Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      Russia 88

      2009 1h 44m Drama List
      Reviews 57% Audience Score 50+ Ratings Russian skinheads make propaganda videos to upload to the Internet. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (7) audience reviews
      Audience Member Like a Russian mockumentary version of Romper Stomper with a touch of Romeo & Juliet. Fairly well made, contains plenty of suitably hate-filled idioctic performances and a more tragic outcome than expected. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Synopsis: 'Russia 88' is a gang of fascist skinheads who roam the streets filming themselves being a right bunch of racist twats. Continuing the filmic trend for charismatic psychos followed by sensation-seeking camera operators, Russia 88 successfully uses the mock-doc aesthetic to deliver its derivative but engaging narrative. Following in the footsteps of Man Bites Dog, The Magician and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Petr Fyodorov plays Shtik, an angry, ranting lunatic who just loves having an admirer film his every move. Though not as memorable as Edward Norton, Stephen Graham or Russell Crowe's terrifying performances as Nazi thugs, Fyodorov holds the movie being reminiscent of Colin Farrel's early appearance in Tigerland. While the pace lags at times due to the minimal plot, the last act of the film veers into predictable but vaguely silly territory after building up a strong sense of realism in the rest of the film. The handheld camera and other traits of the mock-doc format such as the voxpops with (real?) members of the public, direct address to camera and seemingly unedited material give the film a powerful feeling of watching the footage of a bunch of rhetoric spouting racist thugs keen to share their life and views with the world via the internet. Like an anti-American History X, the film uses no fancy tricks like excessive slow-mo, black and white or orchestral and choir filled music, making the film feel more real and closer in tone and style to This is England. However there are also moments of humour (mainly in the first half of the film) where the mock-doc style is used to undermine and humiliate these characters who take themselves too seriously. Briefly touching on what turns young men into Nazi's, the film comes up with one or two interesting (if not very surprising) answers. The scene in a training camp may be a reminder of the hatred and indoctrination that is spawned in other training camps around the world and the use of voxpops and the constant references to the footage being put on the internet make this a very contemporary spin on the skinhead psycho cycle. Overall, Russia 88 is filled with realistic detail but tries too hard to create a powerful and shocking 'movie' ending that feels out of place with the rest of the 'documentary' style. However Bardin may be a director to watch out for in the future. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member I liked it quite a bit. It's not as heavy and violent as I expected and that might be good, but to me it lacked a bit of strength. However, the bare topic is disturbing to begin with. All in all pretty satisfying. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Тошнит уже от русских фильмоы "новой волны". Кто еще о пошлости и грязи кино не снял?! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Although the main characters' posturing (as they themselves note) in the beginning of Russia 88 seem ridiculous and unbelievable, the film manages to turn it into its advantage by showing how the culture the neo-Nazis adopt acts only as a device to form cohesion within their little group, whose members are brought together because of other reasons than common ideology. This, moral ambivalence, and absolutely superb acting make Russia 88 definitely above-par, but common thugs like these are such an obvious target that the film cannot offer a truly novel insight. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Before I entered the screening, I did not know is it going to be a real documentary or fiction. As the film reached its ending it became more and more apparent that it's fiction, due to the unbelievable coincidences and scenes that occured. However, as a "mockumentary" it was good and looked real enough. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      Photos

      View All Russia 88 photos

      Russia 88

      View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Russian skinheads make propaganda videos to upload to the Internet.
      Director
      Pavel Bardin
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      Russian
      Runtime
      1h 44m