Brigada

I think"Brigada" is one of the best shows I have seen on TV in last few years.I have watched it twice,the crew,music,idea everything I like when it comes to mafia stories.Also I can understand how can bad subtitles spoil a good story,but that wasn't my problem and my friends(Russian is very similar to Serbian).My only hope is that there will be more shows like"Brigada"to come from Russia(Hollywood is having problem with stories that have already been told)I love the passion and dedication of actors,which you can not see in Hollywood production.

PS(I have told everyone I know about how excellent"Brigada"is and now all my friend are fascinated with Sergei Bezrukov)

I have never watched Russian TV series before as I expected them to be stupid and boring. But 'Brigada' was so extremely popular among my friends and so much talked about in the newspapers and magazines, so I decided not to miss it. And I wasn't disappointed at all. Many people said that 'Brigada' makes youngsters like criminals and gangsters and fight against the militia. They said that in this series militia men look much more criminal than the criminals themselves! But unfortunately it is the regrettable truth of Russian life nowadays. That's why audience didn't judge the guys – Sasha, Phyl, Kosmos and Pchela – too harshly. They were the victims of the circumstances. About the movie itself. I liked the soundtrack very much. ('Brigada' ringtone was extremely popular among the people of all ages.) The actors' performance was great, sometimes brilliant. I especially liked Sergey Bezrukov and Vladimir Vdovichenkov. Dmitry Dyuzhev was excellent, but on my opinion he's doing his best job acting in 'Twelfth Night' – the play by Shakespeare staged in Pushkin's theatre. His performance is so funny and wonderful that everybody can't help laughing. Katya Guseva is the most beautiful woman on the screen. Andrey Panin is a splendid villain! His character is so disgusting that I wanted to throw something heavy at his head every time I saw him. To sum up, the movie is well-written, well-directed and well-played. I'm very surprised (and pleased) that not only in Russia people watch and like it. Hope some new great movies and TV-series will come soon. For instance, 'Zvezdochet' (Astrologer) starring the same Vdovichenkov and handsome Strahov. Looking forward to watching it! 9 out of 10 – and my applause - to 'Brigada'.

Hi everyone, My brother has been telling me about Brigada movie for months. I was able to find it ate the library and I finally watched it. Let me tell you, I was so hooked, I hardly did anything around the house. What a fantastic work. ABSOLUTELY should be shown in America. I am surprised it didn't get any foreign film award.I agree, the subtitles weren't that great. Some expressions came out wrong based on cultural differences and word meanings and if they fix all that, they should show this on the American screens. The actors are fantastic. You can feel that they put their hearts and souls in the roles. I loved Sasha, especially I loved Phil. He is my favorite, oh... I don't know, I loved them all. Wonderful, wonderful!!!

Although another member of IMDb commented on how the English subtitles in this movie were poorly done (which I agree with) the movie in its essence was brilliant. I was born in Russia and speak the language fluently which has to be the reason I understood and enjoyed the movie so much. Despite all that, I've had many non-Russian speaking friends who understood the concept and meaning of the movie fully. Sidorov captured the lifestyle of the Russian mafia very accurately. The movie spans the life of 4 friends over a period of 10 years, going from innocent young men who wanted to be tough guys to being big time crime leaders after being left with no choice of other lifestyles. The best part about everything was how Sidorov showed his audience the changing mentalities in the 4 characters before and after the Soviet Union broke up. He made it very clear that many crime bosses came into power and became politicians and people who influence Russia with an iron fist. The movie also shows a lot of dedication. After watching the special features DVD and looking at all the behind the scenes footage, I realized the actors poured their hearts and souls into portraying these 4 characters properly. For one, they spent 2 years of their lives (while production was running), having their friends and family call them by their character names. Some of the actors (like Sergei Bezrukov) had to adjust their acting style. He went from being Russia's Golden Boy who played innocent boyish roles to proving to the Russian community that he has a wide range in his acting skills. I give this movie my full 5 stars and recommend it to everyone.

This movie is similar to the reality in Russia in the past and what is at present in my country - Bulgaria... It's about an enormous Russian mafia-empire built with the common effort of a young Russian mafioso called Sasha Belov and his BRIGADA (which means Brigade from Russian). The film is based on true story of a real criminal group and the film shows the whole history of 4 old friends helping each other from bad interests.

I think that most of the English-speaking viewers can't really understand some things, which are happening in the movie, but for me as a Bulgarian (my culture and the Russian culture are almost one and the same) everything from the mafia-thing in Russia is clear to me. There was a user of IMDb who said, that the subs were not very good. It's because there are jokes and phrases that aren't understandable to others except east-European countries. It's better to read something about the Russian mafia, before you watch the series , that will help you understand thе film better. For me this film is a blockbuster, in fact the nowadays American rubbish that we watch is 0 in compare to this unbelievable true story of Sasha Belov and his BRIGADA.

10 out of 10