Gruz 200 (2007)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Aleksei Balabanov

Writer:

Aleksei Balabanov (writer)

Release Date:

14 June 2007 (Russia)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer and subsequently abused by the lawman gone mad. |

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapping | Sadism | Soviet Afghanistan War | Rape | Murder

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Agniya Kuznetsova	...	Angelika
Aleksei Poluyan	...	Captain Zhurov
Leonid Gromov	...	Artem, Professor of Scientific Atheism
Aleksei Serebryakov	...	Aleksey
Leonid Bichevin	...	Valera
Natalya Akimova	...	Antonina, Aleksey's Wife
Yuri Stepanov	...	Mikhail, Colonel
Mikhail Skryabin	...	Sunka
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sergei Aleksandrov
Valentina Andryukova
Konstantin Balakirev
Aleksandr Bashirov	...	Skinny Alcoholic
Alyona Falaleyeva
Yuliya Glazunova
Dmitri Karpov
Marina Korolkova
Dmitri Kubasov
Igor Malukhin
Lyalya Miropolskaya
Andrei Mokeyev
Aleksandr Mosin
Anzhelika Nevolina
Mariya Nikiforova
Ilya Plyatskovsky
Irina Rakshina
Mikhail Sokolov
Aleksandr Ustinov
Lyudmila Yegorova
Pavel Yulku

Also Known As:

Груз 200 (Russia)
Cargo 200 (International: English title)
Freight 200 (International: English title)

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:III | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R18 | Italy:VM14

Company:

Kinokompaniya CTB

Brilliant mix of grotesque, horror, and comedy

A lot of the reviewers of this movie in the media seem to overlook the fact that Balabanov as a director repeatedly demonstrated a very deadpan and a very dark sense of humor. The joke's certainly on them. Watch taking this into consideration.

A few more notes. The movie is loosely based on real events, some of the more unfortunate of which allegedly happened with one of the director's friends. The movie caused a major scandal at the 2007 Kinotavr movie festival (Russia's Sundance, pretty much). The awards are given based on the movie critics' vote. That vote was in favor of "Cargo 200" for "Best movie." The festival jury, however, overturned the results of the movie critics' vote and split the award between "Gruz 200" and another movie.

Finally... I dig Balabanov, I despise Gaspar Noe, and here's why. Balabanov doesn't take himself too seriously.