Slovo patsana. Krov na asfalte

If you are a fan of Breaking Bad, this series might be a must-watch for you. A young boy from a low-income family, being bullied in school, decides to join a neighborhood gang, looking for protection and to assert himself on the streets. From a homeboy, Andrey transforms into a gang fighter who goes head to head with anyone standing in the way. Through surprising small and bigs wins, Andrey evolves as a person, somewhat resembling Walter White's path. A string of violent events between competing gangs results in senseless deaths and makes the violence spiral. Tragedies unfolding in each episode change the main characters radically. Despite the dark and sometimes distressing outcomes, the authors managed to maintain a perspective similar to West Side Story, making the price of the right and wrong choices clear.

Pretty intense stories well acted. A real time travel into USSR era . I am Italian but interested in Russian culture and I could not asked for more. The story unfolds at fast pace, gripping, the life of people in that era is depicted with almost documentary style quality, the soundtrack is a trip into contemporary russian music, the choice of tracks is perfect . There is a lot to liste, to watch and to re watch. So many details that are difficult to catch, so even a second view can help to understand more this masterpiece. I recommend also some other masterpieces such as Leviathan, The Return.

The series covers the so called "The Kazan phenomenon" of the teenager gangs of Tatarstan of 1970s-2020s. I moved to Kazan in the 90s when the "Asphalt wars" period had already been over, but I know many things about it anyway as I still live here and I can confirm the screenplay is very accurate in details. It's also incredibly well shot and played. I would only add that among the characters pictured there are too many ethnic Russians. The real gangs were of mixed ethnic origin of course, but the majority of members, especially the leaders, were Tatars. I highly recommend watching it for everyone and not just for those who want to learn more about the late Soviet Union and why it broke up.

Russia is not a favorable topic recently due to the war with Ukraine, but this series is worth watching even now.

Provincial Kazan, late 80s. The Soviet Union mindset and style of living are falling apart (arguably, it only ever existed on Soviet TV). The grip of the Communist Party is already loose. There is nothing substantial inside, only rituals.

The protagonist gets robbed and beaten on his school commute by a local youth gang member. Adults have nothing to offer him besides an extra dose of propaganda. It's not something that the party really cares about. Some down-to-earth militia officers see the problem but can do nothing. According to Soviet laws of that time, young gang members are free to go until they kill someone. That's what adult criminals quickly start to abuse. They organize hierarchical gangs of teenagers, offering them protection and some sort of moral codex. But the codex isn't set on paper, and thugs can interpret it however they like. What comes next is the classical story of any gang film in the world. The spiral of violence is starting to spin.

The series tries to portray the epoch surgically. The scenarist did a terrific job. Slang, music, costumes, actors' play - everything is perfect. Unfortunately, the series is rooted too deep in history, and to fully enjoy it, you should be aware of the late Soviet Union. But anyway, highly recommended.

An accurate representation of a lost generation.

This is a perfect illustration of that time, the music(really sets the mood through the movie), the atmosphere, the friendship, the injustice, the language and the gangs. This movie is filmed with movement, atmosphere and colour. The show shows how although the gangs are dangerous, aggressive, violent and sometimes unnecessary they have history behind them. Kids back then were alone, parents didn't spend much time and kids were stuck with a lot of spare time so they made gangs with other people like them, eventually this was cemented in teenage lives and many people were scarred by these gangs. This show shows how you have to understand one's life before judging them, all the people in this show had reason for their actions, in reality the kids are nice and genuine but misunderstood by society causing an imbalance between them and adults. Another aspect of the movie is death, how it was a common occurrence back then in gangs. Each time someone passed away in this show it's conveyed in a very touching, vivid, real and impactful manner. In conclusion this show reveals the sad reality of back then and nowadays truth is something we can rarely find, that's why I respect and appreciate this show.