To my knowledge there are only two sport movies focused on the athletes as people, instead of the struggle for the gold and this is the second one. This movie shows an amazing insight to the damaged mind of a young Soviet gymnast champion girl.
Most sport movies focus on the transition from a good athlete to a champion and the struggle for the gold and this is what sport movie fans would expect when seeing every sport movie. This is what we see in the classic martial arts movies like "Bloodsport" (1988), "Over The Top" (1987), "Breaking Away" (1979) and even the recent Russian movies like "Dvijenie Vverh" (2017).
However what we see in "Kukolka" is different. It shows us what happens to the person after it has been molded into a world class champion. We see what the struggle for the gold actually costs. We see the falling apart of the personality and we get insight into the dark side of being a world champion.
The movie gets different angles to show the process of becoming a champion from the early age of six. Young girls tumbling on the tumbling floor and walking in line on the balance beam like bottles of soda pop on a production line in a manufacturing plant. Endless hard exercises. Muscles aching. Competitions. Damaged spines in pain and coaches not telling the truth to the girls, pushing them beyond the human limits, beyond the pain in fear of their own coaching failure, because then they would need to explain their failure in front of their Communist Party superiors.
We see literally the manufacturing of a champion and the breaking and falling apart of a child personality.
At some point the pain goes beyond the tolerable and the girl cannot compete anymore. She is sent to a normal public high school. She is sixteen-years-old and trying to integrate into the society, but her broken psyche prevents her. She is selfish and rebellious, using her inner and muscle strengths to achieve her little goals which lead her falling from a champion to a monster and finally to her own decline probably to a wheelchair. This is not shown to us.
One element which is a bit exaggerated is the main class teacher - a very beautiful single lady trying to get along with the class. She portrayed as a very soft personality, but the main reason her personality is exaggerated is to underline the contrast to the main character's personality. Another very important reason for this exaggeration is to show us that a group of people needs a strong leader and to show us the fall of society into degradation if such leader is not present.
The only similar movie I can compare "Kukolka" is "Personal Best" (1982) which shows another insight of the personal life of the champions and their own personal human struggles.
In general this movie is a very serious product and near masterpiece, layered with great music.
A must-see for any sport movies fan.
