I, in principle, always go to films with any historical content extremely carefully, this session I went from the consideration of "What will happen." And sorry.
What's good about the movie? Shooting, special effects, sound, colors, atmosphere, acting, even humor in some places - everything is on top. A really dynamic, brisk and rather contrasting attraction, which is interesting to watch from the point of view of the attraction. This, perhaps, is the pluses of "Everything".
What's wrong? Let’s start with the fact that such a tense battle, shown as a key event of this picture is taken from the air. Flooding sources on the history of this conflict does not tell about any difficult battles and heroic exploits of Russian special forces, says only that the data on some of the few actions of the Russian contingent at that time, in particular about this, is classified.
The film is almost entirely based on lies, except for the documentary footage of those times. The Serbian people are exposed as victims of circumstances, and the Serbs themselves are shown as courageous fighters for their independence. The fact that the events of those times could be interpreted as a maniacal desire of the Serbian state to retain control over the collapsing Balkans is not even taken into account. The fact of Albanian bloodthirsty aggression is reflected, but not a single frame will tell you about how the same Serbs delivered a lot of "Flagging" to the peoples of Yugoslavia at that time. NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia is purely negative, and the work of the UN and peacekeepers (except, of course, Russian ones) is only a glimpse. The main villain is shown in the spirit of Barmaley, who kills in order to kill, and the film deliberately emphasizes that he is a Muslim, because of his faith he is ready and will kill.
The fighting, while spectacular, is performed in a typical war film format. Ours are immortal terminators who will carry out a company with one grenade, strangers are fools who rush to the embrasure of a machine gun. Used all possible clichés: “Leave me, I will hold them”, impenetrable car with a tank of gasoline, which will explode, only reaching the goal, sometimes funny jokes, built mainly on the basis of some national considerations and other stuff.
Who's it designed for? I believe, on jingle patriots who need a “dose” of pictures about the victory of the Russian military wherever possible, on those who believe in the centuries-old brotherly friendship of Russia with everyone, and also on those who do not know and do not want to know the real history of those events.
Verdict
Attempt to make a live film about no less lively history was not crowned with success, moreover, out of habit slipped into the typical propaganda of the Russian world. The picture to view can be recommended only as a bright cartoon with explosions and blood, but even nearby can not be as a good and real action movie about the real story.
There were a lot of angry reviews about the film, including the main critic of All Russia (I will not name the last name due to disrespect). The trailer didn’t seem to be good either.
But... Everyone remembers the joke about ' horror '? Here is something similar.
To begin with, I agree ideologically with the authors. And finally, this film is not the Great Patriotic War, but about our modernity. Personally, I was 15 years old and I remember the atmosphere and mood in society.
Why do some people have the right to praise their army and we don’t? That's not going to work.
I don't see the excesses of history. And if you do not agree, read the history of events, about the Albanian army and their feats ' That's when we talk.
The only excess is the main villain. It was very caricatured. Reminiscent of the heroes of the 80s: too cardboard and one-sided. Or like Klaus from 'T-34' - too cinematic comic.
The action is exemplary. Special thanks for not overloading us with slow-mouse. But a lot looks like borrowing from the best Western models. A lot of people have compared it to the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi & #39. I have not seen it, so I will not compare it.
I personally did not like the savoring of deaths and the snotty that our Westerners love. And the question arose - we had our own great action movies like "Pirates of the 20th century" & #39; or "To survive" & #39; they did not focus on overseas. And with soul.
I remembered more 'Single sailing' which is against delusional 'Red Dawns' and their like adequately showed the Cold War and was not a grotesque cutoff.
There is still something to pick on, but there is something to praise. Like the soundtrack. Our rock very harmoniously complements the narrative. And I was the only one who thought this was a reference to Danila Bagrov and his words about music in the war?
6 out of 10
Not a bad movie on the right topic, but with a number of omissions.
I want the Russian military-patriotic film to be self-sufficient and appeal to the roots.
Irritating phrase ' Everyone has his own truth'. There can only be one truth. And the truth is that NATO has long gone very far in the struggle for world domination. It was like that. By playing their games, they believe they can rule other states like pieces on a chessboard. Basically, the whole movie comes down to that. This is not a false truth.
Propaganda, propaganda... What is wrong with promoting patriotic feelings, courage and honor? Every movie is a kind of propaganda. A priori, the viewer is tipped towards a thought or idea. Sometimes it seems that some just to grumble and criticize, while thoughtlessly using this word.
'The Balkan Frontier' stands out for its brutality. All pictures of war are cruel in one way or another, but here the enemy is merciless and sophisticated in a barbaric way. ' Medieval executions' quite in his spirit. He starts to piss off in the middle of the movie. The ideal representative of the biomass that the earth should carry.
In general, a lot of blood, a lot of death and action.
Maybe it's a minus for someone. Not for me.
Heroes are heroic. For them 'more' Could it be any different in this case?
Despite the duration, 'Balkan border' dynamic, so you simply do not get bored. Lots of special effects, lots of fighting, lots of deaths. By the way, there are no complaints about the episodes of battles: bright, expensive, epic.
The film is empathetic. There was one ridiculous moment in it, but against the background of the other pluses of the plot and production, it somehow faded. ' Lovelines' absolutely not melodramatic. It seems that sometimes war speeds up time and brings us closer together faster than in peacetime. The phrase is not in vain taken in quotation marks: it is impossible to call such a love line in the full sense of the word.
Separately pleased musical accompaniment. Good songs of domestic rock performers harmoniously fit into the action.
7 out of 10
Met me a slow rocking (although the beginning and tunes to action) with a trivial Hollywood plot.
Actually, a lot is done under the American sauce: a lot of special effects, a lot of shooting and explosions, a cool protagonist (with a traditional love story) and a lot of morphine (VERY much morphine, like in Vietnam).
But the play of the actors and the script remained traditionally domestic, which surprisingly did not spoil anything, but on the contrary, harmoniously fit into the overall picture. Even Grandpa Kutsenko was in his place.
A great move of the scriptwriters to link to the insignificant (but tirelessly praised) event, with the introduction of paratroopers into the territory of Yugoslavia, the traditional story of friendship, love and self-sacrifice.
I can also emphasize that there is a lot of Russian rock, but not obsessive. The inserts are appropriate, although they will be closer to those who remember the late nineties. New arrangements, melodies without words or words without melodies (one of the heroes is a lover of singing).
The main gratification was the understanding of the appropriate degree of patriotism and anti-American sentiment. Everything is on edge, but the borders have not crossed. In general, the emphasis, as I think, is shifted in the right direction, towards the suffering of the common people from the war.
The film is dynamic, moderately emotional, not boring and in general with a pleasant picture. We took all the best from both schools, did not create a masterpiece, but made an excellent modern blockbuster.
I happened to get into a movie session and I can conclude: definitely watch! This is a movie for the cinema, do not wait for the release on the network.
10 out of 10
I’ll revisit it in a couple of months with friends.
The Balkans, the cradle of many civilizations, have been in the crosshairs of world politics since the emergence of this concept itself - too many interests are woven in the region located between Europe and Asia, the Christian and Muslim worlds, the Slavic, Western and Eastern ethnic groups. The mountain-cut peninsula is rightly known as the “powder keg of Europe.” Once again, it was blown up by the Second World War, which divided the population into two camps. Hidden from newspaper editorials busy with reports from the Eastern Front, the war in the Balkans took on a truly satanic appearance, when pro-Hitler Croatian Ustashas contributed to the genocide of the Serbian people, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. But the fighting subsided, and peaceful coexistence demanded a solution that could, without new rounds of revenge, put an end to ethnic conflict forever. One of the greatest manifestations of humanism in the bloody twentieth century was the understanding of the Balkans of the futility of responding to genocide by genocide. Contrary to fate, the peoples divided by blood became compatriots, and Yugoslavia appeared on the map of Europe, the state-forming force of which, as leaders of the antifascist movement and the most numerous nation, became the Serbs. Yugoslavs on both sides of the genocide successfully built a common homeland, as self-sufficient as possible and independent of the poles of the Cold War. Forgiving each other, they gave the next two or three generations a decade of rare peace for the region. But their descendants who grew up on everything ready-made did not know the horrors of war and were unable to resist manipulators in the unipolar world that became in the 90s. The Balkans are back in blood. These are the historical background of events, which tells the Russian-Serbian militant director Andrei Volgin “Balkan Frontier”.
It is impossible to capture the vast in a single long film, and The Balkan Frontier is just one of the many conflicts in which the disintegrating Yugoslavia – Kosovo – has agonized. The cunning people who argue that it is difficult to determine the right and the guilty in this war are cunning. Kosovo is the historical land of the Serbian people, inhabited by Slavs centuries before the arrival of the Turks. On the Kosovo field, under the onslaught of the Ottomans, they lost hope of a free future. Half a millennium later, along with the independence of the Serbs regained this region. During the Italian occupation of Albania, Mussolini, wishing to achieve the cooperation of the population, "gifted" to local nationalists a number of lands belonging to more dangerous peoples for the colonial regime. This included Serb-owned Kosovo, which was flooded by thousands of migrants from the south. Of course, not all Albanians supported Italy and Germany: their communists rallied the guerrilla movement and condemned the invasion of Kosovo by their compatriots, but before the liberation of Albania, fascist henchmen had already exterminated about 10,000 Serbs and forced another hundred thousand to flee, occupying homes and plundering property. After the defeat of the Axis, Kosovo returned to the Slavs, but thousands of aliens remained in this region, and the idea of building a “Greater Albania” lurked for half a century, until it again received the support of foreign puppeteers. The Balkan Frontier allows us to witness the horrors unleashed by a new conflict.
The script revolves around two events: the march of Russian peacekeepers to the airport in Kosovo and a special operation in which a group of fighters occupied and held the object until the convoy arrived. If the first of these stories was covered live on TV channels, then the details of the second are securely locked up with the stamp “secret”, and will become known to the public no earlier than the expiration of the 50-year limitation period. For this perfectly understandable reason, half of the film is fiction. The method of storytelling chosen by Volgin is one of the classic ones – in the first part the author shows short sketches about heroes and antagonists, allowing the viewer to feel sympathy for the first and hatred for the second, and in the second half brings all participants together in one place. For the story planned by the authors for the show, an impressive 150-minute timekeeping is optimal. The director and writers almost perfectly calculated the balance between the dramatic component in the first part of the film and the spectacular one in the second. If, after watching, the viewer has something to desire, it is not a reduction, but only a wider coverage of some “strings” – a Swiss doctor, a photo in Vera’s pocket, the unpunished aggression of NATO. But to demand more from the picture with the maximum permissible duration for cinemas will be tactless, so we state the obvious: if after watching there is a desire to dive deeper into the film, then it was successful.
The Russian-Serbian actor ensemble coped with their roles, and among the “excellent” there are Sergey Marin (Slaschev), Milena Radulovic (Jasna) and Milos Bikovic (Vuk). The character of the latter became, perhaps, the most complex and dramatic, and the actor, known for his “light” roles, got used to the role flawlessly.
The main antagonist of the film evokes special associations in the hearts of Russian viewers. The so-called “Kosovo Liberation Army”, to which, although this is not directly stated, Smuk’s gang belonged, with its goals, methods, ideology and sponsorship from abroad, is a twin brother of the North Caucasian terrorist organization during the Chechen wars. Suspect Smuk in ' unnatural' can only be a happy spectator, because of his age does not know the true face of terrorism. Every crime on screen has parallels in our history. The murder of a priest who did not want to renounce his faith echoes the death of Yevgeny Rodionov or a Dagestani policeman who remained in the country's memory with the words "Work, brothers." For us, the head of a fighter cut off in the film will not be a “thrash” allusion to horror films, but a reminder of the footage that 20 years ago was shown in the news. Screen Smuk became a collective image of field commanders of the same color, which included Basayev and Khattab, who attacked hospitals and schools in our country, and this film is equally relevant for the Serbian and Russian peoples.
Talking about the ugliness of the war, “Balkan Frontier” still allows you to enjoy the beauty of the shot. This is facilitated by the presence of bright landscape plans and qualitatively filmed battle episodes. The creators managed to spectacularly shoot the fights without killing the drama by turning the movie into an “attraction”. Immersion in the atmosphere contributes to an excellent selection of compositions: domestic rock hits return us to the era of the 90s, and the “heavy” processing of ethnic motifs allows you to feel the rhythm of the Balkans. The mass produced shows the complete absence of plastic Barbies and Kens – the pain we see on the same faces we see on the street every day, making the tragedy even more realistic.
The moral message hidden in the film is so natural and fair that if he “stresses” someone from the audience, then the problem is not in the film.
As a result, the Balkan Frontier becomes one of the most high-quality militants of recent times. This is guaranteed by the positive spectator “sarafan” and high ratings of world aggregators. Whether the proposed interpretation of the actual event is acceptable is to be judged first of all by the Serbian audience. The results of rental in this country exceeded the indicators of the most popular Hollywood comic books, and this speaks for itself.
9 out of 10
Stupid to deny - Balkan frontier custom propaganda film.
It is quite natural that against the background of recent events in the world, about which future history textbooks will write ' Cold War 2.0' the United States and Russia seek to rebuke each other and present themselves to their citizens in the best light.
But guys, is it possible to shoot so stiff propaganda?
You know, it's really sad that you could make a really good movie. There is no need to lie here, there is no need to invent anything. The Yugoslav war was a serious wound in the history of the two native peoples. Tens of thousands of participants, millions of witnesses, tens of millions of sympathizers, events, faces, decisions painted almost minute by minute. It was enough to attract someone from the talented, from among those who care, who cares, who is familiar and understandable, and he would do everything for free and at the highest level. But patriotism is only bought and sold. It is sad that instead of a good movie, we get another product of cutting the state budget.
What's good:
First, nothing is forgotten. And I hope someone more talented again raises the topic of the Yugoslav conflict and will show all the pain of the people, the historical background, the complexity of political entanglements, not the equal struggle of a small country against the whole world and not the justice of the European Court, at which the main defendant was silenced, carrying out the sentence before it was announced.
Two. Finally, the role of the Russian Volunteers in foreign conflicts, perhaps in my memory this is the first film in which it is honestly shown that Russia has long used volunteers under a neutral or false flag, in the territories of states in which it has its own interests. It would be unfair not to give credit to these nameless fighters, who will never be included in the history books in the lists of its heroes.
Three. Encouraging a violation of an order in the interest of the country and in accordance with military honor is not good, but right. A good reference to the events of 08.08.2008, when the battalion moved without orders from Moscow and the entire Kremlin stood on its ears when he saw the troops enter North Ossetia, on TV.
What about the movie itself? Dynamic fights, in general, of course, a little fabulous, but not hulking. The actors prepared, the pyrotechnics tried. The plot is simple, the heroes too, and they do not need to be complicated, not about the film, but sincerity and sympathy are lacking. There is no sense that this is their war, it turns out that they fought to return home, and why they need this house, it is not clear why they need this war, either. We can understand that, but the director and the writer? Probably not. Revenge, too primitive, for the sake of revenge, do not go to capture airports under the flags of a foreign country, quietly cleaned up, at night set fire to, cut, fired, mined and no noise, but so on.
Of course, the subject of bandits is also not disclosed. Who they are, why they came, what guided them and on whose orders, just the bandits turn out.
In general, the film is at once, but it is useful for a young viewer who does not even have an idea of those now distant events that parents remember, but children no longer remember.
Today it is important to know that in 1999, we did not care. Russia did not have economic interests in Yugoslavia, which are in Ukraine, it was a war precisely for the sake of the security of the young and not yet strengthened Motherland, about which very little is said, just as the fate of the Soviet officers, scattered around the world and forgotten, became only far after a powerful network of agents of the new, rebelled against the hegemony of Russia.
As long as such films are made like this, the war will not be over soon, because it is just beginning inside.
It's a film about violence. She permeates the picture with heavy fire from the first frames. It explodes with dropped shells in maternity wards. It persecutes Serbs simply because they are of a different faith. Cruelty breeds anger even in good people, forcing you to raise your hand against a friend, a brother. She knows no pity for children, women, the elderly. And there is a lot of cruelty in the film - not ostentatious, but ugly and bloody.
It's a film about courage. They are literally imbued with characters, from the commander of the special group - Beck (Gosha Kutsenko) to the Serbian policeman - Vuk (Milos Bikovic). They act without pretentious speeches, sometimes joking to the place. Therefore, the characters look alive with understandable motives and well-written characters. Yes, some scenes are not devoid of drama, but the characters want to empathize and be proud of their actions. Anton Pampushny’s character “Shatai” is especially proud. I will also note Goiko Mitic in the role of police chief and a nice sniper - Ravshan Kurkov.
It's a movie about death. It indiscriminately collects the "trophies" of that Balkan war. Civilians and soldiers are killed by bullets and thugs. At the last moment, no one saves anyone, no miracles – everyone is mortal. This understanding comes immediately and does not let go until the last round, when the living can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
It's a film about politics. About a corrupt girl who smiles at the negotiating table and betrays by standing up for him. But the film is not made as a political agitation and without jingoism. Just a couple of staged scenes and lines can be confusing. And documentary inserts add realism to what is happening on the screen. Director Andrey Volgin managed to maintain neutrality in the depiction of historical events - the capture of the Slatin airfield. He built a realistic war drama around him.
On March 24, 1999, NATO began bombing Yugoslavia without a UN resolution. It was a long way back then, five years ago -- it got too close.
I can’t say that the film “Balkan Frontier” is good. War cannot be a good thing. The film is honest with the viewer and does not try to slip propaganda. It is up to you to watch or not.
Militants I love gently as far back as the nineties, when children's libraries placed horned chairs, collected a ruble from the nose and arranged a video salon. This was the name of the collective viewing from the imported video recorder of the next “masterpiece” of the film industry.
I am generally a fan of nostalgic childhood memories, and my desire to go to the Balkan Frontier was dictated by the fact that the film was about the memorable Yugoslav events of 1999. Would it surprise you if I told you that as a journalist I wrote some essays about the war? Yes, in 1999.
But now I’m almost forty, the romance of life has weathered, and there is only a pragmatic view of the screen what is happening.
And what happened made me, to put it mildly, amazed.
The illogicality of the script, strange, inexplicable by anything but extreme stupidity, the actions of the heroes are beyond all understanding. Plus, you can regularly predict from which bush the piano will jump.
With all the beautiful acting, the impression was created every ten minutes that the citizens of the artists themselves are so freaked out by the stupidity of their characters that they hang out for half a minute and think... with what degree of morony should we now say this nonsense?
Although the artists were selected as cool. Even the main villain was extremely sympathetic to me. In general, he was surprisingly charismatic so much that his obvious negative path of sadness.
In general, there is only one claim to the film: Scenario! Everything else, to my taste, is fine. Actors, scenery, special effects ... um, except for a couple of strange moments in the editing, but in General worthy.
The film had every chance of becoming a blockbuster. But his mother, scenary!!!
Stupid, crumpled, incomprehensible, or rather, you can immediately see that what is happening is well known to some narrow interrogator. And let the viewer guess, there is nothing here!
Developing in snatches, fragments and only at the very end - came out on an excellent such lively dynamics. Suddenly.
In general, the picture pleased me:
Looking at the classmates
Looking at the good action
- Nostalgic for the saints of the nineties ...
I understand that Russian cinema has no problems with personnel. There are problems with approving the concept of “from above”, and within this concept even the most talented dick will do.
Conclusions regarding the viewing of the picture I suggest to do it yourself, I will not undertake to recommend or reject it.
Possibility of walking with children: definitely not.
Pumpushny in the brutal role of a Serb special forces officer was incredibly impressive. I have not decided who is dearer to me, the main character or no less the main villain. Wrap both.
PPS Yes, I watch brutal action for my uncles. I often close my eyes to the rest.
I belong to the generation that the Balkan crisis of the 90s found in a conscious age. I remember well how stunning the news of the capture of the airport was and how shameful it was later that they could not help.
Initially, there was no intention to go to the film. But the feedback from people I trust has changed their minds. I have no regrets about 2.5 hours. I don’t know whose credit is more in the way the film came out, our side or the Serbian side, but it turned out.
In the film, at first parallel, and then intersecting, there are two lines - Serbs and Albanians, fighting for their land and our detachment of professional military (let's face it, mercenaries, in this case, because they perform the task for the promised reward). Both lines are equal, besides, in the first we will see the war through the eyes of Serbs for the first time on the wide screen. The war they lost. And this line is not a standard action movie at all, but a film full of pain and a sense of injustice when the whole world is against your people. Probably, in addition, this feeling was enhanced by the play of actors, each of whom somehow experienced events at a conscious age.
The long introductory part is not a drawback, but a big plus to the film - the characters acquire volume. And the viewer has time to remember, and who and find out what kind of war happened recently and right in the center of Europe. Although I must say that at first you get used to the constant sharp jumps flashback-real, but they are made interesting and masterfully.
Despite the fact that the film brought a lot from the Serbian side of the creators of the film, there is not a drop of condemnation, resentment against Russia. Only once in a scene in a bar and then glimpses.
Gradually, the central heroes of the events are our special forces and two policemen - an Albanian and a Serb. Ours are professional fighters, policemen are almost militiamen, but it is war that has come to their land. There is no division into nationalities in the film. Rather, people are divided into #39; Terrorists & #39; and everyone else who wants to live and raise children in peace. And nationality is not important - against terrorists on an equal footing and Serb, and Russian, and Albanian, and Tatar, and Uzbek, and Ingush. In this part of the film, the main action becomes already, periodically interspersed with frames with our moving column. The action is done perfectly, and even knowing the ending does not prevent, with bated breath, waiting for what will happen next. Nowhere is there sagging, it feels like the director and screenwriter kept the situation under control.
I disagree with those who say that only a few characters have been worked out. From my point of view, on the contrary, only a few characters remained undeveloped. For example, the Albanian police officer Fadil. But with so many characters, it’s natural. It is rather surprising that most of the characters worked out perfectly.
Summing up the review - from my point of view, it turned out to be a very good movie, very human and at the same time, spectacular and fascinating, if at all you can talk about films about the war.
9 out of 10
From an artistic point of view, a film-action, stamping, but with a caveat: extremely scrupulous to the heart of the tape of events.
Andrey Shatalov (Pompushny) on the screen looks like a professional fighter - courageously, clearly, with alignment.
Beck (Kutsenko) did not attract much attention, worked without unnecessary emotions, for which I am specially grateful.
Faith performed by Kurkova is probably a separate story for a male audience. A sexual sniper under mortar fire is not only a symbol of hope, but also a patron with an optical sight.
Despite the gloomy raw realism of some scenes, which are designed to feel the tragedy of 1998, and not the most vivid action scene, ' Balkan Frontier' until the last frame kept in tension, excitement, experience.
The love story on the line of fire, which, if you want to call the Russian (if you want Soviet) national tradition, the director managed to reveal more than enough, without pathos, words and preludes.
' It's okay! It's over! We are Russians, 39; these words symbolize peace and hope in Serbia and throughout the post-Soviet space.
So, another super-blockbuster about our exploits. This time the story is about the war in Yugoslavia. The general plot, of course, fully fits into the framework of the political mythology of the Russian Federation: the evil Americans staged a controlled regional conflict in the most bandit manner, began to bomb civilians (like fascists) and help thugs-Albanians pinch our brother Serbs. But ours were not a mistake, and, despite the political impotence of the then leadership, acted according to conscience and defended the good!
The heroes turned out to be mediocre. Well, Kutsenko is the same as always, that is understandable. But the rest are some indistinct Lambersexuals, very similar to each other. Well, and boy-baba, though the romantic line is not associated with her, and with another heroine who is not a soldier. Although this love is even indicated in the annotation, it does not cause any emotions, except that boredom from the falsity of what is happening.
It's a crazy long movie. I forced myself to examine only to write this comment in good conscience. The whole first hour can be safely thrown away without the slightest loss of meaning, for it consists almost entirely of unbearably long close-ups of weeping women and children’s faces, as well as severe male, full of true Orthodox pain, and absurd dialogues. A huge timekeeping was spent absolutely inept, because at this time it would be easy to fit also political intrigues, which in the framework of this plot would be very useful.
There has already been a parallel with 'Soldiers of Benghazi'. Indeed, there are certain similarities (special forces unit, defense of the object from a crowd of enemies, geopolitical plot, patriotism). ' Benghazi' I didn’t really like it either, but it’s still quite a clear and consistent plot, and also an interesting topic of relations between office spy analysts and fighters. And most importantly, there are revealed characters, and it is immediately clear how one bearded man differs from another. What is there to say, even in the mini-series ' Badaber Fortress' with these aspects better.
The action scenes are not bad, but completely secondary and tasteless. Here is the notorious clipping, which is generally a scourge of Russian militants. The picture is hysterical and full of effects. Just the most primitive shootouts, no cool fights or original scenes. For realistic ' historicity' it is too fabulous, and for terminatorial heroism too fresh and primitive.
I didn’t understand why they needed the airport and why they couldn’t give it to NATO. I didn’t understand the ending either. The war was not over, and the hostages could be saved without holding a position. You just messed up the Americans by not letting them do what they wanted? This is a dubious achievement, given that apart from small tricks, we could not do anything to them, and still can not.
In general, the film really turned out very ' village' He reminded me of how many kolkhoz guys tune their VAZs, since real sports cars or even not too expensive foreign cars are not available to them. 'Balkan Frontier' Compared to Hollywood patriotic action movies and military dramas, this is like a tuned Priora compared to the Audi r8. And not just tuned, but also pasted with St. George's ribbons, cardboard tank towers and inscriptions ' shot down a fascist' and ' on Berlin!' which we will see in a month. I do not recommend it to anyone except for those who like the program 'Besogon TV' Nikita Mikhalkov.
If the role in this film is not the dream of Milos Bikovic’s life, then I don’t know what he’s doing there.
If one of the objectives of the film was to arouse the interest of the uninitiated viewer to the events of military conflicts in the Balkans, then the creators coped with this task for me personally. I, due to my primary school age, did not fully understand what was happening there in a distant country. Now I shudder at the thought that somewhere a first-grader was quietly teaching herself lessons at home, and somewhere at this moment a peacefully sleeping city was bombed. After watching the film, I decided to find out in more detail the entire chronology of events of those years.
If one of the tasks set by the authors was to show that not only Western officers commanders of special operations know what honor and valor is, then again hitting is protective.
Of the disadvantages, I would like to mention R A C T I T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T To me, it’s all because of the love line, but it has an excuse at the end of the film.
There were also a couple of gaps in the plot that catch the eye when you look closely.
Everything else was tolerable. I do not write the abundance of violence in the negatives, because it has tightly entered our perception of reality. My 13-year-old tribesman, who had been warned about the age limit, did not ask me, “Is it true that so many murders were committed?” no, he asked, “Why did the convoy of our military stop and not arrive on time?” And then it dawned on me why this age limit is indicated. Not because displaying blood and violence can damage a child's psyche. Because they do not understand what the lives of civilians in military conflicts depend on. Children don’t know that blood-stained military officers in dirty trenches decide who to help and whom to save and uncles with smart faces in strict suits in clean offices behind closed doors.
I'll tell you a little bit about acting. Kutsenko was not struck by (if Beck's authors intended this, then fine ). But Milos Bikovic amazed (the road is young, as they say). not only that he is handsome in himself, and also showed us what a real Serb is. At home, for this role, he should be awarded the title of People's Artist (without sarcasm). The rest were at a decent level, well, except that Anton Pampushny was too much of a stone almost the whole film.
As for the imitation of Western films in terms of pathos and propaganda, well, where without it? Before you convey any idea to the viewer, you first need to lure and entertain him.
7 out of 10
(mostly for historicism, Milos Bikovich's play and a small scene at the end)
It's a bad movie! Not a masterpiece at all. From an artistic point of view and no other. I am silent about ideology – some people like patriotic ideas, some people think this patriotism is far-fetched, but I am not talking about this. And it’s not even that no one really knows what happened there, everyone knows only that the Russians occupied the airport, recaptured it, and then our tank battalion came. I remember my own reaction as a young man when I heard about it on the news - it was pride and admiration for our military. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about something else.
The beginning of the film, where Beck assembles the crew, as if taken entirely from Gone in 60 Seconds, which made me smile. The endless dialogues of the main team, which should lead the viewer to empathy, in fact only delay the action, and the conversations of the tank crew are meaningless at all - they lead to nothing in the plot plan.
At the same time, the selection of actors seems to me very interesting, and Serb Radulovic is not just a good actress, but also a real beauty, but this does not atone for the fact that the characters turned out to be quite superficial and one-sided, and the antagonists of the main characters are a tracing of the villains from the militants of the 80s. The game of Gosha Kutsenko generally deserves the “Golden Raspberry” for the complete expressionlessness of the image of the commander. Although, without a doubt, the other artists of the group very diligently and interestingly created the images of their heroes. Although those silly jokes in the dialogue on the radio in the style of Marvel, which are supposed to defuse the situation, I felt a faceless stretched mask.
I also do not understand this love of the director for blood and terrible footage of the killing of civilians. All this can be shown without the fetishism of naturalism and blood - a good director can cause horror in the viewer with just close-up plans of persons and actions. Why the viewer savor murder I can not understand – and so clearly that war is terrible and cruel.
And music. The great fervent songs of our rockers of the 80s and 90s were as if they had been forced into a war drama with blood and death. I had a strange feeling of dancing on blood. But wait! There is nothing strange in this – the director of the picture Volgin put a “masterpiece” called “Dancing to Death”. Everything falls into place. If the recent blockbuster "T-34" is a shooter in the form of a film, then "Balkan Frontier" is a drama with blood, severed heads, lacerations, but cheerful dialogue, beautiful, Hollywood-made special effects and textbook villains. The Balkan Frontier is a bloody comic book. People like that. But as a work of art, this film is not.
Yesterday I went with my friends to see this movie. In advance, I was very positive about it and wanted to see it, so, in general, I am pleased with the viewing, but ... there is a but.
Let’s start in order: ' picture ' cool, for special effects, no complaints. The plot, only in a couple of short moments ' releases ' and so, quite dynamic and tense. The soundtrack is beautiful. From the point of view of patriotism, everything is clear - five points. The fact that the plot is only based on real events, and generally fictional, is quite normal for a feature film. Although why were the names of those heroes who are currently declassified and known to everyone, it is not entirely clear, but fine.
Now ' but'. 'Hollywoodism' whisks from all the cracks, so that already infuriates. Phrases and dialogues of characters, such as in Hollywood cinema, especially at critical moments. Trembling and twitching of the camera, as in Hollywood movies. ' Flights' bodies on the blast wave, as in Hollywood movies. Handling guns like in Hollywood movies. Heartwarming death speeches in the midst of a battle, when all the enemies somewhere evaporate for five minutes, especially in order to give the hero to speak, as in Hollywood cinema. ' Flying' shells in an optical sight, as in Hollywood cinema. Survival and combat capability of heroes after hopeless injuries and contusions, as in Hollywood cinema. Weapon, and then, half Western.
And in the end: why can’t it be normal to involve a military consultant for the filming of a film?
First, the choice of weapons. Why, for the sake of GRU fighters, to run with stupid silencers, if there is a PSS, is unclear. The same applies to the sniper rifle: why not 'vintorcher'? Secondly: if you were to shoot sentries in real life, it would be a fiasco. Thirdly, if you fire in such endless bursts, then even if there is a ribbon of a kilometer length, the barrel will come khan. In the fourth: a sniper, in a situation of shortage of ammunition, spends ammunition on burning enemy fighters, which are guaranteed to be disabled. And finally in the fifth: firing mortars at a fast-moving target in real time is a masterpiece! One order ' shoot at the car ' and the mines begin to lie around it in a beautiful semicircle, and ' Gunners' make no effort to ' almost hit' Probably mines are reading thoughts, and begin to shoot 30 meters ahead of the position, and even almost instantly.
I think the director, at the end of the film, got into a rage and decided not to worry about convention.
In general, despite everything, I liked the film (although it is possible only because it is definitely a new unexpected level of Russian cinema), but I would like our cinema to be spared from the unimaginable fiction that comes from comics, which is inherent in American cinema. I don’t just want a good movie, I want an original movie.
7 out of 10
I will say right away that the film impressed me! After watching the trailer, I didn’t give any hope for this movie. The actors and director did not inspire confidence. But at my own risk, I decided to go to this film, so to speak, gave a chance.
The beginning seemed slurred and pathetic, the camera cracked, it was unclear what was happening, but then everything leveled out. Then came the events that shocked the world 20 years ago. Namely, the bombing of Yugoslavia and Serbia, it is extremely scary to look at everything that is happening, knowing that it was all real. The film impressed with frankness and cruelty, such shots are really needed for a brighter effect. The authors really managed to show on the screen the terrible events of those days.
The actors, it seems, did not show anything, but I can not make any claims against them. I can single out the actor Goiko Mitic, he was remembered for his short and bright role. Just as the villain was also well worked out, he had a goal and no motive, thus may not be entirely convincing, but justified his actions, although they are naturally not justified. Little rustles in the script were visible, not even small, but it absolutely did not interfere.
As for the action, he sometimes very badly cut his eyes, ragged editing was a poor perception of combat scenes. It was rare, mostly action acceptable!
The Balkan Frontier is suddenly a good Russian film about heroes and the brotherhood of peoples. I advise you to watch the movie, although cruel, but true.
7 out of 10
This Russian fighter is designed for modern multiplex
Yes, this is a Russian action filmed on the patterns of Hollywood cinema. 2 hours and 30 minutes fly by like a simple ten-munutet. There is no inherent truth in the film. Just this action movie is designed for a modern multiplex. The Russians, the Serbs, the Bosnians have only one conclusion: “Nationalism must be paid with blood.” In reality, it sounds beautiful: “Serbs started bombing NATO, and then the Russians stepped in.” In fact, there is no truth or right in national wars: everyone wants to kill with impunity, hiding behind a national idea and faith. The film shows the period of time when the Russian authorities tasted mercenaries. This action movie isn't bad. Director Andrey Volgin made a very dynamic picture where everyone shoots at each other.
Indeed, this is a miracle for Russian cinema: 2 hours and 30 minutes fly by like a second. I liked the sound of Russian rock in the film. “We’re Russians” sounds like it in Serbia, but the military has a concept of “planned obsolescence.” Tell me, where should these nationalist-minded soldiers go when the government in the country changes? Gosha Kutsenko plays a good commander who not only orders, but also obeys orders. Another plus I think that the film has actor-rocker Roman Kurtsyn (he is now in the movie clip). This is a Russian fighter about dashing Russian mercenary fighters (they are former military men who do not descend to looting).
In general, the film has purely Russian notes of national cinema. It is self-sacrifice to save someone. The Russian military (probably not only in the film) believes that the children-scouts – a great meanness on the part of the enemy. The dashing Russians are the start for a dynamic Russian action movie. Yes, it is a Russian action.
This film deals with the theme of “the Russian military, faced with planned obsolescence, who to turn into?” For me, those 2 hours and 30 minutes flew quickly, but there is no pleasure in constant shooting and incomprehensible self-sacrifice. Yes, this is a new step in the genre of “Russian action”.
7 out of 10
What do we want? Yes, just the light at the end. A What are we dreaming about? That the war is over.
And ours can whenever they want... Who wanted to, in the sense of whose idea and whether the custom film is another question. The film does not carry a furious charge of patriotism (as in war films at all?), everything is in moderation.
I will not consider and take into account the political motives of the film, but I will evaluate it as an action movie (which in principle is the only correct one). Because, despite the official data, we may never know all the political intrigues.
Why did I bring this up, because some of the key moments in the Slatina airport operation might have been different. And some officers did not disobey their superiors, for the sake of the common good, as shown in the film, but simply acted on orders.
However, the details of the operation to seize the airport before the arrival of Russian equipment are still classified. It is known that a group of our invaders was led by Yunus-bey Yevkurov. The prototype, which is the hero of Gosha Kutsenko, is also Beck.
For those who are not aware, we are talking about 1999, when NATO began bombing Yugoslavia, supporting the Albanians.
A little protracted I got the beginning, actually protracted may seem and the start of the main conflict of the film. It lasted about an hour.
But during that time, we can see:
First, the horrors of war, the atrocities of the Albanians and the indescribable tragedies of civilians, mainly Serbs.
Second, we meet heroes and villains.
Some heroes manage to start personal accounts with the antagonist (which, of course, increases the conflict), and even “fall in love”.
All this happens dynamically and dramatically, you do not have to be bored, but perhaps from the technical side everything is not quite smooth.
Despite the protracted tie, something from there is pathetic.
The creators use the proven "Balabanovsky" method - to stuff more Russian rock: the same Nautilus, Bi-2, amusingly built Tsoi and very to the place Gaza. I have never heard of Gaza in a movie. Therefore, from the film blows “War” Balabanov. But if Balabanov devoted more time to talking “about the essence”, then “Balkan Frontier” hits more in the action movie, which is good for such films.
The cast is good, listing all long.
In addition to the main composition, it is interesting to look at secondary heroes, including Roman Kurtsyn. The main group of heroes is like an international, and thus shows that people of different nationalities can not only understand each other, but also sacrifice themselves for the benefit of their comrades.
As for the fighting scenes, they are of course full of artistic fiction and some cliches, but no matter how twisted, capture.
To conclude, I will say that the Balkan Frontier turned out to be a good military militant, without unnecessary pathos and long dialogues, supplemented by documentary footage.
Such films are important, they remind us of forgotten milestones of history, give us once again a reason to think and then read about such tragedies.
8 out of 10
Let the month provoke us to cheat.
Let the evaporation of the earth beat like a dope,
Let each stump be like a trap,
Let the blood gush from our wounds,
But we will walk with you through the fog!
(Gaza - "Fog")
Somehow it happened in life, if our liberals are mad at some film product, it is at least worthy of attention. So it was with the excellent film “28 Panfilov” and a good series “Sleepers”. In the “Panfilov” liberals infuriated by the display of the feat of their ancestors, and in “Sleepers” it was infuriating that these very liberals were shown there as they really are.
These citizens are irritated by any victory of our country, special services, army and people. But these people adore films like “The Driver for Faith”, “The Edge”, “Pop”, “The Caucasian Prisoner”, “There Once Was One Woman” and other abominations, where our country is shown by Mordor, and Russian people are cattle, drunken pigs, degenerates and morons with a disgusting history and disgusting leaders. This, in fact, characterizes this social group very well.
The film “Balkan Frontier” was released. I wasn’t going to go to the movies because the trailers were just monstrous. However, after learning on the Internet that the film caused a wild fury among the liberal intelligentsia in the person of the main and most unbiased "film critic" of the country (I will not give his name), I decided after a working shift to drive for a night session. And, as a matter of fact, I did not miss it.
The film “Balkan Frontier” tells about how NATO is bringing democracy to Yugoslavia, bombing cities and killing innocent citizens, and our valiant fighters are cleaning up all this matter.
More specifically, the film is about our special forces tasked with capturing an important strategic facility in the Republic of Kosovo and repelling it from Albanian militants to the approach of our troops. The operation is headed by an officer performed by Gosha Kutsenko. The object is protected by an international team: an Ingush, two Russians, a Tatar who loves Butusov’s songs, a cheerful Uzbek sniper and two Serbian cops. Each character is colorful and interesting in its own way.
The actors were selected successfully - everything is in its place. Gosh Kutsenko is magnificent in the role of commander. You rarely see him in a normal movie. The socialist Indian Gojko Mitic performed well as the Serbian head of the district. Even Emir Kusturica performed well in the minute role of a taxi driver. Actress Ravshan Kurkova cheerfully and skillfully portrayed Private Vasquez (many watched the film “Aliens”). Great lady - cheerfully answered and sharpened the whole film. The star of the idiotic film "Walk, Vasya!" Roman Kurtsyn also performed well. The rest of us are no worse.
The main villain and Albanian militants were shown the right way - real scum. At least somewhere the villain is shown as a villain, not a victim of circumstances. After all, now it is fashionable in modern cinema to justify the actions of the main villain. So it was in the movie “Skyfall”, where the actions of the villain explained by the fact that his homeland abandoned. As for our cinema, the creators of the above-mentioned series “Sleepers” also told the viewer about the difficult fate of the killer performed by the director of this series Yuri Bykov, who was also abandoned by his own during the Chechen war. In the Balkan Frontier, everything is simple – here are the good ones and here are the bad ones. And no excuses for you, no humanization of villains, no ambiguity and "fucks in your pocket." And that's right! Our creators are slowly growing.
The technical part was very happy. Shooting and explosions are good. Everything looks cheerful, colorful and sonorous - I never fell asleep, although I went to a session after work. Music is fire. The film contains songs by such bands as “Bi-2” (I close my eyes to the fact that the music was stolen from the film “War” by Balabanov), “Gaza Strip”, “Cinema” and “Nautilus Pompilius”. Separately pleased the beloved heart “Gaza”. When the song "Fog" sounded, I almost started dancing right in the hall. Finally, our creators began to understand that a good Russian film should sound good Russian songs. But some people don't understand that. Suffice it to recall the film “Coach” about Russian football players, which for some reason sound Western songs. Another thing that comes to mind is the film “The Factory” by Yuri Bykov, where music from Denis Villeneuve’s films sounds, and the film “Turkish Gambit” in which music from Kusturica films screams behind some demon.
I was surprised that the film was entrusted to a person who removed such garbage as “Dancing to Death”. How he could be entrusted with such a serious project is a mystery. But I have to give him credit – he did a great job.
I had a suspicion that the film turned out well due to the presence of Emir Kusturica in it. Maybe he was telling our director how to make a movie. By the way, the Serbian actors in the film play better than ours. But ours got burned, too. Most of all liked Gosha Kutsenko and Ravshan Kurkov.
In this film, the liberal intelligentsia in the face of the famous “film critic” is annoyed that NATO is shown in all its glory – scumbags who organize civil wars, bring democracy, killing civilians. After all, the talented "film critic" deeply sympathizes with them. He thinks they're doing everything right. What else can you hear from someone like that?
By the way, in the film there is a Russian fighter in the colorful performance of Kirill Polukhin (permanent actor Yuri Bykov), who misses the Soviet past, which separately infuriates liberals. After all, positive comments about everything related to the Soviet Union are unacceptable from their point of view.
The Balkan Frontier is a great movie. Some moments cut the eye, but this impression did not spoil. Normal guys and their fighting friends can not be afraid to go to the movies. They won't be disappointed. Impressive people should not watch the film - it is heavy and cruel.
8.5 out of 10
Novelty rental unconditionally refers to stunning realistic films about the war. “Balkan border” falls into the soul and turns it inside out. This is the same film, after watching which you will be proud of our people, our military, who chose to protect ordinary people from an external enemy. People with a capital letter, capable of actions, not thinking about themselves and ready to fight to the last, without giving up positions. They cause admiration and make your heart beat with great speed - first with delight, and then with empathy.
Heroes penetrate, they become relatives for these two and a half hours of screen time. Everyone is beautifully revealed, everyone is a person, everyone is lucky to be played talentedly. Honestly, looking at the cast, I had some doubts, but after the credits, I can say with confidence that absolutely everyone played well. Including multiple secondary characters. There is a huge number of them, and everyone, do not believe it, is there in their place and remembered. There are characters who only have a few seconds of screen time, but their episodes are so vivid that you remember absolutely every one of them.
Compared to the recent “Purgatory” I watched, which caused indescribable emotions, “Balkan Frontier” turned out to be quite close to it in realism, it is also lavishly stuffed with cruel scenes, places without banknotes – which was not expected by me with a rating of 16+. And there's a dilemma here - this film definitely needs to be shown to teenagers to take the right examples and role models in life, but for 16+, it turned out to be quite scary and violent. In addition, there is a lot of mat and various kinds of swearing (most of which are altogether unnecessary there). I will probably take this to the main disadvantages of the picture. Not all the pluses.
I also attribute excessive Hollywoodism to the minuses - obviously, the film was preparing for foreign distribution, and there it is a very important element for military cinema. In some places it interfered with me (especially at the very beginning, when the action on the action, and the action chases). Nevertheless, the authors managed to avoid what causes the greatest irritation in Hollywood: the unkillable Rambo. They're not here. Yes, everything shoots and explodes beautifully, there is slow motion, chic special effects and impressive stunt tricks to wonderful music, but the characters remain real. It's important. And that's a plus again.
As for the duration of the film - 2.5 hours + advertising - it is decent, but in the process of watching the time is not noticed absolutely, because the plot never sags. So I do not consider this aspect to be negative. But I'll mention the editing - that's where I grumbled. In some places, the installation turned out to be abrupt, especially in scenes with dynamic musical accompaniment - well, you can not sharply cut them off.
The film unconditionally falls into the list of my favorites, be sure to watch it again on the big screen (this is the case when going to the cinema is absolutely justified). And then I'll buy a DVD for the collection.
10 out of 10
It’s no secret that almost any Russian military film has been viewed with hostility lately. That critics, that a simple mass viewer at the release of the so-called Russian blockbuster have very contradictory feelings and are skeptical of any military topic, as they anticipate another portion of tasteless patriotism in a poor-quality wrapper. But this, of course, is not the fault of the viewer, because he himself was repeatedly deceived by the same filmmakers, television and even the Ministry of Culture, promising everyone high-quality and good cinema, but in fact put cheap in the artistic sense stamping. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the audience is quite negative about modern military or jingoistic films. People are tired of constantly feeling deceived, tired of lies and unscrupulous propaganda. But there is one interesting feature here. Even with all the dislike for war films, our viewer is still more loyal to historical projects, but films with modern history fall under the distribution in full. Every viewer at heart understands and believes that patriotism in a historical film about the Second World War is more truthful, justified and, in fact, is more or less real, so it is not enough to scold or criticize it, so as not to offend the memory of fathers and grandfathers. And yet, with all his inner tolerance, the viewer periodically encounters horrific paintings, the authors of which themselves spit into the souls of the fallen heroes, removing unimaginable nonsense. And what is most offensive, the distribution undeservedly get really good films, which even before the release, many are ready to mix with dirt, smear or defame, as, for example, it happens with the film “Balkan Frontier”. Some part of the Internet community, without even seeing the picture, signed her death sentence, while there is a rather curious trend. The question arises, why then does our viewer pass through Hollywood, European and Asian war films absolutely calmly and without hysterics describes his impressions of watching? But when they start watching Russian cinema, everyone immediately becomes experts in military affairs, historians, stuntmen, directors and specialists in acting. And the answer is one! Foreign films, as well as their history, technical features, details, and certain facts are unfamiliar to more viewers, therefore, films are perceived quite calmly. Of course, everyone notices the obvious cliches, blunders and other well-known moments. No one cares about the little things because they don’t know. But Russian cinema already touches our history. And then any self-respecting connoisseur of cinema is simply obliged to see under the magnifying glass every detail, every scene from a particular film, in order to then tell the whole world about it. And it doesn’t matter whether the same critic, journalist or viewer understands all this. Nope. Here the main thing is to speak out, and show everyone that you are in the subject and understand everything perfectly.
Of course, the film has scripted roughness, visual irregularities and all sorts of technical flaws, but most importantly, the film has a strong and meaningful story. Yes, the film is based on real events, because the story of the airport was real, but the whole operation took place without a single shot being fired. Everything else is already an artistic fiction of the authors of the picture. The actors before the shooting for two months passed the grueling course of the young fighter. Everyone learned to shoot, use weapons and practice stunt movements. And the well-known Goiko Mitic, who played one of the roles in the film, flatly refused the services of a stuntman, because throughout his career he always performed all the tricks himself. And this film was no exception. As for the heroes, there are no specifics at all. The authors initially approached the characters as collective images of certain heroes of militants. Here you and silent, and cheerful, and fearless fighter, of course, there is a girl (but here I have to say thank you to Hollywood), and other interesting types. Everyone is different and interesting in their own way. Each has its own feature, a feature and a certain character trait. Only the antagonist has nothing. The villain on the screen is presented as pure evil, about which nothing is known, but at the same time everyone knows his name. According to the principle of old-school militants, the antagonist does not intersect with the image of a living person. He is like a deadly plague, which with each new step of approach destroys everything in its path. To this character, the viewer experiences fierce hatred and contempt.
Many compare this film with the American action movie “13 Hours” from director Michael Bay, although the budgets of these two films are like heaven and earth (50 million vs. 3.7 million), but at the same time the American film for the entire rental in Russia earned about 300 thousand dollars, and the Russian film for the week of rental more than two million dollars. In fact, there is no point in comparing anything when everything is clear, although on the other hand, our filmmakers should be happy if their works are compared and put on the same shelf with Hollywood action films.
If we talk about the significant disadvantages of the picture, then I immediately want to highlight the excessively large timekeeping and the presence of not very important scenes. In addition, the beginning of the film causes great bewilderment, since the authors from the first minutes immerse the viewer in an extreme backstory, while not really explaining anything. Therefore, when viewing it is not clear who, where, why and why. But a lot of shooting, explosions and annoying to the devil slow mo, which for some reason our directors still keep in priority when approaching the visual presentation of battle scenes. In the same Hollywood has long abandoned this and use slow motion only for special moments, so that the viewer saw the important details of the big scene. And our for some reason use it everywhere and in any case, without thinking whether it is necessary there or not. Although during the powerful scenes of the final fight somehow magically all comments and claims on the action disappear irrevocably. High-quality and spectacular production is truly delightful, impressive and even ready to surprise in places. In this case, everything is thought out competently and very cinematically. And this can only be appreciated on the big screen.
And yet, despite the script, editing and technical disadvantages, the authors of the film offer the viewer to plunge into a real ocean of emotional empathy, excitement, fear and pride for the actions of certain characters. The creators of the picture do not divide the characters into black or white. Here, the whole struggle is solely between good and evil, where nationality, religious commitment, or political interpretation of one or another view is not at all important.
I knew nothing about the film except the title, the score of 7.4 and the countries involved in the production. Accordingly, I walked with wild skepticism, and waited for a selective injection of patriotism into my sour brain. That’s what happened, but at some point I got caught.
Regretted
First of all, the excessive pathos of what is happening is striking. The main team is just stuffed with selected militant cliches. But their main opponent surpasses them all with only his points. I'm also surprised he didn't have a gold Kalashnikov.
I was also outraged by the stiffness of the main character Andrei Shatalov (Anton Pampushny), who almost never changed his face. And his love line looks absolutely miserable, which is needed only for one idiotic scene at the end, in order to cause the viewer “strong” emotions. I laughed.
I also wanted to talk about a certain “plasticity” of the war shown. Almost all the suffering and death seemed to me false and implausible. I don't want to believe her. But at some point, the main battle began.
Pleased
For me, the main advantage of this film is precisely this night fighting. Shootings are becoming more believable, of course, the action is not enough stars from the sky, but he wants to watch, because this was not in Russian films for a very long time. Yes, there are also a lot of stupid actions, pathos and “slowo”, but damn, it’s interesting.
The main team, not counting Shatalov and Beck (Kutsenko), is very pleased with its diversity and pitch. I would be more pleased if the main emphasis and timing were put on them, and not on the hero Pampushny and his useless passion.
Undecided
Patriotism is quite pretentious, and it is not enough. But, at some point, when showing historical footage of the actions of our soldiers, a tremor ran over me. This used to happen only when viewing quite frank Soviet and early post-Soviet paintings. And I don’t know whose merit this is – the director or the real story?
Nor can we talk about the truth of what is happening. The film is tied to the real peacekeeping (?) operation of the war in Yugoslavia - "March throw on Pristina". But this march itself is shown in the second plan, for the tick, and has no good plot plexus with the main actions. And about the capture of the place of arrival of the main forces, no declassified information is still not.
Result
I was surprised at the end of the film. I thought I was going to watch 2 hours of selective "cringe", pushing me attracted moral values. But it turned out of course ridiculous, but interesting, in the realities of the Russian cinema, the picture.
We know this peninsula from the lessons of the history of the ancient world. Even then, the Balkans were very uneasy. Then Xerxes decides to conquer Greece, then already the Macedonians, led by Alexander, leave their native lands and go to conquer Asia Minor. Then the paths of the Crusaders will follow through the Balkans, and then there will be the battle on the Kosovo field and the long-term expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Centuries passed, and the peninsula remained either at the center of European politics or close to it. Already closer to the present time, the Balkans will be dubbed the “powder keg of Europe”, and in the twentieth century the barrel will begin to explode quite regularly.
And in 1999, the hammer of NATO will fall on Yugoslavia, throwing the hapless country into the military hell of months of bombing. Against the background of echoes of recent events, the main action of the picture unfolds.
It should be noted that the prologue of the “Balkan Frontier” is full of time jumps, which, of course, can confuse the viewer a little: it happens too sharply – before the operation, during the operation, before the operation, during the operation, and so on several times. They are trying to introduce us to the main characters and give the most general description of their images. And it should be noted that the images are quite colorful and not monotonous. At least 10 minutes later, the characters are not confused.
The plot is quite straightforward and predictable, and almost all fit into the synopsis of the picture. There is no need to wait for twists, since attention is focused on combat operations in the first place. Well, without a lyrical line can not do. However, I must note that it is quite harmoniously inscribed in the plot (unlike a number of other action films, where the love line is needed, like the fifth wheel of a cart, and it looks about the same on the screen).
Acting work performed well, critical complaints to the entire ensemble did not arise.
In general, the picture for me personally looked like a mixture of “Spetsnaz” and “Wuthering Gate”, which was not a negative factor. In fact, everything looked in one breath, especially the battle scenes.
Separately, a well-chosen soundtrack should be noted. “Cinema”, “Gaza”, one of the fighters sang “Sergu”, “DDT”, and it seemed to me that the musical theme “Splina” also sounded.
International (and this, I believe, is very important, which is emphasized on the screen) the team of special forces rallied and gave an unequal fight. They emerged from the shadows, struck like the inexorable Erinii, did their job, giving their best, and disappeared. High level of professionalism, which is pleasant to watch on the screen.
In general, any war is terrible. The civil war is doubly worse, fiercer and more ruthless. This is what the Balkan Frontier shows us. It shows on the part of the Serbian people, who were hit by peacekeeping bombs in addition to their former neighbors. Only the Serbs were found guilty by an international tribunal.
"Balkan Frontier" - the film is quite tough and, in many ways, uncompromising. When atrocities occur, it is very, very easy to cross a moral line. And involuntarily recall the lines of M.A. Bulgakov: “Will anyone pay for blood?” Nope. Nobody. Blood is cheap in wormwood fields, and no one will buy it.” It's a different war, but aren't wars like sisters? . .
P.S.
By the way, it is clear why a number of enlightened viewers did not like the Balkan Frontier: Russians on the screen do not look like fools, alcoholics, do not fornicate and know what honor is. Apparently, from their high point of view, it can not be.
Anton Dolin harshly criticized the film “Balkan Frontier”, watching only about half. And to me, I was absolutely right. It took me 5 minutes to make sure I had an incredibly bad movie. Disgustingly shot, on the screen something is constantly messy mainly in slo-mo, the camera shakes and jumps every second from frame to frame, the actors run with concrete faces, constantly throwing pretentious phrases from the militants of the 80s and sometimes try to humor, and the spirit of ideology and propaganda, which, as usual, under the guise of previously unheard of truth, is trying to push the audience. And this is only the first five minutes, and for some reason this miracle takes two and a half hours. And I, unlike Anton Dolin, watched it in its entirety, and now, as a decent viewer, I want to share my disappointing impressions.
I would like to say that I did not like this movie because of its ideological background. Although for me personally, when I see brave and heroic Russian soldiers on all sides in such a film, everything becomes unconditionally obvious. At the same time, I understand that different people may have different opinions and alternative political and historical views. Some will see stinking propaganda in the Balkan Frontier, while others will see a fresh and honest review of those events. A film, in my opinion, does not have to become a cause for Internet wars and active debate. Therefore, for me it is primarily in the quality, presentation of material and, perhaps, in the motives of those who made this film.
It is not difficult to understand from the most superficial glance at this film, the plot is incredibly simple and predictable. The creators did not start to steam up and invent something special. The main pillar is that during the well-known events in Yugoslavia in 1999, the Russian special forces need to capture and deter Albanian terrorists until reinforcements arrive at a strategically important airfield, along the way, a couple of local police officers are still joining them, worried about revenge, there is also an invisible enemy in the form of NATO, everything is clear here. And here is a good part of the film, the viewer sees the entourage and all the horror of atrocities in Yugoslavia, shown naturally very clumsy, waiting for the notorious massacre in the airfield, and observes the heroes, famously rushing through the illogical and fragmentary plot. It is clear that by the end someone will die, someone will be crippled morally, and most importantly, that the audience will roar and clap.
No characters are really revealed, all the characters are just selfless heroes, dull and implausible, the villain is a mad fanatic with a similar motivation (plus still the most unpleasant and uncharismatic), the events are not at all sustained in an adequate rhythm, it seems that everything that happens before the final battle is just a set of chaotic turns and incidents remotely related to each other. Well, the climax itself was removed, of course, in a slo-mo and so epileptic that it was as difficult as possible to understand what was happening on the screen. All drama is down the toilet, people’s emotions are caused by the cheapest tricks like sad music at the right moment, pathetic exclamations of characters pressing on pity, showing unfounded heroism, and (of course!) documentary shooting.
That’s what annoys me the most here – clippings from the documentary filming of those events. Saying hello to T-34 and all the similar pictures of recent years, the cunning creators very successfully sit on two chairs, presenting allegedly serious and truthful work that should open our eyes to something, being a very pop blockbuster and entertaining for the widest audience. I’m not sure if the authors understand this, but when someone really wants to tell people a serious and hard story, straight with the documentary chronicle and the real facts, reflecting the suffering of a large number of people, he certainly will not turn it into an attraction, it is simply inadequate. I never thought I’d say this, but even Sarik Andreasyan has been better at things like this lately, as he tried to tell a serious and heartbreaking story in Unforgiven. Yes, it turned out terrible, yes, the director’s view of the events turned out to be wild and barbaric, but at least he did not lie and did not turn the movie into an action movie with a bunch of gunshots, slo-mo and rocking melodies, as did those who worked on the “Balkan Border”.
Here they first shoot like this, and then complain that the liberal public and the American propaganda machine interfere with the normal perception of their film. And all sorts of qualified, frank and, of course, completely unbiased critics and art critics approve of this film, saying that it presents the right values and has the right message. I may be going too far by now, but I believe that if a movie is really true or objective, then it can’t a priori convey any “right” values, and you don’t have to be a child prodigy to understand that. Real cinema, even with the support of real events, will never push an obvious morality and the only true point of view, but rather will pose questions and provide the viewer with the opportunity to understand everything himself, otherwise it becomes just intrusive propaganda. Do they think people who go to the movies are so stupid that they have to go through their heads all the time? Like, they will not figure it out themselves, so we will tell them everything and explain it to them.
I don’t know why there are so many positive reviews and reviews. In terms of content and quality, this is outright kitsch, in terms of ideology, opinions can be different, but at least the fact that the film is fiercely trying to impose certain thoughts at least strains. From all sides, weak and tasteless work, but people like it, so it remains to rely on BadComedian and its review, and only after that, those who actively add to this movie will understand something, classics.
2 out of 10
The film caught my attention with its theme and storyline: the military conflict in the Balkans, the war in Kosovo, the bombing of Yugoslavia and the military march to Pristina. The Russian task force is ordered to take control of the airfield and, under fire from Albanian terrorists, to hold it until Russian reinforcements arrive.
From my point of view, the storyline is perfect. The viewer sees events from different points, in different places. The story goes smoothly and thoroughly. The dynamics increases gradually towards the end and the tension does not let go to the final credits.
The atmosphere, which is the decisive moment in the action genre, is extremely tense. The picture is filled with pain and suffering of the Serbian people. The confrontation between Serbs and Albanians is present in every look, in every dialogue. Drama is more than enough. Sometimes it can be extremely difficult to watch the film further, extremely difficult, but still interesting. Some may call the film too long, but I personally liked the gradual disclosure of the soldiers' characters, and then the dynamic and spectacular carnage behind the airport. In general, the authors allow themselves some artistic inconsistencies in one direction or another, and this makes the story even more interesting. Let me say a few words about actors. Anton Pampushny (Shatai) and Gosha Kutsenko (Beck), Goiko Mitic and Milos Bikovic, and in general all members of the squad are outstanding heroes. It's bravo! Alexander Srechkovich (Smuk) looked like a real odious antagonist - the viewer begins to hate him almost from the moment his character appears. It is impossible not to mention the beautiful female characters - the brave humorous sniper Vera (Ravshana Kurkova) and the merciful kind-hearted nurse Yasna (Milena Radulovic) - are not inferior to men, you believe and sympathize with them, they really got used to their roles.
To sum up, The Balkan Frontier is a truly dramatic war film that fully lives up to its title. The war in the Balkans in 1999 was indeed a turning point, from which Russia began to rapidly move out of the orbit of influence of the united West, to stand up for the brotherly Serbian people, to challenge the United States and its satellites, which carried out barbaric bombing, aimed primarily against civilians, and strongly encouraged and supported the Albanian beast. However, be prepared for the oppressive and heavy atmosphere. A few people came out of the cinema before the middle, a little later. Not because the movie is bad. It's just a lot of pressure. If you are very sensitive, I advise you to think carefully before watching it.
10 out of 10
You need to watch until the bad comedian review comes out.
A friend was at the premiere - he saw Kutsenko's speech before the film on Instagram, felt the Spanish Shame, and turned off Instagram.
I went to the movie full of doubts. Honestly, my head knew that the film would be 3/10. The heart was hoping for at least 6.5/10. And the movie was all 8/10.
One of the disadvantages that I noticed and for which I lowered my grade.
1) The guys got steamed up and put the movie in the newsreel. But even in the newsreel, it is clear that Serbia was bombed by an F-117, and in one of the first scenes of the film, made with the help of computer graphics, a B-2 spirit is flying to Serbia. However, the scene is still powerful, and this mistake was noticed by a friend with whom I was.
2) In the last fight, which is probably a third of the timekeeping, just scored to reflect the time of day. That is, the enemies arrive, it is still light, even the sun has not set, there is a dialogue between the main characters, against it from a different angle with the same lighting show them (approaching opponents) once again, and the dialogue is not even over, but on the next frame we see the night sky. How this could be missed is unclear.
That's it. There are still complaints, I noticed a lot.
Yes, sometimes the film has problems with logic. Yes, in the final scene, instead of going to the control room, you could just leave the airfield. Yes, the enemies, the idiots, run quietly onto the red barrels, which are bound to explode. Yes, the good guys roll the bad ones in packs and, at the same time, are almost immortal.
Yes, there is a cliché in the style ' I assemble a cool team that once failed' Yes, in the film there are scenes of preparation for the meeting of bandits straight from home. But he's a fucking fighter, he can't drop points for that. The main thing in the action is not what, but how it is filmed - and everything is fine here.
Excellent landscapes, good color palette of the film as a whole, beautiful explosions. From the picture, only the special effects were summed up - but in the main, final fight, they are swinging for the most part without them, with real explosives, so this does not spoil the impression much. Not the best story, but a great script. Where necessary, tears are pressed. Suspense is pumped where necessary. Sometimes, even, there are scenes of goodness (' the French did not want to kill you' who watched, he will understand).
To say that what is shown is unhistorical is impossible. It is known that before our paratroopers, a group of the GRU actually visited there, but what it did there is classified. But who said the real story couldn’t be any better?
Let’s talk about what movie is bad, what audiences who liked it are stupid, how and where they stole the plot, and how all this is unhistorically filmed will be told by the bad comedian. I'll say it's good, and even very good.
8 out of 10
The Russian special forces must hold the airport in Pristina until the peacekeepers approach. Will they? Stand? The enemy is a rabid beast. In the faces is the hatred of degeneration. Actions are mindless power. A severed head as an attribute of those human societies that stand almost at the level of a primitive state. Scalping, cutting off ears, beheading – children of “one mother”. Animals. Well, at least they don't do cannibalism. Are these people?
The Balkan conflict in the bloody streams of the parties. And the Russian special forces are insured. We're few, but we're in veggies! Gosha Kutsenko for father and father for all.
Come for them, come for us.
And for Siberia and for the Caucasus,
For the light of distant cities
For friends and for love.
Come on, come on, come on, come on.
And for the troops, and for the special forces,
For military orders
Let's pick it up, old man.
A fitting answer to American blockbusters about soldiers of freedom bayoneting this most democratic illusion. And here is our Russian warrior, that epic Ilya Muromets with a company of cleansing ablution from tears and crying to those suffering from justice. Let us stand up for the Serbian land, for the weeping of mothers and children of little ones! Hold on! Two and a half hours in the audience chair. Two and a half hours under the fire of tracer bursts. Two-and-a-half hours of hard work.
A movie that has a soul. Russian, sentimental and childishly naive. A film where the lyrical component is intertwined with a military feat going into an embrace.
Film with Tatar, Belarusian, Serbian, Ingush, Albanian, Uzbek, Russian and others. And this one is each of us with you, because Mother Russia is great. And one homeland. One for all. And anyone – call, will stand up without thinking.
Patriotic, well-tailored, time-appropriate, touching on the relevance of the theme of peace. Bringing continuity from his best examples. Those on whose shoulders this magnificent facade is built. Masculinity, it grows from “In the zone of special attention” (1977), she “Return move” (1981) in the hardening of boys. And an amphibious veal in the second skin of protective armor open to adversity. Boris Galkin, Vadim Spiridonov, Mikhail Volontir in the 80s carried the youngsters to the sky and is not this same growth that rose on the good seed of ethical values of help, mutual assistance shown to us here? 1999. Nobody flinched. Nobody betrayed me. They sacrificed themselves, covering and shooting to the last.
The kindest words deserve the entire film crew. The director managed to set a spectacle where the main idea is conveyed more than easily. The genre of the action movie is superimposed on the drama and one complements the other in the plot collisions. Screenplay, drawing of historical events and portraits of characters. Anxieties for fate reach the maximum level to the last shots and a lump in the throat with tears turning up sound applause to the masters of the spectacle. Catharsis. A complete understanding of the ongoing disaster of horror. Documentary intersperses only emphasize the general connection with the “conflict” that took place. A good detail of small inclusions is confessions to each other before the "last" battle and trusting a stranger to the hidden, vexing pain in you - Sometimes they will give the mujahideen such a goldsmith an automatic gun and say, - go, fight. Every time I fight, I pray that the kids don't get hit. Otherwise. Or you drink like scum or a bullet in the head. War always breaks people.
Twenty years ago, on March 24, 1999, one of the most high-profile crimes in the history of mankind was committed - the bombing of peaceful Yugoslavia, torn by civil war, began. At that time I was 9 years old - and the events shown on our TV channels were perceived with boyish enthusiasm. I remember Yugoslav anti-aircraft guns scouring the sky in search of American stealth and Spirit. I remember how happy I was when the Serbs managed to shoot down one F-117 and how excited I ran into the yard to discuss it with my friends. I did not understand then how much innocent blood was shed, how many women and children died under bombs, and this is all against the background of ethnic cleansing between Serbs and Albanians in the Republic itself.
In those years, the throw of Russian paratroopers under Pristina was perceived differently. Footage of the meeting of our military civilians, flying around the world. It seemed like we could stop the bloodshed. At that time it seemed that our guys would be able to repel the external aggressors and then stop the blazing civil war in fraternal Yugoslavia. After 20 years, after analyzing the situation and studying historical information, events are perceived differently.
The film of Andrei Volgin "Balkan Border" is a picture for the most part about a secret and still carefully hidden episode of those events: the GRU operation to seize the airport "Slatina".
“In May 1999, Major Yunus-bey Evkurov, who was at that time part of the international peacekeeping contingent in Bosnia and Herzegovina, received from the High Military Command of the Russian Federation the task: as part of a group of 18 soldiers of the special purpose unit of the GRU of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, covertly penetrate the territory of Kosovo and Metohija and take control of a strategic object – the Slatina airport.”
The events of the film show in almost detail: the situation in Yugoslavia, the truth about how ethnic cleansing took place at that time and how ethnic cleansing takes place in such conflicts, the political situation in the world at that time, as well as the actions of our peacekeeping contingent and GRU special forces. All this is shown, of course, within the framework of the limited secrecy information that was in the access of the creators of the picture.
To understand how Russians are treated in Serbia, you don’t have to go there. It is worth seeing how several tens of thousands of Serbs met our president in Belgrade this year. There is a well-known situation when many Serbs are asked “how many are you?”
We and the Russians 200 million. We are one brotherly people.
Probably, there is not a single people in the world who would love and respect Russia so sincerely, who would consider it their mother.
“Balkan Frontier”, being still a film of fiction and filmed based on those events, as well as created under the cooperation of the Ministries of Culture of Russia and Serbia, has a characteristic plot for “Hero-Artistics” & #39; films. A few central characters ... a romantic line ... a bit of healthy pathos, and even good jokes in the relevant moments. At the same time, the picture contains a number of very truthful and cruel realistic scenes of violence.
Throughout the screen time through political correctness, the absence of vilification of some peoples on racial and national grounds. There are no bad nations, there are terrible people. The fact that the creators of the "Balkan Frontier" were able to show this on many examples without inflections is one of the main advantages of the picture.
Returning to the “pathos” and the share of healthy propaganda – as always happens in heroic films, there is a powerful associative series: “The Serb-Boy Girl is Russian” (protection and protection as the line of the whole story), “The little scared Serbian girl-Russian officer” (coming to the rescue is also a repetition of the main plot of the film), “The conflict between the Serb and the Russian in the bar” (soft, appealing). The general misunderstanding of the Serbs is why the Russians did not immediately come to the rescue. Such microassociations are the handwriting of a real master, and for this we will say bravo to Andrey Volgin and the team of writers.
The international Serbian-Russian team of actors did very well. For me personally, the work of Miloš Bikovic, who used to be perceived more as an actor of the entertainment genre, became a revelation. I cannot but note the harmony that has arisen in Anton Pampushny and talented Elena Radulovich. For charisma and humor, mainly responsible Ravshana Kurkova, and did it perfectly!
As for the musical range - a decent average level. Good accompaniment of dramatic and battle scenes, but not always appropriate choice of main compositions.
Years fly mercilessly, and 20 years have passed since the beginning of those tragic events. Yugoslavia finally broke up into parts, and Kosovo still received a limitedly recognized independence in the world. NATO continues to establish its bloody order around the world, but Russia has become much stronger than it was in the spring of 99. In Serbia, many people continue to die from cancer every year. This is affected by the consequences of NATO bombers with the use of depleted uranium. The prototype of "Beka" Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, then a special unit officer - today is the long-term head of Ingushetia.
The only thing that does not change is the perception by the Serbs of Russia as their sister... as their mother. Through tears and years we can see how the spring of 99, a country with a nearly destroyed army and a completely destroyed economy, tried to help the fraternal people in some way. Despite the grievances of the West, despite the political strife within. Maybe today, it would have been different, then it was important to show the world. .
'Let them see who is against them'...
I would like to end with the words from the beautiful song of Lena Katina - "Yugoslavia"
Above the evening Danube is spread
White color, white color, white color.
And to remember the melody asked
Past years, past years, past years. . .
But it melted with flocks of birds.
Our songs are simple words.
You go into the fire, Yugoslavia.
Without me, without me, without me.
A black-eyed girl confused.
You're standing on the other side.
But to get to this shore,
I can't, I can't, I can't.
During the night under the lead hail,
For not being around me,
I'm sorry, my sister is Yugoslavia.
For dying in the rain of spring,
For not being saved,
I'm sorry, my sister is Yugoslavia!
9 out of 10
In general, the situation on the Balki in the 90s was not so unambiguous as we were told on the news, and the Serbs did not differ in such a harmless nature and also knew how to arrange a night of long knives, but of course the main thing is that NATO was bugging them, and there is nowhere to go – the historical enmity with the Alliance makes itself felt. But even the film's constant appeal to politics doesn't overshadow the simple fact that it's a very high-quality powerful action movie. I can't believe ours took it off themselves. And the script is multilinear, and the characters are dark, and no one is lost, everyone has enough to do, and attention, and special effects that you need. No, if the “Frontier” did some “Three Te” or “Art Pictures”, you could still understand where such a class came from, but there are no known names in the production shop except Bikovic and Kutsenko, and director Volgin had previously shot the infamous “Dancing to Death”. On the other hand, why can some shoot expensive and interesting, and others not? Moreover, if you evaluate the film by Hollywood standards, then this is generally a high-quality “beshka”, which in the States would be released immediately on video. Well, we have different budgets and standards, so no matter what, the film is very good.
We did not really help the Serbs. We took the airport, what's the point? All the same, NATO remained in power, and our army did not soon regain its strength and authority. But they didn't say that in the movie. Oh, shit, it all came down to politics again. Well, without her, the "Frontier" would not have turned out so epic and voluminous.
So let's get straight to the point. “Balkan Frontier” is a good movie, whose problems come from its timing and editing.
The film has enough superfluous “micro-plot” lines that unnecessarily stretch the tape and nothing would change if they did not exist. A good example of this is the race of two armored vehicles. Also just unnecessary dialogues that do not have a semantic load for the main storyline and a long swing of the film to the main actions, for which, in fact, we go to the cinema and go. Personally, I was tired of what was happening on the screen and just wanted to know how it would end.
The film has an unpleasant editing, the transition between scenes is often accompanied by some sharp and loud sound, which causes discomfort. The scenes of the fighting are somehow negligently mounted and it seems that the authors are trying to carefully hide the flaws in the quality of these scenes. And it’s not clear why there are so many slow frames, in fact without slow-mo would be much better, because it is everywhere. However, documentary chronicles, sometimes flashing on the screen, very much to the place.
To my surprise, the authors managed to show us real heroes with their own characters and problems. The team even feels some chemistry between the “brothers in arms” and it is certainly pleasing.
The film shows us several main storylines: A secret airport seizure group headed by Beck (Gosha Kutsenko); The love line between Yasna (Milena Radulovich) and Andrey (Anton Pampushny), which seemed to me drawn by the ears, “so that it was”; The story of two Serbian policemen who somehow try to maintain order in a war-torn country. All these story lines will reunite for a major and final battle scene. I sincerely liked the story about two comrades from the police, I would like them to spend more screen time, more work on the disclosure of their characters, but all the carrots went to the capture group, and a pity! What happened in the end on the screen did not allow to cause any directly vivid emotions, but some experiences to experience still the picture forced.
I have no questions for the actors, they do not give out something super-dramatic, and this is not necessary, but they worked their fees honestly, in this regard everything is fine.
Separately, I would like to highlight the musical accompaniment, someone can experience a pleasant feeling of nostalgia after hearing the hits of Viktor Tsoi, the group “Sektor Gas”. And in general, the composer coped with the task and showed the ability to convey the right mood of the frame.
The visual component of the picture is quite good, although there are some flaws in computer graphics, good, they are not so significant.
Summing up my brief opinion, I want to say that “Balkan Frontier” is a pretty good action movie that makes you worry about your characters, having about 20 extra minutes in your screen time, a hulking montage, a good story, and most importantly – the presence of reference real events (let’s not talk about how the events in this film are real).
This film popularizes an unpopular topic in our time - the war in Yugoslavia, the crimes committed by Albanians and NATO, those senseless deaths of innocent people, popularizes without any propaganda and agitation, but simply showing the atrocities taking place there, in the former Yugoslavia.
" What is the power, brother? – asked the national screen hero of the 90s Danila Bagrov in the film Alexei Balabanov. Good question! The power is in truth, Danila answered himself. The film “Balkan Frontier” in 2019 suddenly turned out to be strong for me in many ways, and one of them is that it is based on real events. The ones that many still remember well. They remember how impotently they squeezed their fists, watching the news of another bombing and genocide on the soil of Yugoslavia. And this moment of powerlessness, stiffness, against the background of the attenuated face of the then President of Russia, is reflected in the picture “Balkan Frontier”.
Why are the Russians silent when NATO bombs the peaceful city of Belgrade with its maternity hospitals, stadiums and factories? But “friend Bill”, as Boris Yeltsin liked to emphasize, is doing his dirty work with the help of bombers. I do not want to introduce a political aspect, but why is Russia fighting for Syria, where we do not have brothers, but seem to have allies, and even put air defenses of the last generations there, but did not help the brotherly people of Serbia then, at the turn of the century, when they were bombed? It probably doesn't belong in the movie. But who knows...
Back to the cinema. The Balkan Frontier is a tough movie, but the second positive parameter of the picture is beauty. If you take scissors and cut violent scenes and grinding action, the table will remain the most beautiful landscapes of the former Yugoslavia. A country where beautiful people live and live. There's beauty in the movie. Even cold. Flying black crows NATO stealth aircraft "Stealth" bombs are shown in the film very beautifully. Only the consequences of those blows are ugly.
Last year I was able to visit Serbia and I saw traces of NATO bombing. The Serbs keep them, and in the center of Belgrade, a silent reproach to the world is the building of the Ministry of Defense of Yugoslavia, dismantled by NATO bombs. But there are so many beautiful girls and women on the streets of Serbia, it is amazing. Life goes on. That's what Balkan blood means! And they are strikingly feminine, and that touch is reflected in the film.
“Balkan Frontier” is made great largely thanks to the Serbian side. Extremely feminine, touching, beautiful Serbian actress Milena Radulovic (Nurse Jasna) got into the role perfectly. She is beautiful both on the outside and on the inside. Thank you for the light that the actress was able to bring to the film. There is a Balkan charm in its features, which is so often found on Serbian streets and avenues and in cafes.
But even higher praise, if I may say so, deserves the main movie of the villain of the whole thing – the Albanian field commander Smuk (Alexandor Srechkovic). The villain is such a villain! He even hangs the verbal label “animal” for the atrocities committed by the actor’s character. But we must understand that when one of the most beautiful and calm countries in Europe, Yugoslavia, began to disintegrate after the USSR, not one or two sides flooded this land with blood. War crimes were committed by all parties. Smuk’s motivation in the film may not be entirely convincing (my land, and you all screw it), but the image of a war criminal and a psychopath is embodied by a Serbian actor simply masterfully. If the viewer asks the question: “How does the earth wear such an inhuman?” – then the image is fashioned coolly.
And how great the actor Gojko Mitic (Goran Milic) played his albeit not big role. An old cop with the old strict notions of honor and the rule of law. During the war, they are at the forefront of the fight against evil.
As for the Russian actors, then, frankly, the situation is worse. Beck (Gosha Kutsenko) in the film is a shot in the milk. Well, just none. Andrei Shatalov (Anton Pompushny) is the only Russian from Beck’s brigade according to the scenario on the firing line – his image worked professionally. It was courageous, but nothing more. Best of all worked from the Russian side in the acting plan Nodari Janelidze (Girey). Cheerful, eared, bullying, charming. He was very happy to see his work.
So where do “legs grow” in the painting “Balkan Frontier”?
The director of the “Balkan Frontier” Andrey Volgin, to put it mildly, did not shine before on the movie sky. But then he justified his name 100%. The powerful, wide, powerful Volga River, and the Balkan Frontier turned out to be the same! Yes, there are shortcomings, lengths (excessive attention to the column of Russian equipment, which goes to the heroes to the rescue), but in general they do not spoil the fabric of the film.
The storyline follows the Russian military’s capture of Kosovo’s strategically important Slatina airport in 1999, which they must hold until major peacekeeping forces approach. The airport also attracted Smuk for its military and commercial affairs. So much for the conflict. But this is the story, what about the atmosphere?
I think the filmmakers sucked in the political air with their nostrils, caught the trends in modern hybrid wars, and logically the villain was forced into the accomplices of NATO-Doctor Gerhard (Dmitry Fried). It is clear that ideologically this move is justified, but the plot, somehow, not very. You feel the attraction of this line "behind the ears" to the body of the thing.
But the musical series does not feel alien. The selected compositions correspond to the scenes of the picture and the characters, and cause a valuable nostalgic note, which makes the film even more delicious. And music as a protest against bombing is a great move of the writers of the picture.
The main advantage of the film “Balkan Frontier” is in the cool and logical sequence of selected scenes, smooth flow of genres, diversity of characters. And they're human! I wiped my eyes, but I didn’t find a Spider, an Iron Woodcutter, or even a purple Hulk.
As for the main message of the picture, it seemed to me that the authors wanted not only to present some action, but also to show what a person is capable of. People. Character metamorphosis. Here lived peacefully and suddenly - bam... Historical cataclysm! The collapse of the country. The demise of the Empire. Where does that come from? Brother's on his brother. Those who drank tea together at each other's house yesterday grab their weapons and aim at each other. Others get the freedom to embody their manic inclinations, the opportunity to get rich on blood, and someone runs, becomes a victim and dies.
I would not recommend the film “Balkan Frontier” to children under 16 years of age for sure. Sometimes the cruelty of the scenes goes off the scale, and then one name comes to mind - genocide.
In general, the Balkan Frontier is a real event in a rather dull Russian cinema sky. But we have recently started to light such films – stars. “Moving Up,” “Legend 17,” now “The Balkan Frontier.” Let us have more stars!