroes, shooting mainly about the Great Patriotic War and, somewhat less often, about Afghanistan. However, the quality and morality that they try to convey to the viewer, to put it mildly, is very lame. Either mindless stupid militants a la Tanki get to the rental, or “Nine” with a fictional hero-collaborator, who, according to Timur Bekmambetov, “was right.”
Against the background of such a movie, the “Balkan Frontier” looks really advantageous, kind of based on real events, but so secret that it is quite possibly partially fictional.
Nevertheless, the Balkan Frontier works in its genre and field. The film, which should be positioned as a typical jingo-patriotic action movie, turns out to be such. Maybe the blockbusters of the level of early Michael Bay "Balkan Frontier" can not compete, but with the same "Secret soldiers of Benghazi" - quite. Even the main storyline echoes (all night the military keeps a strategically important object from attacks by terrorists).
Another thing is that Russian mercenaries, unlike American militants, have more noble ideas, and actors cope with their task better.
If American cinema under its jingoism in the format of a military blockbuster masks the imperialist and the attitudes of the native power, accustomed to provoke and get involved in the conflicts of foreign states, then in the "Balkan Frontier" one can guess a movie opposing the ideas of a star-striped power. Although politics does not play a decisive role here. The film does not focus on criticism of NATO’s militaristic, aggressive foreign policy. Here they kind of try to pay attention to the stories of civilians who became victims of foreign policy behind-the-scenes intrigues, in colors demonstrating the consequences of American bombing democracy and military operations with it.
That's just that part of the cast, which for this, more dramatic part of the plot, is responsible, does not cope with its task. For example, the lead singer Milena Radulovic ("Kola Superdeep"), if she can impress and be remembered for something, it is the impressive size of the bust. Another thing is a really talented young actor Milos Bikovic, who played a Serbian police officer. And his image turned out to be really memorable, dramatic, and the viewer can associate himself with this young guy who witnessed the atrocities that Albanian militants committed on his native land.
And it is impossible to agree with the statements of Anton Dolin that the Albanians are represented here by typical villains, because in the film there are also positive characters of this nationality. Another thing is that the main villain appears as a cartoon terrorist who commits all his crimes simply because he is the villain according to the script.
In relation to other heroes, there is nothing to say - standard action characters, as if written from the relevant rules of online video games (stormtrooper-sniper-subversive, only the medic is not enough), and due to the one-sidedness and simplicity of the script, the actors themselves (and not the most recent Russian artists) in the roles of these same fighters have nothing to show in the frame - all the characters are purely stilted heroes of the action movie.
But the visual range for Russian cinema is kept at a very decent level. It seems that you are watching a really expensive movie - spectacular action with impressive pyrotechnics, some interesting camera solutions, coupled with saturated colors of filters - all this definitely benefits the visual perception of the tape.
Thus, "Balkan Frontier" appears to be the most typical military militants in the best and at the same time the worst Hollywood traditions, although he tries to oppose himself to American cinema. And even despite its secondary and imitation of the same “Black Hawk” or “13 Hours”, this film still manages to remain quite an original brainchild for Russian cinema. As well as an expensive and high-quality, with a very interesting reading of those important historical events, about which little was said in the cinema before. And that’s why the “Balkan Frontier” deserves at least one view.
6 out of 10
After watching the patriotic action movie "Heaven" I wanted to go into a deep binge of years so for 50 - such a masterpiece of sludge came out that without a mat and do not comment. In order to brighten up the ugly impression, I watched the last film in a similar spirit, of those that I liked. And yes, this is the Balkan border.
It is no secret that the holy NATO, which bombed a European country to rubbish, was in dire need of at least a formal justification (although what am I talking about, in the name of democracy, do not look at that without the approval of the UN, and no matter what, depleted uranium in bombs violates all conceivable conventions), so that they (we are talking about Western Europe mainly and the United States) cultural figures urgently gushed into this sinful world a certain number of strictly anti-Serb films of different kind, quality and focus - from festival obscenety to almost blockbusters. At least some objective films about the Yugoslav Wars were with a gulkin nose, overhead: a decent Savior and Spanish Guerreros (with reservations, the truth). Russians, who with the Serbs, as you know, bhai bhai and generally brama zauvek, tried in the works of mass culture to give a weak answer to all this lawlessness, I repeatedly came across a series in series where the Yugoslav Wars (almost always it was a Kosovo theme) were presented from a pro-Serb position, even a whole series came out with Puskepalis, but...
It is clear that on the twenty-year anniversary of the bombing came an order to slither something patriotic, as a result of which the theme of the march on Pristina was chosen - no jokes, a truly heroic and noteworthy act, it is a pity that he did not help the Serbs much - but this is a topic for a separate discussion, not for a review of the film. The film in the spirit of modern trends naturally flirts with tolerance, for example, it is clearly shown that among the multinational group of main characters there are Muslim believers. And among them is one Albanian, and the word NATO in the film does not sound at all, which did not prevent film critics (sorry God) like Anton Dolin from branding the film. What can be done, only Americans have the moral right to remove agitations about those they do not like, and we (and the Serbs, of course) should close the mitten. Vae Victis.
Naturally, in the team "our" there is a girl, but then the case when it is not infuriating, especially the heroine Kurkova (what a fun name for an actress playing a sniper) is shown adequately, she does not enter into hand-to-hand fights with Albanian muzzles, which weigh 3 times more than her, and deftly clicks them from afar as a campersha. Of course, there is a love line, which in the film is well, NAFIG is not needed, only to be pendured, and then how not in the Russian film. But Milena Radulovich is a pleasant lady to the surprise (she, by the way, considers herself ugly for Russians) and the romance of one of the heroes with her is justified, although they are attracted by the ears. The idol of Soviet children Goiko Mitic looks like a full eagle even at his venerable age - that's what it means not to drink, not to smoke and do exercises in the morning, children) Kusturica appears at the end and it is strongly noticeable that the deeply respected Emir was pulled up for fan service, since the role is extremely insignificant.
The fighting is what the Balkan Frontier can look for. The film balances on a certain edge, on the one hand, the violence here is shown very brutally - that is, if a queue of a fiftieth caliber machine gun flies into a person, then he literally flies to the sides with bloody relics, but on the other hand, the cruelty does not relish, there is no kind of revelry in suffering, the peaceman falls behind the scenes, some extreme hardcore is not observed. But banging and exploding everything is cool, pyromaniacs will be happy. Although the scenes of the bombing of Yugoslavia, where the hospital collapses, are shown. Quite unpleasant and even creepy, my Orthodox friend wept at this moment. Again, everything is filmed at a good level, the operator does not shake the camera like Parkinson’s victim, but shoots normally, the editor does not shove the film (okay, okay, I know that now everyone is digitally removed) into the mixer, and then randomly glues everything as it should. Technical level is a solid four.
What's the result? And yes, the actors ... they are. Surprisingly, even Gosha Kutsenko is good here, although 10 years ago he managed to overpower everyone with his appearance in every film and even advertising dragees and telephone operators. Considering that his prototype is a real man, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, then only rejoice. Radulovich is good, Goiko...hell, it's Goiko! Beautiful. Even the ubiquitous Bikovic, firmly established in our cinema, is normal. Personally, I was most fond of the cheerful Tatar Giray performed by Nodari Janelidze. And the character is bright and the actor played well.
In general, the attempt to make a patriotic blockbuster, in this particular case, was quite successful. Who's waiting for Fellini?
And Bergman -- well, weedy, guys, not this time. And yes. Of course, Kosovo is Serbia.
A very high-quality action movie, where there is everything you need: love, tragedy, tears, and a lot of action. In addition, it is not about superheroes, "our" can lose and die, and ammunition can run out.
In 2019, several wonderful films of domestic bottling were released, but the most remarkable I rightfully consider it the work of Andrei Andreyevich Volgin - 'Balkan Frontier'. After frankly weak films 'Spiral' and 'Earring', I had no hopes for the work of this person at all. But Volgin managed to find the edge, thanks to which 'BR' can be put on a par with the best examples of military drama.
Taking as a basis the events in Yugoslavia in 1999 clearly convey the horror of what happened through this tape. The heroes of the film are first-class warriors who have gone through many special operations and know a lot about their craft. However, the characters of the heroes are not limited to this, on the contrary, ' The Balkan Frontier' shows the viewer the contrasts between the military share of specialists and their peaceful life. And he does it very competently, without falling into the caricature of the fighters licking photos of their relatives before jumping into a fierce knot with the enemy. It reveals all the experiences, fears and feelings that an experienced soldier experiences before a complex task, the load of which leaves an imprint on the viewer’s perception.
Removed 'Balkan Frontier' also extremely well. The level of special effects is impressive, the fighting scenes are set to Hollywood standards and really breathtaking. As an action movie, the film was very successful, and it will not leave disappointed those who came here for a dose of adrenaline. After intensive training for filming, the actors also demonstrate excellent skills during battles, and in moments of peaceful respite express emotional sincerity and feel truly alive.
This film perfectly reflects how the local conflict affects the lives of the people involved in the most brutal way. And against the backdrop of endless outbursts of patriotism in other paintings, it really expresses the severity of the terrible fate of those who managed to survive these events. The value of this film increases significantly. I highly recommend watching.
Honestly, I’ve been captivated by the trailer alone. But experience suggested that one should not have high hopes, so as not to be disappointed. After all, many times it happened that there was a promising, impressive trailer, and the film in the end was not so cool. I am very glad that this time my doubts were not justified.
Let me clarify right away that the film is not perfect, it is not an unconditional masterpiece. But let’s be honest, “Balkan Frontier” is a worthy representative of the genre. Spectacular action movie. Well put action. A cleverly assembled caste. The script is not riddled with plot holes. For me, this is enough to praise a genre film.
What I missed was taking time. The film takes place in 1999. But the late '90s doesn't feel like it. There are no characteristics that would bind the characters to this point in time, and if the abstracts and credits replace 1999 with any other, little will change in terms of perception. The only thing that indicates the time period is the lack of smartphones and a specific historical event, but this is not enough.
Although the plot brings to the fore a special squad of eight people, it branches into several more storylines. If the line of the squad is an action movie about people in war, then the line of their former commander and two police officers is a drama about people around the war. They are verified and well weave closer to the final, revealing the characters. But after watching, reading about the conflict in the Balkans, I thought that the line of the staff commanders was missing for the complete picture.
Firstly, this is an additional story layer, and secondly, it would be an interesting combination of combat and political action. On the one hand - soldiers on the battlefield, gunfights and hand-to-hand combat, on the other - verbal skirmishes commanders, throwing between the need to give the order and high risks.
But the film is already two and a half hours long. It's not that much, in principle, but it's on the verge. Another storyline would drag the movie on, maybe even overload it. And it would have been a completely different movie, and I liked the current version. I think it is because of the combination of dramatic scenes with simple Serbs on behalf of Shatay (the hero of Pampushny) and drive fighting scenes.
What was more disturbing was the villain, the Albanian terrorist Snook. To Alexander Srechkovich, who played him, there is no claim. He played well, looked convincing in the role of a thug leader. That's why he needed more timekeeping, more scenes. It turned out, in general, not bad, but two or three more scenes to the antagonist, and it would be great.
Otherwise, the film is good, very good. Largely, of course, thanks to the actors, who not only got into the images and made their characters really live fighters, not cardboard soldiers, but also look convincing in ammunition and weapons. Here it is worth paying tribute to the creators who obliged the artists to undergo two months of training.
Thanks to this, the action turned out at the level. And in combination with long plans and a small number of editing glues during the battle, even so spectacular that individual scenes want to review several times.
By the way, as far as editing is concerned, I really liked the prologue (the 1995 operation at the very beginning). Among Russian films, especially similar ones, this approach to exposition is something new, fresh, inventive. As well as the collection of the detachment in 1999 turned out not just a set of scenes where Beck (Gosha Kutsenko) reassembles the warriors beaten by life, but a fascinating episode thanks to skillfully parallel editing. For this approach, Andrei Anaikin wants to shake hands and buy a drink.
And the creators of the film deserve special gratitude for the majority of the Russian soundtrack: Splin, Bi-2, Gaza, Cinema, DDT - legendary songs of no less legendary performers, sounding against the background, create a very close, even native atmosphere.
“Balkan Frontier” is a good action movie, a good blockbuster, of which there are not many. That's a good movie. Not great, but not bad either. It is well enough to be reviewed from time to time. An interesting basis in the form of the Balkan conflict of the 90s, which is almost not exploited in cinema, but in vain.
Maybe after the success of the “Balkan Frontier”, filmmakers will just stop bypassing this topic, and at the same time will become bolder and more responsible approach to filming blockbusters, especially militants. Personally, I miss such Russian films.
Movies are like movies. Nothing worse than similar Hollywood fighters. The locations are impeccable, the camera work does not cause any doubts about professionalism. The actors convincingly portray righteous anger and literally incinerate others with spiritual bonds. Kutsenko in the first half of the film diligently copies Yul Brynner from “The Magnificent Seven”, the Serbs politically correctly do not go beyond the “thankful brothers”, Goiko Mitic as in the same anecdote “even wow!”, Albanian terrorists (citizens, where did the Albanian terrorists come from, we are accustomed to exclusively Albanian insiders?), as it should, moderately bloodthirsty, and NATO, of course, looks like something like a Death Star. And, of course, the main character of the film, Slatina International Airport, one in one looks like a kolkhoz airfield for maize workers near Berdyansk, is magnificent. In general, respect and respect for the creative group, which is absolutely impossible to say about the screenwriters, apparently, preferring a menu of the most bizarre mushrooms for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because this is where the saddest things begin.
No living soul ever saw Yevkurov’s group (Kutsenko) take over the airport. As usual in such cases, if no one sees the event, it is certainly classified. However, the money from the Pristina market swear that they saw some strange people hid in the bushes near the airport for a week, and even occasionally brought them food. However, money from the Belgrade market claim that all this is a nefarious slander, and that the group actually just asked to sleep with the Serbian military, who controlled the airport at that time, and remained on the post until the arrival of Russian armored personnel carriers. General Yevkurov himself could clarify the picture, but how to clarify if everything is classified? And then, in an interview with Russian television, the general issued an amazing phrase that entered the treasury of world literature. I quote: "We took positions and captured everything, but captured so that no one would notice that we captured." One thing the general is right: nobody noticed. However, the authors of the film, on the contrary, claim that even a child on a bicycle could notice.
The film’s biggest problem was its loose handling of history, based on manipulation and standard propaganda clichés. The viewer is diligently trying to suggest that the war is in full swing, NATO planes habitually iron Belgrade maternity hospitals, Kosovars are engaged in genocide and drug trafficking, and without Russian armored vehicles and special forces in this mess can not do.
If our jingo-patriotic public in just 20 years completely lost memory and she is unable to comprehend why the hell armed to the teeth Kosovars turned to the Pristina airport, briefly recall the history of its capture.
By then, the NATO operation was almost complete, and on June 2, Chernomyrdin and Ahtisaari personally convinced Milosevic and the Serbian military command to withdraw troops from Kosovo and replace them with an international security force under NATO command. On June 10, Solana ordered an end to the air raids, and the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to end the war, fully supported by the Kremlin.
It would seem that this is the end of the fairy tale, when suddenly, out of nowhere, fifty Russian peacekeeping armored personnel carriers with two hundred soldiers on board, literally four hours before the arrival of UN forces, broke from Bosnia to Kosovo and seized the airport, and at the same time drove away the arriving peacekeepers, who seemed to be going to transfer the airport (see the episode on the segment 1.13.30 – 1.14.00). Why they drove away, no one understood. At first, the NATO members bewilderedly asked: “What the hell?”, but then decided that in this way Yeltsin threw the bone of the aggressive parliamentary opposition opposing him. One way or another, the sovereign stay of Russian soldiers at the airport after the departure of the Serbian military lasted until June 18, when British General Michael Jackson invited the Russians to join the UN peacekeeping force in Kosovo and patrol the airport on their behalf (and at the same time receive full NATO food), which was gladly accepted. That’s how it happened that they entered the airport with a fastened army with banners, and left quietly and imperceptibly as an exhausted peacekeeping unit under the albeit formal, but NATO command.
And (oh, yes!) if the frostbitten Kosovo gang of Ataman Gritsko, drunk to loss of consciousness, would decide at this historic moment to storm the airport, NATO, along with the Serbs and the Russian guests who joined them (and at the same time the rest of the KLA, who would be stunned by such an unscrupulous setup) in two minutes would smear it on the runway, without waiting for the instructions of the scriptwriters. However, understanding such idiocy would certainly take much longer.
As for us, alas, the seizure of the airport had only one practical and strategic meaning: to try to establish its own control zone in Kosovo. But since officially this attempt was not voiced by anyone and did not receive any further confirmation and development, in fact it turned out only pontificates and pioneer sarnitsa, against which NATO did not particularly object and did not particularly swear (unless General Clark was a little flamboyant). Everyone just shrugged their shoulders, and, perhaps, the only ones who would later gladly kick our fighters out of the airport were air passengers.
It remains a sincere regret that the historical theme in this film, allegedly based on real events, along with the unfortunate airport, was captured by hoaxers. Otherwise, however, a spectacular movie would not have worked.
On December 12, 2019, he purchased the acclaimed film 'Balkan Frontier', which he watched on the big screen in March of the same year.
I will say without exaggeration, I have watched with great pleasure several times. The CD quality is excellent. I am pleased to have additional information on the disc, namely, a trailer, a story about the picture, footage from the shooting, photos of the actors and their biographies.
Plot.
Yugoslavia. 1999. The Russian special forces are ordered to take control of the Slatina airfield in Kosovo and hold it until reinforcements arrive. But this strategic facility is extremely important to the Albanian field commander and NATO generals. The group is forced to take an unequal fight with terrorists. Russian peacekeepers and NATO forces are rushing to the airport. The world is once again close to a major war.
About the tape.
The movie is interesting, exciting and actionable. I am pleased with its entertainment and the presence of positive bright characters, which cause me sincere sympathy and deepest respect.
This is the team.
(1) Andrey Shatalov (Shatai). Russian. It contains the best qualities inherent in the Russian person. Namely, the ability to be friends and maintain devotion to friendship and brotherhood. The ability to go to the end and the ability to give their lives for their comrades and their country. Lack of words, restraint, but at the same time emotionality and a keen sense of justice. And the ability to forgive and at the right time to understand your friends correctly.
(2) Ilya Slashchev (Sweet). Belarusian. A wise man with a bitter experience of how the state throws and betrays its military. He does not believe in the state, but he is loyal to his comrades. I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Kiri. If necessary, it goes to the end and is capable of heroic selfless action.
(3) Oleg Barmin (Barya). Nationality is not specified. Speaking about his nationality, Giray ironically notes - 'Barya at all do not understand who'.
Barya is a first-class fuse and explosives specialist. Experienced military, not deprived of the code of honor and having moral principles. Nostalgic for Soviet times, because, from his point of view, in Soviet times everything was different and lived peacefully.
(4) Rustam Bamatgireev (Girey). Tatarin. Fun, sociable, with a sense of humor. Loves to sing, dance, joke, have fun with girls, but when necessary - tough, collected and very serious. A Muslim believer. He prays before the fight with Serbian police officer Fadil.
(5) Vera Kurbayeva. Uzbek. Sniper. Good shooter. Physically developed, able to fight. Tough, sometimes even rude, but at the same time kind and loyal to his friends, his team. That is why her toughness and rudeness are not perceived as bayonets, knowing that she is a very good person for her team, and deep down she is even sentimental. In addition, she is brave, determined and, if necessary, ready to go to the end, sparing no effort, following the orders of the commander.
(6) Vuk Petrovich. Serb. Former paratrooper. Currently a police officer. Serves in the Serbian police under the leadership of Goran Milic. Obsessed with revenge, as his family were killed by Smook's gang. His hatred for Smuk and his bandits projects on his colleague Fadil, because Fadil is also Albanian, but then realizes that Fadil has repeatedly proved his loyalty to him, and the relations of fellow policemen are improving, they begin to act together.
(7) Fadil. Albanian. Serves in the Serbian police under the leadership of Goran Milic. Committed to his work and service. A Muslim believer. Before the battle, he prays with Giraeus.
(8) Aslanbek Yethoev (Bek). Ingush. Lieutenant Colonel, Deputy Chief of Intelligence. Brilliant officer. It looks courageous even on the outside. Tall, strong build and with an officer's alignment. It looks great in military uniform and in vegan, as well as in civilian. A sharp shooter, drives a car well and is very well oriented on the terrain. It is also correct and, if necessary, quickly makes the most difficult decisions. He understands technology and weapons of different types. Bold, determined, goes all the way. He is capable of heroic selfless actions. Observes the code of honor and the concepts of comradeship and brotherhood. He takes care of the staff of his subordinates and supports them with all his heart. He understands the members of his group from half a word. In personal communication, sometimes tough, but friendly and with a sense of humor. It fully corresponds to its status as a commander.
Action.
There's a lot of him in the movie. Filmed at a high level. The fights are spectacular, despite their conciseness. Shootings are filmed in such a way that they are interesting to watch, although I do not like them very much. And most importantly, watch the movie again, and again root for the heroes you love, as if watching for the first time! How do you explain this indifference?! Probably because the film is a quality product and therefore the viewer is imbued with this story and takes it seriously.
On the magic of cinema.
I have always preferred Hollywood movies. There is something attractive and attractive about them. Something that makes the viewer review the tape over and over again. This is a game of actors, a plot, a production, an information message, a video sequence and what people can take out of work for themselves. Good quality films enrich people. In my opinion, this is the power of Hollywood, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about our cinema.
'Balkan Frontier' - Russian film product, or rather Russian-Serbian, but in a good sense of the word Hollywood movie. It shows true international friendship and combat brotherhood. The right human relations and courageous character of our valiant military, who have shown themselves from the best side at all times. This is a film that creates and unites, not destroys and confronts, like some Russian films shot in the nineties and a little later.
It is also very gratifying that the Balkan Frontier #39 lacks primitive propaganda and vulgar nationalism. This is expensive, given how many films were filmed in modern Russia, which frankly incite ethnic and religious discord, provoke hatred and aggression in a person without a core, and try to play on the most base feelings of unintelligent and unrealized people!
I venture to assume that these works were created, among other things, with the aim of pushing Christians and Muslims, Slavs and Caucasians. So, 'Balkan frontier' goes in a completely different direction. It creates, not destroys. It unites and unites, not pushes and pits. Thank you very much for that.
And what does it promote 'Balkan border'?! That's right. Friendship and ability even in the most difficult inhuman and extreme conditions to go to the end and remain a person. It teaches viewers to value peace, treat people with kindness and resolve any contradictions and conflicts at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield. This is what politicians and diplomats need.
I am convinced that this is the meaning 'Balkan Frontier'. You cannot take human life because it is priceless.
The book ' The Balkan Frontier' somewhat disappointing. I thought it would be more interesting and better. The screenplay is much more impressive.
Yugoslavia, 1999. NATO bombs Belgrade, kills a lot of civilians. In the region, Albanian bandits are rampaging under the guise of a people’s militia and the Americans are helping them in every possible way. Every Russian is asked in the frame a question ' why Russia does not support us' and when our authorities still decide to indicate their influence in the region and send a military group to seize the airport ' Slatina' they are greeted with flowers and jubilation.
These are all known facts and entourage for the heroic story of one special forces unit. Who five years earlier revealingly ' released ' from the plane one necessary bandit and then they were forced to flee across Serbia, hiding from the tribunal. But when it took a quiet operation to seize the airport from the Albanian separatists and hold it until the arrival of a column of our troops, they remembered about them.
Quite by chance, I watched films in a row and I must say that on the background 'Soldier Benghazi' our ' Frontier' looks very winning. Especially here it is easy to compare - the plots are similar in principle. In both cases, this is an alien war in a ravaged land, in the foreground detachments of brave special forces and they both have to keep the defense against superior enemy forces. Both films tried to do without geopolitical interpretations (strongly did not point the finger who is to blame) and even pathos poured moderately (well, almost). The more surprising that our film looks much more weighty, dynamic and more exciting than the war movie from Michael Bay, where he actually ate a dog.
And, curiously, here the background also eclipses the main characters, although again they are played entirely by beautiful people and you worry about them. For example, sniper Vera performed by Ravshana Kurkova with her fascinating story from bouncer to photo. But it is very clear how much the Serbs suffered this monstrous war. And when you look at these grandmothers on their knees in front of the militants, at the carved villages, at the dried-up Gojko Mitic who glows so fiercely that his heart just tears - you realize how real it was and - near.
But in general, this is just a good action movie according to the Hollywood patterns of war cinema. With cool action, with well-drawn scenes, with a lot of slow-mo and in general very beautifully done. More often than not.
Despite the fact that many years have passed, I vaguely remember the chronicle of the events on which the film was made. My personal opinion is that the politicians of that time had drained our brothers by blood, our allies, as a result of which they were exterminated.
Back to the tape.
The movie started off horribly.
At first, I wanted to cry with pain, with pain for the suffering and suffering of innocent people who were overwhelmed by war. That's a scary word. It is a good thing that it is not familiar to most of us. And I really hope that will continue. Seeing pain, suffering death, it does not pass without a trace.
Then the pain turned into hate. Hatred of war and everything that causes it. To the people who in this film are her embodiment.
But all this is the lyrics, my personal emotions that arose as a result of watching this film.
If you haven’t watched it, I advise you to watch it and not read any further, as the events of the film will be affected.
The film is good for several reasons.
1. To show once again how terrible the war is for people, the beginning immediately makes it clear where we are.
2. The film reveals the valor and courage of people who had to pay their debt to the end.
An old policeman, trying to keep order to the end, a soldier, who at the cost of his life sweeps away mortar brigades, a Serb who remained to cover the retreat.
3. All the evils of political relations in which people suffer, both from decisions made and not made, from the lies and treachery of the majority of people in power.
4. The fact that among the whole crazy world you can find people who share values and are close in spirit.
10 out of 10
War films or war dramas are always subject to harsh criticism and contradictory reviews. Especially get pictures about relatively recent military conflicts, where not only fresh memories of those sad and terrible events, but also alive thousands or even millions of participants. Here is 'Balkan Frontier' no exception. Some accuse the film of excessive pathos, patriotism and Russian propaganda ... they say the Russians came and saved everyone. The latter, on the contrary, note certain anti-Russian sentiments, in which our country is not shown in the best light. Still others emphasize the one-sidedness of the events described, saying that these are exceptionally good guys (Serbs), and these are exceptionally bad (Albanians). The fourth and all claim that the Russian Orthodox Church ordered the shooting of this film ... apparently because of a couple of priests flashed in episodic roles.
And now everything in order.
The main plot is built around two events: the march of the Russian paratroopers to Pristina, in June 1999, and the capture of the airport itself ' Slatina' by a special group. The first event is a historical fact. The second is fact, with a bit of fiction. Thus, Yunus-bey Yevkurov, the former President of the Republic of Ingushetia, confirmed that, since the end of May 1999, a group of 18 GRU fighters secretly entered the territory of the airport ' Slatina' and in fact controlled it until the approach of the landing battalion. All the circumstances and details of this operation are still classified.
Also in the picture there are several secondary storylines. For example, the story of several Serbian policemen trying to fight the lawlessness and murder of peaceful Serbs by Albanian militants. It is because of the story about these events that the picture is accused of one-sidedness. Serbs also killed Albanian civilians. Why didn't they show it? Some of the proponents of this view are right. But the picture does not lie and does not distort events, but shows only what is necessary for the development of this particular plot. The airport was occupied not by Albanian civilians, but by an Albanian military organization. There will be a different movie, a different plot – there they will show the possible death of the Albanian civilian population. In fact, I would not be surprised if soon there will be a Hollywood blockbuster about how brave American (NATO) soldiers fought on the side of the peaceful Albanian population, against bloodthirsty Serbs.
In fact, on this score, everyone has their own truth. When the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (an Albanian military organization) killed Serbs. . . NATO supported them in the struggle for independence and began bombing Yugoslavia (Serbia). And when the people of Donbass fight for their independence, NATO and America call them separatists and terrorists.
In my opinion, the film shows the truth, sometimes bitter, not pleasant, but the truth ... with a share of fiction. We did not help the Serb brothers when they needed our help. Why? Probably because of the indecision and weakness of those who at that time led the country. The parliament of Yugoslavia voted to join the union of Russia and Belarus. And our Duma supported this request. But Boriska decided otherwise. Or remember how they tried to turn our column back on the orders of the Chief of the General Staff. What was that? Paphos? Propaganda? A display of patriotism? Anti-Russian sentiment with an attempt to denigrate Russia? An attempt to denigrate the Albanians or NATO? Nope. This is a bitter and shameful truth, but it is a truth that both the Russian and Serbian people will have to live with. And the entire community.
Or maybe the picture tells you that the Russians did everything, Russia? Did they come and bring peace and prosperity? Nope. On the contrary, the international composition of the group that took the airport is emphasized: Serbian, Tatar, Belarusian, Azerbaijani and Russian. It tells about ordinary civilians who were victims of war.
And remember the beginning of the movie... Russia abandons its sons-soldiers because of one mistake. Bitter, ashamed... But I would rather believe in this development than how the brave Yankees would kill a bunch of their soldiers to save the conditional Ryan.
I also did not hear the fiery, pathetic, patriotic speeches that the heroes of Hollywood films about brave American soldiers and soldiers love to say so much. Gosha Kutsenko in his films, say 'Nowhere to retreat, behind Moscow'. No, I'm not against patriotism or fiery speeches. But they have to be in moderation and place. But increasingly from such manifestations of patriotism want to puke.
Speaking of actors, not only that they were very successfully selected, but also played very convincingly. Sometimes you look and think, God, what a nasty face this character (actor) ... luckily, when watching this picture, such thoughts did not arise. And the characters of the characters and their inner world are well revealed. Some go on a deadly task for the sake of the homeland, others for the sake of people, others for money. And that's also true. All people are different and each has its own reasons and motives.
Of the downsides, I can’t help but mention one very stupid moment. Here we recall a long-standing film with Gosha Kutsenko, 'Paragraph 78'... when the heroes realized the hopelessness of their situation, they decided ' to help' to each other to go to another world. Drawing a parallel, so I want to say ' knife in hand and in close combat' or ' you have a jeep'... Anyone who saw it will know what I mean. But this is the stupidest moment in the movie.
As a result, we have a strong military drama. Without excessive pathos, without propaganda of both Russian and anti-Russian. A harsh, truthful, slightly embellished story about the war, about the people and how Russia returned to the great world political game.
PS: And indeed, immediately everyone in the world began to talk with Russia with such respect, saying: “Please don’t leave!” And our military only shake their heads: “We would have left, but there is no diesel fuel for the return road.” Give it to me. And NATO's got it all figured out. They also shrug their hands, they say, we do not have either. They say to us, “You will buy from us.” We sell them, we sell them, you give them to us!
M. Zadornov
About Russian films, with an undisclosed plot, a large number of film fools and incomprehensibly written scripts, shot to launder the money of the film fund in general, my attitude is negative. But!! 'Balkan Frontier' Andrey Volgin and even with such a cast - it's something with something!!! The movie is awesome in every way!!
First, action. I love stunt dynamics and especially when they shoot the fight in one pass at the same time as the work of pyrotechnics and stuntmen. In general, everything looks like something really, in one breath, in fact, believable.
The moment you walk out of the theater, smoke a cigarette, and go back to the box office. I want to revisit and review this movie.
Next up, actors, characters. I now have my favorite heroes - this is exactly the composition that drags any operation, any task set, for which you really worry and when the fight begins - you catch yourself on the fact that your fingers are reflexively looking for WASD ... I take off my hat, the selection is what you need - the commanders are not pink-cheeked, not young, the characters are not pumped, and such as I imagined them. These are the correct stereotypes.
The camera work, the atmosphericity of what is happening, the scenery, equipment, sound - just magnificent. Shooting from a large caliber and the cry of Sweet ... brr ... on the back of the head goosebumps ... It's like you're behind a machine gun.
Humor, cues, quotes, and many places where he tears - it is impossible to remain indifferent. I will not say anything more, I have watched 8 times, the impression is only positive.
For those who have not yet seen a good view, you can with children.
10 out of 10
Absolutely useful film. He cannot leave the viewer indifferent. And to the main characters, and to those events, and to analogues in our history. I, as an ordinary viewer, was really hooked on the living and I was with them.
And if the work catches, makes you think and worry, then it is worth it.
In addition to emotions, there are questions... It is clear that the favorite move of film artists to show events through the history of relationships, love. It's always a winning topic for the layman. And I like her. I love it when the light and light ring.
Now BUT! Events develop against the backdrop of a grand example of betrayal in our modern history. Betrayal in large and in detail. The fraternal Slavic people counted on our help to the last, and as a result drowned in grief, disappointment and war. And what about the fact that every Russian soldier was ready to come to the rescue, when the head of the state in a drunken kamatoz orchestra tried to conduct. The aspirations of our soldiers were in vain... and to take the airport, and to substitute a shoulder. They remained in vain against the background of the general history of events. But significant in the history of individuals who managed to help. Maybe this is an excuse? We tried. So here's the question for the filmmakers - why this story?! What is it? Or is it a separate curtsey towards individual historical figures and invisible soldiers - Primakov, Evkurov, soldiers of the Airborne Forces and Spetsnaz? That's just I think people who waited and didn't wait will spit from these stories.
Now purely from a military point of view. Well, since you took this revealing story of the sudden landing of Russian airborne troops, why didn’t you spin it properly?! Somehow the version looks chilly when the paratroopers in a column on APCs crossed the border and by dawn were on the spot unexpectedly for the whole world. After all, it was the first time in the history of our troops, and perhaps in the world, when the airborne troops were transferred simultaneously from three directions - by land, by air and by sea. It is in this complex way that maximum efficiency, secrecy and scale were achieved. This was the first and only precedent in the history of foreign amphibious operations. Is this not the power of Russian weapons and strategy? If that was the case in the film at all.
And if it is purely human, a good selection of actors, Gojko Mitic and Emir Kusturica - it's just a red marker, the right and very necessary emphasis on internationalism, pleasant musical accompaniment. Something reminiscent of 'Troy'. Apparently, our cinema is successfully learning.
I watched this movie on Air Force Day. On the subject. There are questions, of course. But I liked the movie. Such films make you think and empathize. Which means they're alive.
They wanted a pro and nbsp war, it turned out pro and nbsp; budget
When I see the Cinema Foundation emblem in the opening credits, I realize that now I will see on the screen how my taxes are cynically and incompetently given to a mediocre creator for a dubious idea and an ordinary team.
The plot of the film unfolds on the basis of a real situation, when in 1999 the NATO alliance with the active leadership of the Americans took part in the destruction of Yugoslavia and its division into a number of small states. The peculiarity of this whole situation was that Yugoslavia was formerly under the patronage of the USSR, which in turn made considerable efforts to control and divide the Serbs and Albanians. And so in 1999, the USSR is no longer 8 years old, the United States is moving east, devaluation in the young Russian Federation, the dashing nineties reign, the second Chechen war begins. A mess in the economy, a mess in domestic politics, a mess in foreign policy.
The director of the film A. Volgin received full autonomy from the producers, access to the finances of state money and army equipment, in 2 hours and 31 minutes to tell the story about the officer’s courage, Russian character, tactical cunning and audacity of a group of people who, like 300 Spartans, go to the farmer gorge to defend their country on the outskirts of the Persian invasion. Indeed, the situation with the march on Pristina has become overgrown with legends among the people. I personally remember the news of the seizure of the airfield by Russian paratroopers on federal channels, when instead of the already on-duty reports about the promotion of the NADO and merciless bombing, such a brilliant local victory. It seemed like we were just letting them in, and now, thanks to operations like this, we're going to turn the situation 180 degrees. But none of this happened, politicians in Moscow jumped in the bushes, and the ambitions of the military were crushed and suppressed.
What problem does A. Volgin and the team of writers in this film have? The director abundantly encourages self-sacrifice, patriotism, heroism, machismo in the film, but does not reveal the meaning, the idea for what? There is no development of the inner conflict of the plot, the reflection of the characters, everything is so prim and primitive. There is no adequate political motivation of the parties, except for the primitive fascist conflict between Albanians and Serbs. It seems that NATO, led by the Americans, captured in that distant 1999 the team of this film and all those people who coordinated this outrage, captured and kept in one of the hangars of this airfield until 2019, forcing mediocre and average militants of those time periods to watch, and then released and these creators removed it.
In general, from the point of view of meaning, the march of the throw did not lead to strategic or even local success, the airfield was subsequently surrendered. Therefore, it would be great to show the political incompetence of politicians in the film and build a plot on it or it would be great to finance the film about the heroes of one of the Chechen wars. To reveal the motivations of both Chechen Muslims and Russians who were living in Chechnya at the time, the conflict is much closer and it would be interesting to experience it on screen. To see the heroic Russian soldiers, the result of whose actions had practical meaning in contrast to the same march-throw because the wars came to an end, although not quite an unambiguous result, but Chechnya at least remained legally part of the Russian Federation, and Yugoslavia legally ended its existence.
In general, I did not like the idea, the implementation is mediocre, the plot is straightforward and primitive for 2k19, the cost estimate does not correspond to the result.
2 out of 10
The film is shot according to the pop template of Hollywood of the 90s, events are terribly predictable, so much so that from the very beginning there is an obsession to interrupt the viewing of this ' cinema-masterpiece' - this idea has to be fought throughout the film. There is an opinion, to make a separate genre for such films - you can call this genre film and fiction & #39;Sea Devils'. I understand that there are people who like movies like this, who probably make up the majority of society. This leads to sad thoughts - art is developing today along the path of demand. Including the movie. That’s why there’s so much pop that everyone will forget about tomorrow. But it's not art. This film is not one that can lead to some thoughts - make you think, and after a while come to some conclusions that will make you review the film with a new look at things; - or leave in the soul a pleasant residue of the range of impressions or experiences experienced during watching. This film can only brighten up (or spoil) leisure for some people, but no more.
The story of the March to Pristina deserves more. I expected a more detailed and documentary look than an artistic one. I expected to learn something new for myself, to learn something from the story shown on the screen, to see the story that happened in difficult times for our country. A story of strong men. Opening 'book', with the title 'Balkan Frontier' - I expected to see elements of journalism - facts on the pages of the open book, and saw only bright pictures of a colorful comic book.
The history of Serbian-Russian relations, friendship and honor, rich in events of global significance, deserves a more serious approach. And this is just a spit on the whole story, suffered by generations. The film had all the prerequisites for it to fall into the category 'art'. It was a good (by our Russian standards) budget, there was an interesting real story uniting two peoples separated by 1,500 kilometers. There was no one creative message that makes the artist fill the canvas with colors, forgetting about time and all human needs. There was no spark. It was necessary to write a good script, and to make the film itself - with these two tasks, clearly failed, in my opinion. But this is my own subjective opinion, and I may be wrong; or my view is wrong, distorted. Maybe it's a masterpiece. It may even be of interest to other generations. Who knows. . .
Interesting situation around this film. I would not undertake to write a review about it, because I do not consider “Balkan Frontier” to be something out of the ordinary in the world of cinema. But the hype raised by various critics and the media pushes to express their point of view.
For example, articles or statements of the famous film critic Anton Dolin for some time was a positive reference point for me. He's a true master of the pen. But, after his posts about the film “Hostages” (about the hijacked plane in Georgia in 1983), his opinion sometimes looks like a diagnosis. At least for me.
Do not quote the words Valley here. Wrong place. He didn't like the movie. And he's not alone. So you have to watch.
We watch the whole family. We liked it. But let's face it, for once. Ordinary military drama, or a military fighter, whatever. Moderately dynamic, with quality battle scenes. With your story jambs. Perhaps in some places pathetic and straightforward. But not bad.
Some people don’t like the “stamps”, and God is with you, gentlemen. Most genre paintings from these stamps and consists. Almost all Hollywood war movies are filled with the idea that “their guys” are the best, bravest and ruthless to enemies, but at the same time the most noble, kind, funny and witty. The villain will be punished, the weak will be protected. Plus a soldier's brotherhood and mutual assistance. Isn't that a stamp? What's wrong with that? The Balkan Frontier is about the same thing, just about our guys.
The main villain matches his rank and deserves to be punished by the "good guys." Such films are made in Russia a lot. And some TV series about (in the words of the hero Brad Pete) “the best work”, go on for years. And no one explodes in criticism, in hysteria, that our cinema creates the image of an external enemy in the face of NATO or competing intelligence services. They go and go, who is interested - look.
What might be interesting about the Balkan Frontier? It is really based on real events. More precisely, on one episode, which is now commonly called “The Throw on Pristina”. This is the period of the war of the NATO alliance with the remnants of the army of the former Yugoslavia. This is when, once again, international forces with the help of massive bombing “restored” justice and democracy in a single point of the globe, in Serbia and Kosovo. The Russian government then decided to indicate its presence in this conflict by establishing control over the key airport of Kosovo, Slatina, the transfer of a battalion of paratroopers from the contingent of our peacekeeping forces.
We will not discuss the correctness of this decision and its consequences. Anyone who wants to find information on this issue. The fact remains that our paratroopers have taken control of Slatina Airport. New from the film, personally for me, was the information about the participation in the capture of the airport of a certain Russian special group. Actually, the soldiers of this special group and became the main characters of the plot of the picture.
Interesting was the information that the real prototype of the commander of the group (call sign Bek), was Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the current head of Ingushetia, and then a major of the amphibious troops, a former marine. He has experience in several regional conflicts. He was the head of our special team at the time. His record can envy any Rambo.
No less interesting was the participation in the picture of the famous Goiko Mitic and Emir Kusturica. The last one, really, is in the episode. Mitich is now 79 years old. His creative longevity is a great respect. In general, the work of the acting team does not cause rejection, everything is quite standard and organic for this type of picture.
The film’s depiction of the atrocities of Kosovo Albanians seemed somewhat one-sided. In reality, both sides of the conflict then cost each other in mutual slaughter. But again, the fact remains that the so-called “forces of good and democracy” sided with the Kosovars. The bombing of Serbian civilian and military facilities was successful, as shown on the screen. Only a few terrible minutes are shown, during which one of the key characters of the picture was marked - the Serbian girl-doctor Jasna. Nice name.
And here I do not understand the howls and tantrums of critics who penalize the filmmakers for showing the actions of NATO. Are you serious, gentlemen? It doesn't really show much. You would watch the documentary videos and photos of the aftermath of the NATO bombing in Serbia. We should remember the civilian casualties. Because basic numbers are available. And they exceeded the losses from mutual cleansing of Serbs and Albanians-Kosovars ten times. Thousands dead and missing. Tens of thousands wounded. Hundreds of thousands of refugees. Do you make an adventure film about inauthenticity, or what?
In the "Frontier" minimum politics. The main emphasis is placed on the personal vicissitudes of our home-grown Rambo, or rather, private Sukhoi ("White Sun of the Desert" is hard not to remember) against the background of events in Serbia and Kosovo. On their international composition with the phrase: "Shatai, you are the only Russian among us." Yes, there was a Russian, a Belarusian, a Tatar, an Uzbek, a Caucasian, a Serb, an Albanian. The International. With different faith in God, but one faith in justice. The order was given from above, the soldiers carried it out. At the end, our paratrooper officer carries an epic rescued Serbian girl in his arms. Someone compared it to the Soviet soldier-monument in Berlin. Maybe. It didn't bother me.
We must remember that the surviving prototypes of the heroes of the film, in reality, in less than six months will be the Second Chechen war. And three years from now, NATO’s forces of “good” will topple another dictator in Hussein, followed by Libya and Syria. And everywhere there will be “peace,” “peace,” and “well-being.” At the cost of hundreds of thousands of dead civilians and millions of refugees. And no one with good faces and a sensitive heart will cry at night, wringing his hands with grief. This is what all critics and advocates of justice should remember. Not there, gentlemen. You can watch the movie.
I learned about this film from the plot of the TV channel “Russia”, which said that the film is dedicated to the event that occurred during the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO countries in 1999, namely, the march of Russian paratroopers from Bosnia to Kosovo. I was interested in the topic and decided to look. It was interesting to learn the historical details of that unique (as it is called) military operation. In general, I expected to see a military drama like the 9th Company, which, by the way, I really liked. As one famous athlete once said, “Your expectations are your problems.” So, already from the first shots I realized that I am watching a movie of a completely different genre than I expected, namely, a fierce action movie with superhero soldiers of the Hollywood model. Just imagine that the team from “Paragraph 78” led by Kutsenko moved to Pristina and instead of monsters wet Albanian militants.
The "main" event, which, in fact, the film is devoted to, is given a vague line with empty characters, which is not interesting to watch - a kind of road move on APCs without any plot twists. There was an impression that the authors of the idea and the creators really wanted to immortalize this event in the cinema, and to fill it was simply nothing, except for racing on the APC.
In this film, you will not be told why the villain became the villain. It's not about some lone maniac, it's about a whole nation. They're evil -- we're good, they kill -- we protect, and don't try to figure out why. We did not allow NATO peacekeepers to occupy the airfield so that we would protect the Serbs instead of them. I was looking for logic until I watched interviews with the participants. Essentially, this shot was made primarily to assert ourselves and show NATO that we can too, but in the film it is presented as if we are the only chance to save the Serbian people. What only is the pathetic frame at the end of the brave general of the Russian army in the image of the Liberator Warrior from Treptov Park.
It would not have been this through bravado with notes of jingoism, you could have appreciated and higher, because if you close your eyes to the whole story with a march-throw, it turned out to be a strong action movie - not the worst film in its primitive genre.
5 out of 10
I can’t be sure about this film. On the one hand, it is quite watchable, active fighter without sad sagging. On the other hand, again this thick, undisguised propaganda and frankly copied from '48 hours' Michael Bay action combat.
What's good about this?
Picture. Very clean, juicy colors, beautiful compositions, glare of the sun.
Nice makeup. The participants of the battle look quite appropriate to the hours spent in battle.
Good musical accompaniment. All the music is theme, with clear interruptions and accents. Separately, I want to note the race on APCs under ' Gaza Strip', well, straight - from the heart!
Not a bad cast, although I don't share the general admiration for Ravshana. She is a very charming and talented actress, but in this role she looked, somehow ridiculous, as ' Laura Croft' in ' All-metal shell'.
The movie was very interesting.
What's wrong with that?
I haven’t studied the history of this conflict, but if I were to get all the historical information from films like this, it would seem that NATO has a mission to bomb civilians, hospitals and schools. The action of the allies to the plot of the film has nothing to do at all. All this ton of computer graphics with aircraft 'B-2', bombing cities absolutely superfluous. We just, under the hype showed that all 'pindos bastards'.
About the invulnerability ' our ' and the stupidity 'enemies' here already talked. I will note once again: an invulnerable petrol tanker and an Albanian shooting at a single RPG target running through the field! At the same time, behind his back he has an automatic machine ... (which is characteristic, Milos Bekovic, does 'rocket jump')
Fight scenes look good, but although copied from the American counterpart, still inferior to him in entertainment and realism.
The result, as always with the new Russian cinema, is not unambiguous.
I want to rejoice for a good production, a juicy picture and a pleasant sound, but the joy comes out some thoughtful. . .
Once again, we were unable to produce the original product. We need ' Hollywood' to shoot ' Warrior' to quickly shoot his son Bondarchuk, we need to watch ' Fury' to rivet ' 100500' movies about tanks... And this time the filmmakers almost completely copied the climax of the film, the main battle for the airport, from the film '48 hours'. Moment with a mortar attack, you can generally put on two screens and watch in stereo glasses.
I gave a grade of 7 in advance for future achievements.
From the first shots, the film put me in touch. What a beautiful picture of nature! What a contrast to the tragedy of what is happening! The aim of the filmmakers was clear: to show the conflict between Albanians and Serbs in 1999 and the occupation of Slatina airport by Russian troops. Purpose accomplished, now for details. Let me make a reservation right away: anyone who does not tolerate scenes of cruelty should not watch. The film shows the bombing of Yugoslavia, the inhumane attitude of Albanian bandits to Serb passengers on their way to the bus, the murder of civilians at the airport, when evil Albanians could easily shoot or stab ordinary people. It is impossible to remain indifferent!
Historical inserts, interviews of heads of state and reports of journalists of that time organically fit into the plot and explain what happened. You are delighted to see how the Serbs lined up along the path of Russian tanks and greet those who decided to disobey the orders of their superiors and make a march to help the fraternal people and occupy the airport. They gleefully greeted our paratroopers, covered them with flowers, flipped their flags to make a Russian, wept, applauded, cheerfully shouted and sang. Russian paratroopers covered about 800 kilometers in just 10 hours. But General Somov gave the order to seize the airport, although it threatened him with resignation! Russia was able at that difficult time to show the world its resistance to NATO aggression.
Now for the flaws. A motley team led by our nickname Shatai, to put it mildly, individually, as part of a puzzle: it is unclear what the piece fits, but together they are as an image of courage and heroism. A separate story is a nurse Yasna, obviously obliged to become a heroine, but something went wrong, and she just got in the way of the film, becoming a problem for the defenders of the airport, and then demoted to the babysitters of a little girl who miraculously survived the murder of civilians (also clearly an extra heroine). A separate word for musical accompaniment! The music was very tense not in the theme for which our team was assembled, or shot away from the enemy, it greatly distracted from the plot (and already slightly drawn out!) and reduced a good idea to zero. And mate! It's horrible! What did the directors want to show? That Russians swear like shoemakers? Is there a low level of culture in Russia? Or is it a parody of American action?
In general, the film is ambiguous! It causes a storm of conflicting emotions. Someone will find propaganda in it, someone cruelty, someone a gunman, and someone will see the history of our fraternal people, their pain and suffering, their oppression, experiences, ruthless extermination of the Slavs, an attempt to capture history, so that descendants will remember and never forget. Advise everyone!
I will immediately hit the fact that absolutely all the fight scenes in the film are fiction. The authors themselves say this. There are many reasons, one of which is secrecy (the secrecy of the real operation of the GRU special forces, in which the future head of Ingushetia, Yevkurov Yunus-Bek Bamatgireevich, participated, will be removed only 30 years after the release of the film). I did not mention the name of the head of Ingushetia. You will quickly know who played it. Or, like, play. Evkurov, of course, no secrets to the filmmakers did not give. So both the background and the very nomination of the GRU group is pure cinematic fantasy on the topic of how it could have been, if only kaby... Well, you know.
Plus, less than ten people knew about the operation, not including the fighters. I am afraid that no one will tell us about it in detail and in thirty years no one will tell us if one of the acting (acting) persons survives to those days and retains memory / reason. Surprisingly, much is known about the reinforcement approach (this secrecy does not apply to it), but absolutely all the persons involved, especially in the highest echelons of power, interpret even quite obvious facts differently. I read some interesting articles about this before watching the movie, so I know what I’m talking about.
A separate mansion is the bombing of the city. I understand that they are inserted here more for political purposes. Not just used stealth aircraft, which can not only be identified as NATO, but also as specifically American. I don't want to offend anyone, but these bombings are inserted here, as I see it, for the sake of showing a sense of empathy from the audience to the actors. Everyone knows that this movie will not be played in the West. Everyone knows where this movie is going to be mostly. So for me personally, without explicit subtext, this bombardment mark is akin to staged footage of soldiers fleeing an explosion in front of a baby stroller. I don't let you cry. No one told me the background, but black planes that are bombing something, implying that this is the enemy. But the movie isn't about that, is it? Or is it politics? Good. I'll make a movie, too. We will show Berlin, destroyed by the bombing of the Soviet army. Imagine someone who has never been interested in history. What will he think? But many do not understand what kind of conflict was in Yugoslavia, and especially who was good or bad there.
Why all of the above?! I mean, this review is about the film and only about it. I do not care about patriotism (and it is above the roof in a flat place) and to search for facts about the war twenty years ago. Because the authors, as I have already explained, are not engaged in a documentary chronicle, but simply an action movie, which attracted attention because of a pseudo-documentary plot, which is not at all.
Here is the movie itself on the first frames is somewhat reminiscent of the action film “Survivor” by Peter Berg. But the script, sorry, is idiotic. For the ignorant who does not know life at all, perhaps it will do. I didn't come in right away. Only the picture pleases slightly, although after the influx of “Hollywood” the scarcity of effects and too far-fetched staging of combat scenes catches the eye. And at some point started “The Fall of the Black Hawk” by Ridley Scott. Surprisingly, the presentation of the plot had similar starting data to the American film. But our “surprises” have come. Gosha Kutsenko in the style of “The Expendables” gathers his squad... And then even, I think, somehow weave a visit to a brothel-bar. At some point, I completely lost interest in the script.
I was suddenly excited by the idea that someone would watch a synopsis of the film and think it really had something to do with the real story. I used to do that when I was a kid watching Soviet movies. My parents and their parents must have done the same. My mother’s epiphany about the USSR, in my opinion, came only after reading the Gulag Archipelago. By the way, since we're talking about war, good and evil. And you knew that, in my opinion, SS veterans still receive pensions, even military ones. And these benefits of the losers in World War II, as I understand it, are higher than those of the winners (Soviet veterans and blockaders). What a life! How do you understand it? Do you think I have mush in my head? I think that’s what the authors of this book say.
I don’t even know what I will have to read to put an end to the Yugoslav conflict. And I still don’t understand what the Russian troops were doing there and why (and this movie was useless to me). But back to the movie. At some point, the discrepancy with the real story increased, more precisely, the characters involved in the movie became an order of magnitude less than in the real GRU operation. “We don’t have soldiers, it’s Rambo” – probably, so thought the filmmakers, filming the capture and defense of the airport. So it was possible to send one Kutsenko – he would play Russian Rambo. But the fact that the locals participated in the seizure of the airfield along with the pearlings is kind of true.
I also didn't like the scene of trying to explain the conflict by differences of faith. The root of all evil is greed. I believe that. All wars from the desire for profit and free life. By the way, the group hijacking the airport in this movie is partially vilified by this – the thirst for money, other profits and something else. This is fiction, of course, a cinematic move, but it is stupid, I think.
So at the output we have a film (excluding the pseudo-historical plot), trying to let the viewer tear, flirting with him a good picture, but leaving almost nothing behind. You have to criticize it, otherwise there is nothing to write about. Unless I can add a little bit about the airport fighting. This moment (or moment) reminds me of the movie 13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (directed by Michael Bay). There are a lot of similarities.
P/S
At the end of the film by its authors, the health of the plot and fighting scenes finally left. Plus, they finally spit on all the known facts about the course of the described operation and the movement of the Russian convoy. And I read somewhere that they have been preparing for the film for more than 7 years. Aha)
But the real newsreel they still pushed to the final credits neither to the village nor to the city, since it has nothing to do with the described operation of the GRU.
Now you can judge me in the comments, but not strictly, please.
As long as the war is shown this way, it will never end.
Film 'Balkan Frontier' - tribute to memory or advertising war?
Action action film 'Balkan Frontier' stated as a film adaptation of the events of 1999, known in history as a march-throw on Pristina. Conformity of the plot to real events is meaningless to discuss. Law of War: 'Believe only what you see'
The actors are beautiful, famous and everyone in his place. The game of the actors turned out to be well-coordinated, the team is united, by the end each viewer will mark his main character. Gosha Kutsenko is a real special appointment - got the role, worked, came out as a hero - not a single muscle did not flinch. Ravshana Kurkova - is there a role that this actress is not subject to? The heroine of Ravshana is perfect - confidently joined the operation, smoothly and qualitatively did her job. Milos Bikovic, Milena Radulovic, Gojko Mitic - thank you for their presence, language, accent, that's who this film needed, as air is the backbone of the film, the soul of the film and of course the color of the time. Sergey Marin - he got the role of a sad clown, he bribes his sincere role, jokes, he in his element, worked ' like two fingers' Anton Pampushny is beautiful.
The soundtrack is right. The motive reflects the movements in the frame, the melody dips into the era of what is happening. The music is one of the main highlights of this film.
The picture is dynamic, exciting, to watch not only interesting, but also inspiring, and this is not right! Why are war movies made as if war is a time of opportunity? ' Good' Warriors win ' Bad', some gain fame, others love, someone becomes a hero, someone earns money, experience using a wide range of weapons, free SUVs and all this on foreign territory, without disturbing the peaceful life in their country. They go to such a war with pleasure, it is not only adrenaline, but also a lot of opportunities.
Not in life! War has no positives. War deprives everything - life, health, finances, a roof over your head, your native land under your feet, chances, development, it destroys destinies, breaks families, maims not only physically, but also morally! The worst part is that it is taking your time. One day, when you wake up in the morning, you realize that five years of life did not live and did not develop, but waited for it to end... when the war ended! And around: poverty; angry, without faith in the eyes of people, they shudder from sharp sounds, they, like driven animals, are ready to rush from any stimulus; the mass of children under 5 years of delay in the development of the speech apparatus; clinics are overcrowded, because of the high nervous background, mortality from oncology has increased many times; business? there is no longer any talk about it, some are used to fighting - they do not know how to create, their work - destroy; others are used to living on benefits and humanitarian work. Something was destroyed, something froze at a moment five years ago. War gives no chance, it takes everything and everyone. This is a real war!
When they make movies about Chernobyl, it is always absolutely terrible, no one wants to repeat? So why is war filmed so that in it you want to be the same guy - tough, not following orders, but a survivor, found love and forever became a hero of the nation?
As long as the war is shown like this, it will continue... and it is terrible. . .
I didn’t expect anything good from the movie and I wasn’t going to go to the cinema. Actually, I didn't. However, I heard on TV that some film critic Anton Dolin criticized this film without watching! Directly in his social network wrote that Balkan Frontier can claim the title ' Worst Film of the Year' and NATO troops are shown here ' Fascists' etc. I thought this is some kind of nonsense, but if everything is shown there, then you need to at least see this picture from the corner of your eye.
It turns out that Valley didn’t really watch the movie, but wrote his note for nothing! This is the kind of film critics we have in this country. There are no NATO troops in the picture! Russian special forces are fighting some Albanian scumbag. Political correctness has been practically observed. Well, the fact that our peacekeepers were waiting for the Serbs in 1999, history knows about this and nothing is invented here. It is also known how the bombing of Belgrade was carried out for no reason, and, of course, any normal person knows about the war crimes of the Albanians who killed Serbs right and left in whole villages.
The film caught me almost from the first minute. I don’t even know how to convey all the emotions of seeing a picture. Something started from the beginning. Stunning footage of nature and the city from a bird's eye view. Cool special effects, with which they did not overdo it, but made it neatly and beautifully in the theme of the picture. Of course, it is difficult to appreciate the love line that appeared at the very beginning and you could empathize with the characters until the very end. But there is one big BUT. Our government is acting strangely. You can't judge them. That may have been the intention. Probably, because in such conflicts and involved professionals our territory remains intact.
But back to Yugoslavia. In 1999, we all saw on television a major military operation on the border with Yugoslavia. By the way, in this film there is just a little official chronicle. Documentary footage carefully fit into the plot and they do not interfere with the viewing, but only complement the overall story.
It was worth watching on the big screen. I especially liked the final part of the picture. Of course she's tragic. Pain and huge losses in an unequal battle. But with such numerical superiority, it was understandable. But how correctly the authors managed to show exactly the coherence of the team. Here the heroes of the special forces managed to do almost the impossible. If we talk about the story itself, it turned out to be right. As they say, real events. But there is also a large number of artistic personnel. The work of the secret service, which is sent to the defense of Yugoslavia to take control of a strategically important object, is described.
If you don’t know, there’s the famous Turkish film Mount 2 with an incredibly high score of IMDB. This is a picture of Turkish special forces defending their Turkamans, etc. There is still, I will not be afraid of this word, the legendary domestic series Spetsnaz, which won the hearts of millions of viewers in the early 00s, with Baluev and Galkin in the title role. So this tape is filmed in the best traditions of such military fighters.
The actors were very convincingly selected. The main character, well, just like Chris Pratt! It looks like two drops of water. I remember him in Defenders. Horror, as it turned out, such a good actor was carried there. I am not particularly familiar with Pampushny, except for the aforementioned 'blockbuster' and the historical Alexander. The Battle of Neva is ten years old. But I just played a great role here. Gosha Kutsenko feels great in the role of commander. I liked Ravshan Kurkova. Separately, I want to highlight Kirill Polukhin! He's getting killed all the time, and I was really sick to make him live here. Finally, I liked the Serb Miloš Bikovic. This is what it means to play in the native language of Serb! I don’t like it in our films.Well, and where recently without Roman Kurtsyn? In "Seven Dinners" the role was clearly not his, but to play a Russian soldier-dumb he was commanded by God himself! The cherry on the cake was the same old Goiko Mitic! And Grandpa can still play Chingachguk!
I want to note the excellent musical accompaniment. Russian rock always animates any movie and here was no exception. Each musical composition of famous rock bands begins to play at the right moment and squeezes out a tear without much effort. When the departure of our peacekeepers Tsoi played with the song & #39; Next we will act & #39;, I even almost teared up. The movie itself looks very expensive and looks cool. It turns out that it is possible for 230 million rubles to make a military-patriotic fighter at the level of the best American similar tapes. The same 20 hours: the soldiers of Benghazi do not look better than this tape.
The result was a good military fighter, which is very interesting to watch. The script is written perfectly and has almost no shortcomings. This is a really stylishly shot worthwhile movie. It will appeal to every reasonable adult. Don’t listen to anyone and be sure to watch! You will not regret it.
To begin with, the film did not leave me indifferent. Everything is in order...
Ideology. It should be noted that the film was created with the participation of two parties: Russian and Serbian. First of all, the Serbs, who were directly affected by these events, could not but show the atrocities of the Albanian militants, the ruthlessness of NATO bombing of peaceful objects and the treacherous silence of Russia that struck them. Is any of the above not true and just propaganda? The Russian side, perhaps as some excuse, refers to the impotence of the then Russian leadership: this is the betrayal of its soldiers, shown in the beginning of the film, and even the inability to complete a military operation to seize a strategically important airport, carried out only through violation of the order. And again, that was the case at the time.
Motivation of the main characters. This moment caused a lot of questions from the reviewers. I have no doubt that this has raised some questions for me. What is the motivation of Russian special forces? Where is the sympathy for the Serbian people and the desire to help them? Surprisingly, it doesn’t exist, at least in the movie. Barmey. "Do you want to fight?" What he did was normal for him. And the love for the “work” of the special forces remained. So the reason - the desire to be the last time to do your favorite thing and shake the old days. Vera. The motivation is to go back to my daughter. Sweet. His attitude to the conflict "I'm purple!" However, there is a logical explanation for this - he could not endure the betrayal of his homeland: a treacherous order to release the criminal and the murderer, a treacherous abandonment without financial assistance of the family of a deceased special forces friend. By the way, the Russian state is used to forgetting its heroes (Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Chechnya... the list goes on). Slash’s participation in the operation is a desire to restore justice to a friend. Kirei. Being back with Shataya's team is the best reward for him, even though the operation is risky. Shatai. He had nothing to do with the airport operation. This Russian officer is shown as a man of word and honor. In exchange for understanding, he promised to help the head of the Serbian police (although they failed to take the Albanian militant Smuk red-handed). Then he kept his word even in front of the militant Smuk, who promised to save his life if the militants dropped their weapons. Then he could not leave without the help of his new comrades – Serbian policemen, who decided on an extremely risky and almost hopeless operation to capture the criminal and murderer Smuk. His indecision in relations with the Serbian girl Yasna, who clearly liked him, may raise the question. But the answer to this lies at the end of the film: he doubted until the end whether a civilian girl would be able to understand the far from sinless combat officer who had to kill. You can be glad that in love he still behaved like a real man.
There is no need to comment on the motivation and actions of the Serbs. “Real Serb” – and this is all said, and not only about Serbs by nationality.
Motivation dealt with. What about the actors? First of all, I would note the excellent performance of Milena Radulovic (Jasna). Mental suffering from death around and the inability to help, the inability to fight a person called to save lives, and not take away, finally, those emotions that she had for the person she loved. Played without falsehood and for a hundred! Milos Bikovic (Vuk) also played a great role: at first, a cheerful person after the death of his relatives loses the meaning of life. And the only desire he has is to get his family's killer. His misunderstanding of reality is also brilliantly shown: how can one observe the law when lawlessness is happening? Gojko Mitic (Goran Milic, the head of the Serbian police) is also very plausible: he is used to serving the law and follows it even in relation to criminals. Decently played the role of the merry Giray, who lost the faith of Sweet, enthusiast of his business Barmey, who wants to return to the daughter of Vera. In my opinion, there was not enough emotion in the game of Anton Pampushny (Shatai). At the beginning of the film, his character is clearly an emotional person, but in the continuation of the rest of the film, the emotions on the actor’s face are practically absent. As for Aleksandar Srechkovich (Smuk) and his hero... Here, I think, there is some flaw of the writers: it is not quite clear whether this is a religious fanatic, exterminating people of another faith, or a commercialized bandit. The role of Gosha Kutsenko (Beck) was also played poorly, by three: the hero clearly had to be with character, and the character did not work out.
Plot. Overall, it is quite consistent despite criticism. Both actions and characters develop logically. Of course, it was not without implausibility from a military point of view. 8 people confront a hundred militants and most of them are still alive! Even in spite of military tricks, they would hardly have succeeded. The second strange thing is that there are few ammunition at the militant base, but the militants, who fight mainly with the civilian population, have mortars at their disposal (and, apparently, do not store them at the base, but constantly carry them). The armor and bullet resistance of special forces is a small thing. But this is an action movie, not a documentary! The weaving of a romantic line gave beauty to this film.
The main advantage of this film is that it evokes empathy and emotions for both the main characters and the Serbian people. I highly recommend it, 8 out of 10 and recommend it!
Historical and military-themed films are perhaps the areas in which our cinema was strong before, and now it can present a high-quality film product to the viewer. It remains a mystery to me why our filmmakers, having a colossal layer of history, do not make films in the proper quantity that affect the dramatic, epochal, iconic, greatest events of our state or individual individuals. Such a movie is shot, but it is very small, and I would like to have much less of the toilet humor, which today is filled with everyone. To tell from the screen about the conditional "tits" and "knobs", fart - there is no need for much mind and everyone can do it, but to release something really worthwhile - units are capable of this.
Take the same Andrey Volgin, who shot the “Balkan Frontier” – one of his past projects – “Dancing to Death”. "Dancing" is fucking "to death!" Definitely inspired by a large number of shows on dance and singing themes. The film is a complete suck, which could hardly be seen to the end. But in the case of the “Balkan border”, everything is somewhat different.
The film is based on real events that occurred in 1999 in Yugoslavia, when the Balkans were raging war. Naturally, some episodes have changed, especially since the details of the operation described here are probably still classified. But one way or another, living confirmation of what happened is the head of the Republic of Ingushetia Yunus-bey Yevkurov, who turned out to be among the soldiers of the GRU detachment who took the Slatina airport in Kosovo.
This is also part of our history, even if it does not directly affect the majority of our citizens. But our peacekeepers who were in Yugoslavia at that time deserved to be told about them. We know about the Great Patriotic War, we know about Afghanistan and Chechnya, but so little is told about the Balkan conflict. But the same march-throw with a length of more than 600 kilometers of a column of our armored personnel carriers and the occupation of a strategically important object by the Russian military is something that deserves both lighting and respect.
After watching it, it was interesting to read about the facts of that operation and find out that then our APCs really circled on the runway to prevent NATO helicopters from landing, then the commander of the British group in the Balkans, Michael Jackson (not a singer, do not think), really said that he would not allow his command to unleash World War III. That is, in such seemingly pathetic and epic moments, reflecting the greatness of our soldiers over potential opponents, as it turns out, there is no share of pathos or epic. There's room for facts. Again, I’m not going to argue that everything was presented as it was, but the fact that the crew paid a lot of attention to the nuances is a sign of gratitude. Thank you for being a reality that once existed.
I’m not going to write that this is a propaganda film that portrays us and the Serbs as exceptionally positive, and the Albanians and NATO members as villains. Each party has the right to its point of view. Everyone has their own truth. Remember John Moore’s 2001 action movie, Behind Enemy Lines with Owen Wilson and Gene Heckman. It tells the story of good Americans and Albanians fighting for independence with the Serbs, who staged the genocide of the Albanians. I also like that movie, primarily due to the cool production and entertainment. Although I don't share the dot that Moore puts there. This is just an example of how each side interprets what happened in its own way. As well as domestic films on the Afghan theme and “Rambo 3”.
In my opinion, the “Balkan Frontier” is delayed in the first half and the viewer could do without some details, in particular, acquaintance with a couple expecting a child, because this pair does not affect the further development of the plot.
But the second half is a continuous dynamic drive and action, presented in the best traditions of military dramas and militants. The film is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and is a joint Russian-Serbian film. It is nice that there is a mixed cast and involved legends – Goiko Mitic and Emir Kusturica. It is nice that the film is full of footage chronicles, and not in one direction, but reflecting different positions. It was especially pleasant to see the footage as the Russian military convoy was marching through Serbia – the soldiers were greeted by local residents. They greeted them as heroes, as soldiers from the front once did in 1945. These shots can tear through even the most callous heart, and, to be honest, while contemplating these shots, I have a lump stuck in my throat from the idea that for someone we are friends and brothers, and for someone we are enemies. It just doesn’t fit into my head how some can see a hero in the same face, and others – a villain. But that's right, thoughts on paper.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
Two things buzzed my ears from the news during my happy Yeltsin childhood: Chechnya and Yugoslavia. It's about the second. That NATO fascism, we knew before the film with Gosha Kutsenko and Pampushny. I was expecting something different from the painting. Everything in order.
In general, financial and technological capabilities already allow themselves to shoot a world-class product in all world film powers. I mean picture, sound, caste, etc. So that stupidly blindly watching the spectacle, you can not immediately tell where and by whom it was done. It is abstracted from names and setting. Here the main thing is to properly master the allocated money. The creators of 'Frontier' (it is important to clarify which, because it was already known oceanic, and simple such domestic) coped with this task. There's action, there's explosions, there's bloodshed, there's boom-boom, there's a thousand, and all this. There are actors who either do not interfere, or in some cases show excellent chemistry and physics. Interaction between Tatar and Albanian is a separate respect from me. Kutsenko himself, however, apparently invested more in the production work, that his texture faded before the rest.
That's the moment. A thing that is so rare in domestic blue that it is impossible to remember. And everything except Hollywood blockbusters is alien. Cultural references. Seriously. A reference to Chingachgug with a character played by Goiko Mitic (wow, he is also alive!). Kusturica's cameo. Small things, and served wisely, so it is pleasant.
Here's what I mean. It doesn’t even matter if the liberals are screaming from the movie. I was expecting a good action movie. I got it. There are sometimes good ideological pitches, and sometimes too soapy clichés. Not without flaws, so nothing is alien to a human film. Decent work.
Andrei Volgin’s blockbuster “Balkan Frontier” answers, perhaps, all today’s audience requests.
There is the heroic patriotism of a handful of tough Russians who, as usual, do not surrender even to the enemy’s many times superior forces. Here, the fraternal ties of Russians and Serbs are a topic that may be forgotten now, but is easily revived at the level of feelings and emotions. Here, the confrontation between Russia and the West and the thirst for Russian national revenge are today’s cultural and political mainstream. And even a long-forgotten sincere internationalism instead of slurred tolerance.
And all this is embodied in the form of shootings and hand-to-hand fights, in the glow of fire and the smoke of fires, under the ringing of broken glass and the clanging of shutters. And all this is based on the real events that shook the world twenty years ago, when NATO forces began to force the Serbs to peace by bombing Belgrade.
Since “Frontier” is not a military drama, but a patriotic action, the accents in the film are clearly placed. There is an enemy – Albanian separatists, very similar to the Chechens, covered by America. The enemy is cruel and merciless. It must be brutally and mercilessly destroyed if you want to survive. There are heroes - in action movies they are always supermen, even if they are the same superwoman. There are innocent civilians in need of help – they must be saved if they succeed. There is evil, there is good. No halfways. There are no mixed estimates either. And when drama and even tragedy still seep through the action, the action is quickly rebuilt, the tone changes, and the viewer is made to understand that this is “Commando”, and not “Apocalypse Now”.
Black “stealths” move ominously in the night sky, hatches open – and bombs fall on the city, turning Belgrade’s quarters into ruins. A young woman is killed by a bomb, whom her husband brought to the hospital to give birth to. He's dying too. Only a child can be miraculously saved. And then there was a Russian news report: “There are reports that women and children were killed in the bombing of Belgrade...” A tragic and promising beginning.
But after more fighting, shooting, knife fighting and excessive violence.
The force of terror is confronted by the force that is in the truth, and the truth lies with the Serbs and the Russians – that is the main idea of the film. And although its truth seems to require no proof, the filmmakers did not stint on them. Shot and severed heads, slashed throats, mass murders and show executions – too much with naturalism goes to the detriment of the picture. One bloody-heartbreaking scene would be enough to understand who is who.
The effect of the reliability of what is happening is achieved not only by interspersing the documentary chronicle, but also by the fact that the event that served as the reason for the creation of the film has entered into recent history and is well known even to a not too sophisticated and politically savvy viewer. The march of Russian peacekeepers from Bosnia to Pristina, which occupied Kosovo’s only Slatina airport, has long been the subject of “national pride of the Great Russians.” Despite the fact that the American scenario continued to be realized, Milosevic was forced to agree to the terms of the partition of Yugoslavia, and the Russian troops themselves left the region a few years later.
What role Yunus-Bek Yevkurov’s special forces played in these events and whether there was actually a fight near the airport, we still do not know for sure. Therefore, filmmakers had a wonderful ground for speculation and fiction, without which no feature film can do.
The heroes of the film at the behest of its creators protect the airport from Albanian thugs, waiting for their arrival. A group of former Russian special forces officers stripped of their citizenship after “amateur activity” in Bosnia, led by their commander, Aslanbek Ethoev (Gosha Kutsenko), confronts a squad of Albanian terrorist Smuk, who had his own base at the airport. Seven against a hundred! They hold back the onslaught until the arrival of Russian bater.
In the bustle of the battle scenes, we learn almost nothing about the heroes of the airport defense. Their images are written weakly and flatly, as well as the image of the main villain Smuk, who seems to just like to destroy everything living and non-Albanian on his way, even Americans who favor his people. The techniques with which the director apparently tried to reveal the inner world of the characters - all these stupid jokes or talk about Soviet times, prayers before the fight, kisses and hugs - do not achieve success. Everything is drowning in the fire of the ongoing battle.
Of the total mass stands out only Russian special forces Andrey Shatalov – “Shatai”. To present him as a brutal character turned out (he strongly resembles Shah from “Wuthering Gate”), but ambivalent – not. At the beginning of the film, when the action takes place in Bosnia in 1995, Shatai throws a NATO prisoner of war from a helicopter. Quite frankly, a morally ambiguous act, even when you consider that this prisoner killed your comrade. But, it turns out, this is what a real officer should do - the director makes it clear to the viewer, putting this idea into the mouth of one of the comrades of Shatai already before the final battle of the forces of good and evil, cutting off other assessments of the hero. In addition, before arriving at the airport, he managed to become famous and accomplished many feats - he saved several passengers of a bus captured by militants, including a girl with whom, of course, love struck up, and also proved himself from a good side in the eyes of the police, two employees of which took with them to protect the airport.
These employees – a Serb and an Albanian – are spelled out in the film much more clearly than the Russian supermen, who in essence remain mercenary fighters performing a combat mission on the territory of a foreign state. Kosovo police are fighting on the same land they live on, for them the dilemma of “friend or foe” is far from abstract. And their boss, performed by Goiko Mitich – the legends of the DEFA studio – is as deft, majestic and noble as Chingachguk the Big Snake or Oceola – the leader of the Seminoles.
In Volgin’s film, everything is not at all like that of the Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica, who played the episodic role of a taxi driver in the “Border”. For Kusturica, the tragedy of Yugoslavia is the tragedy of all its peoples who lost their country in the fire of the civil war. The brother raises his hand against his brother, the Serbs kill the Croats, and the Croats kill the Serbs, and the earth is soaked in blood. Perhaps, because the phantasmagoric paintings of Kusturica are shot in the genre of tragicomedy, so that the pain that the master passes through himself and transmits to the viewer is not so much felt. That is why Kusturica’s films are art, and the Balkan Frontier is a high-quality, well-made, but, alas, propaganda and commercial project.
A Forgotten Feat or an Emotionally Strong War drama about real war, real brotherhood, and true love!
A historical war drama. As soon as I learned that ours, together with the Serbs, were filming a film about the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to Kosovo in 1999, I could not pass it by. The thing is, I have a Serbian friend who, along with his parents, survived these monstrous NATO bombings, and who told me about them in his time. Then it is deeply embedded in the memory, and I will not be able to forget it, and I will not allow it. David! If you are reading this, thank you for everything! You're one of my best friends! So it was a personal story, and I couldn't ignore it. I want to state that this opinion will be emotionally subjective (as always, but here is a special case), and I did not find any drawbacks in the picture, no matter how hard I tried, so we will focus on memorable moments. In the meantime, here is a brief opinion - an emotionally strong military drama about a real war, about real brotherhood, and real love!
Here are some memorable moments:
1. The theme - the basis of the picture lay real events, and this is not just a story, but the real truth. When the Americans and their NATO puppets, trampled and humiliated in every sense of fraternal Yugoslavia, decided to literally wipe off the face of the earth, first with monstrous bombardments, and then with a grandiose military operation, and only a handful of Russian paratroopers under the UN flag prevented this from happening, occupying the most strategically advantageous airfield. Then the world was again on the verge of World War III, which was extinguished thanks to the courage of Russian peacekeepers and NATO officers who refused to shoot ours. But these events, of course, served as the background for the main story, telling about the Russian special group, which helped our paratroopers take the airport and hold it until reinforcements arrived, taking an unequal fight with Albanian militants. Here I can only praise the creators, and especially the writers, who were able to fit the main story in a very organic way against the background of the tragedy.
2. Chronicle - in the picture quite often show real shots about historical events, against which the main story takes place. Fortunately, only twenty years have passed since the events, and a lot of materials have been preserved. It also goes to the creators, because they selected the most valuable and interesting shots, both from Serbian and Russian sources, and from Western sources.
3. Emotions - I just sobbed as everyone who saw this picture with me. After all, there is a lot of cruelty in it, especially related to the abuse of the Albanians against the Serbs. The brutality of the war is also enough. The picture is clearly not sixteen plus, although I think our distributors did it specifically so that as many viewers as possible could see their picture, so I forgive them, and we, modern people, have long been accustomed to cruelty. But the brutality here looks so natural that tears flowed from my eyes, reminding me of how terrible war is, especially for civilians who have no one to protect. The picture is completely broken.
4. Heroes are not immortal – our boys and girls are trained fighters, but not terminators capable of destroying entire armies of enemies. They are people, each with their own weaknesses, their own skills. They act like real professionals, but sometimes they break down like ordinary people. Heroes here are not cardboards, although they do not have so much emotions.
5. Shootings - and although they were not the main emphasis, but they were carried out simply at the highest level. I’m not afraid of this word, they compared the shootings with scenes of battles in the paintings of Marvel, although our budget was much more modest. It is interesting to watch the shootings, you are also worried about the heroes who can be killed, especially with such a balance of forces. Explosions, machine gun lines are just a bomb. This picture just does 'Stalingrad' Fedor Bondarchuk on efficiency in all articles, especially in the visual and scenario part.
6. Dialogues between heroes - they reveal their character, their motives, their personal stories, and you penetrate literally every hero, even the main enemy & #39; Evil not because he is evil & #39; but because of his fanaticism and perverted idea in which he was raised. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s a monster. Here is the case that through a minimum of words, the creators reveal the characters better than in other paintings, when the characters pronounce whole monologues, and nothing is clear from them.
7. Brotherhood is a picture of the brotherhood of a Russian and a Serb, a Russian and a Tatar, a Russian and a Belarusian, a Russian and a Jew, a Serb and an Albanian, an Orthodox Christian and a Muslim. After all, Russia and Serbia are multinational states with a thousand-year history, each of them suffered great trials, but together we were able to withstand, and now our brotherhood is stronger than ever, and in our country the union of peoples is as strong, because if it does not exist, we will be single-handedly beaten and enslaved, just as food did not happen to us, and as it almost happened to the Serbs in 1999. In addition, there is nostalgia for the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, states that, alas, are no longer on the map, but people remain.
8. Romantic line - here it is better than in the picture 'Crimea'. And although it is as simple, it is logically inscribed, and does not look like a foreign element, as in Pimanov’s painting. Learn Alexei Viktorovich! There is a spark between the characters.
9. Legendary stars - the honored Chingachguk of the Soviet Union Goiko Mitic starred here, I looked at pictures with his participation in childhood, and here the elderly Goiko managed to surprise me. I take my hat off to you. There is also a world-renowned Yugoslav director whose name is so well known that I won’t even name him. If you don’t know him, shame on you.
And one more point - in the picture there is a mat, but it is very convenient here, I warned, and humor found a place - and it also organically fit!
A bit about the main characters:
1. Andrey Shatalov, played by Anton Pampushny, is a Russian hero and commander of special forces who carried out secret operations in the Balkans. A real hero and a calculating professional who knows his business. Despite the fact that Anton starred in ' Defenders' I have not stopped loving this actor. He is very good at the roles of Russian heroes and people of honor. This is his role, and here he fit perfectly. Bravo Anton!
I liked the Balkan Frontier: I watched, I was nervous, I was worried. Although from the very beginning nothing special, I confess, from the picture did not expect. Because, frankly, about the war in the former Yugoslavia and the NATO military operation there, only some scattered fragments remained in memory, from which the content of the film interesting for me did not appear. Therefore, it is good that the authors decided at the very beginning to briefly but clearly recall the chronology of those tragic events. Although at times it seemed that this introduction to the course of things and the whole background of subsequent actions is a little prolonged.
In general, the film liked the strong, tense plot and captured its combat scenes with a complete immersion in what is happening on the screen. For which special thanks to the operator, very beautifully and talentedly filmed scenes of the assault of the airfield, and wonderful landscapes, and the passage of Russian military equipment, and close-ups of the heroes.
The film was pleased that, unlike the vast majority of characters in many other films I have seen recently, the characters of the Balkan Frontier & #39 turned out to be living people, not walking mannequins or plywood talking heads. I've known some of the actors before, and I've seen someone for the first time. I liked that the whole group of Andrey Shatalov (and then Beck) are not knights without fear and reproach and supermen who came off the advertising picture, but live, not heroic people with their own advantages and shortcomings. The heroic appearance here is only at Shatalov himself performed by Anton Pampushny, who looks like a real Russian hero (no wonder he once played Alyosha Popovich in The Real Tale!): courageous, beautiful, harsh, verbose. He protects the weak, fights bravely against the enemy and is committed to duty. The only love line in the film with a Serbian girl was the logical conclusion of the image of Shatalov as a real tough guy.
Also, from the entire international combat team (and for this, too, a special thank you to the screenwriters who showed the brotherhood and comradeship of people of different nationalities and religions), I would like to highlight Ravshana Kurkova, who played the sniper Vera. Kurkova turned out a complex, multifaceted image. She appears as a real woman, not a manish or asexual creature, while remaining a fearless fighter and professional, who is respected by male combat comrades. And when, after all the trials, at the most tense moment of the film, Vera says: “...To be beautiful” – it was to tears.
Of the Serbian actors, Alexander Srechkovic made the greatest impression as the villain Smuk, the leader of Albanian militants. Very scary, cruel and unpredictable was his character. Just the devil in the flesh.
It was unexpected to see in the film in the role of the old policeman legendary Goiko Mitic, about whom one of the characters specifically for the audience said that despite his age, he “jumps like Chingachguk”! A surprise was the episodic appearance on the screen of the Emir Kusturica.
I liked that the film, in fact being a militant, was staged and played not as a computer “shooter” with faceless soldiers-terminators, but as a real drama, with meaning and morality. Without black people, without muddying the regime and the government, or, conversely, leafy patriotism, but in such a way that the viewer himself could draw his conclusions, looking at people who did their job without sparing themselves, fulfilled their military duty courageously, sacrificially, with honor and dignity.
Thanks to the director Andrey Volgin and all the creators of the Balkan Frontier for their film!