Mercadoria 200

It is a film about the death of totalitarianism in separately taken country. Year 1984, the life gloom of the Soviet power was condensed to the limit... Those who lived in USSR may cry when watching it. It is so cruel and at the same time so true. Every single part of you will tremble in the watching process. It is inspired from real facts, won't let anybody indifferent, I mean for those who knows at least something about the cinematography... Roles are played perfectly, just how it was meant to be played. People with weak heart and people that loves American Pie series, skip it, you won't like it anyway. For the rest, what can I say, you HAVE to see this movie. 9 out of 10

After watching the film to the end, i launched myself off the chair, toward the television and returned to the beginning - so i could reassure myself that the word 'based on true events' had been written there. He (Alexey balbanov) may have been messing with us or not, but then the complete repulsiveness and disbelief at the fact that human beings are capable of such things, was the most riveting thing. The film and characters deliver a slice of outright realism, social decay, dark and twisted tales i have ever seen. And nowadays in times unsurprising storytelling, this film shocked the hell out of me. It wasn't the disgust of Captain Zhurov nor the helplessness of Angelika (my name-sake) that irritated me, but the sheer intertwining and coincidence that could be experienced in the film. Everyone crossed everyone else's path. This, like others have said, is a very very dark, sick, twisted movie... in a good way. That it keeps you interested and intrigued. I loved it, only with an open mind.

Out of so many garbage russian cinema titles we saw the past two decades, this one is not trash and is outstanding. Not just because of a shock value, but the true-like depiction of Soviet Union in 1980s, good script and ok actors. Hell, this movie captivated me to the end. It's worth it.

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.

The title of the film is a code name for the return home of a body from the battle field. The reason why this title is chosen becomes clear early in the film - but the build of the film would allow a lot of different titles and each one of them would be matching for this film goes far beyond a body returning from the battle field. As the story rolls the film switches back and forth between a number of people and tells their respective tales - and the way all of them connect in one way or the other. The stories are not altogether happy but are not too dark either so the film doesn't turn too dreary. It is very grim though. As each of the stories turns to its conclusion one can not escape the biting cold reality of them.

Played out well enough to be believable and quick enough to be entertaining this film does pretty well. It's ending is fitting, its after-taste is bitter. But, above all, it's an interesting watch.

8 out of 10 broken bottles of vodka