Spinning Boris

This is a nice political comedy. Three American election-consultants are hired to help Boris Jeltsin to win Russia's first free election. Jeltsin's daughter is the campaign leader and speaks for her father. Though the three consultants never meet Jeltsin in person, this gap is nicely filled with archive material of the real election campaign in 1996. The movie begins with the statement 'based on a truth story'. I strongly doubt this story is authentic, but it is plausible though.

Jeff Goldblum is the real star in this movie and some non-hollywood details, like the fact that some Russians don't speak English (so there is a lot of Russian language in the movie), are very nice and make this movie an above-average one. Watch it if you like satire and are not afraid of politics!

Released in the US at the time of another Russian Presidential election, "Spinning Boris", is a humorous, fact-based dramatization of the 1996 Russian Presidential election, directed by Roger Spottiswoode (who also directed the Bond film, "Tomorrow Never Dies," and the bio-pic "Noriega: God's Favorite").

The first post-Soviet election in Russia pitted Boris Yeltsin, a man once considered a hero but now, after five years of attempted coups, hyperinflation, and war in Chechnya, has lower approval ratings than Stalin, against political opponents ranging from kooky (the xenophobic Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who wants to retake Alaska), to Communist (Gennady Zyuganov, who vows to restore the Soviet Union). In Yeltsin's view (and that of some powerful forces on both sides of the Atlantic) the future of Russia is at stake: do people want to live with the challenges and opportunities of free choice, or fall back to the failed Communist system (along with newly wealthy oligarchs losing their power).

How can a candidate be "guaranteed" victory in a democracy? Hire the best political advisors money can buy, in this case George Gorton (Jeff Goldblum), Dick Dresner (Anthony LaPaglia), and Joe Shumate (Liev Schreiber, playing a more open operative than in his last Russian adventure, "The Sum of All Fears," and proving himself a master in the political movies genre).

The three American political consultants (one of whom, Gorton, recently led Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful gubernatorial campaign) are masters at showing how politics can be manipulated, or fine tuned. "Spinning Boris" shows the idealism and naivete of Russia's fledging democracy in 1996, primarily through the eyes of his daughter, Tatiana Dyachenko (played by the sensuously dignified Svetlana Efremova, known to political drama junkies through an appearance as a Russian journalist in "The West Wing").

The main difference between history and the plot of this film is that the script overplays the political naivete of Russians far too much. After all, it was Yeltsin's main opponent, the Communist Zyuganov, who said in 1995, "You should understand that a clever propaganda worker and a skilled politician will never talk in the same language with different audiences." If the Soviet era proved anything, it is that Russians are masters at telling an audience what it wants to hear. The movie does prove that Americans are good at reviving a stale product, in this case a Presidential candidate, Yeltsin, who offers a clear (and clearly superior) alternative to his opponents, men who reach back into the "ash heap of history" for their political platform.

"Spinning Boris" perpetuates some negative stereotypes about Russia. For instance: the President Hotel is not 5-Star quality; people did not walk around with machine guns in 1996; the SOVIET national anthem was not in use during the Yeltsin era; and why did the Americans sing the "Internationale," the song of world Communism, as they leave Moscow? There are, however, some wonderful street scenes throughout the entire movie, and the cinematography manages to capture some of the exoticness and beauty of Moscow, the world's most unique city (although most of the interior shots were filmed in Toronto).

It is great to have a dramatization of what is for Americans an obscure political event, but one that had far-reaching repercussions. Movies are often the only way that a historic event is remembered; by their nature a political drama will be abridged and truncated (this is true of documentaries as well). Hopefully people watching this movie won't believe that today's Russia is as close to the brink of collapse as it is depicted here. Like "Primary Colors," the movie (and novel) which gave great understanding into the 1992 Clinton campaign, "Spinning Boris" gives humorous insight into the Russian political scene during its early democratic years.

From the biznessmen to the government officials, even the hotel lounge's Elvis impersonator, the dialogue, spoken language, actors, character portrayals and cultural depictions are so authentically Russian, it's frightening. And hilarious. Which makes it all the more difficult to believe this a product of American cinema, which seems to prefer perpetuating tired and/or exaggerated Russian stereotypes (whether due to ignorance or apathy is still open to debate). Anthropologically speaking, this film's a bull's-eye; historically, who knows? High production values (including stock footage from the actual campaign -- see Yeltsin dance!), quality casting and genuine humor make for good times. More so if you know Russia(n), less so, perhaps, if you don't. I'm recommending it to friends, and I'd watch it again. Na zdoroviye.

Three American campaign advisers go to Russia to help Yeltsin win the election and a good time was had by viewers.

This is the true story of three guys who went to Moscow to win an election and did so despite death threats (from the people who wanted Yeltsin elected but feared he'd lose- don't ask) and being watched by everyone in the country and outside it.

The real pleasure here is the trio of actors playing the leads, Jeff Goldblum, Anthony LaPaglia and Liev Schreiber who work together like a well oiled machine and seem to be having such a grand time you can't help but watch it and enjoy it. They play it like three long time friends who know each other like the back of their own hands and spread the sense of fun and good times, even in the bad times, so neatly it rolls right off the screen. You don't care what the film is about so long as you get to watch them interacting. This would be a perfectly charming film if it was more interesting to look at, its mostly in hotel rooms that all look the same, with the odd trip to the balcony to speak where no one can over hear. They could also have used a woman as Yeltsin's daughter who is a lovely as the real thing, but those minor quibbles. That said its a joy to behold and highly recommended. 9/10

When you read the comment on this film, that it's smart and funny political comedy based on true events - the only true word here is that it's a comedy. If you're told it's insider movie about Russian politics - it's not. There's probably only 2% in the movie from what really happened in Russia during that election-campaign. In reality of the 1996 it was thousand times more interesting to follow the situation and that was a real funky election-campaign. Well, there were PR-advisers from the US working in the Yeltsin's staff, but their role was just minimal. The whole campaign was totally different from what is shown in the movie, it would be much funnier showing all the president's people riding across the country with paper boxes full of cash, and the celebrities giving the shows to support Yeltsin all over the place - at least that would be true. I give it three only because of the respect to Jeff Goldblum, Antony LaPagglia, and Liev Schreiber. And about the machine guns on the streets of Moscow. I was living in the place that had the highest amount of hard crime in Russia in the middle of 90-s and never seen a man with the gun on the street.