X
- 2014
- PG
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 24 m
- 2014
- PG
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 24 m
Summary Red Army is about the Soviet Union and the most successful dynasty in sports history: the Red Army hockey team. Filmmaker Gabe Polsky tells an extraordinary human story from the perspective of its captain Slava Fetisov, the friendships, the betrayals, and the personal dramas, which led to his transformation from national hero to politica...
Directed By: Gabe Polsky
Written By: Gabe Polsky
- 2014
- PG
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 24 m
- 2014
- PG
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 24 m
Red Army
7.7
Where to Watch
Summary Red Army is about the Soviet Union and the most successful dynasty in sports history: the Red Army hockey team. Filmmaker Gabe Polsky tells an extraordinary human story from the perspective of its captain Slava Fetisov, the friendships, the betrayals, and the personal dramas, which led to his transformation from national hero to politica...
Directed By: Gabe Polsky
Written By: Gabe Polsky
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
83
97% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
83
97% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It's a story of global consequences and historic proportions, and of astounding athleticism and synchronicity - and filmmaker Polsky ices it.
Good sports movies are always about more than sports... Red Army touches on themes of friendship and perseverance, and also offers a compact and vivid summary of recent Russian history.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
7.7
83% Positive
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
13% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
4% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
7.7
83% Positive
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
13% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
4% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
A history of Russian ice hockey over the past several decades. The title is from the alternate name of the national team—the “Red Army Club”—so-called because all team members were also members of the Army. The film covers well the relationships among the hockey team, the government (including the KGB), and Russian society—and, as Russian society opened up, the NHL. Those interviewed include participants in all those sectors and, most importantly, Viacheslav Fetisov, a hockey star who beat his own path. I found this a greatly appealing and engrossing film, and I don’t even like hockey. Polsky sometimes exhibits a disarming amateurism in his interviews when his subjects seem reluctant to speak, while at other times drawing uninterrupted, emotional, focused declamations. It seems he had some Western-centric, going-in assumptions that weren’t entirely verified, but good for him that he made the movie to which his subjects led him. Enormous credit also to Polsky and his editors for extensive montages of photos, clips, music from multiple sources, and fast edits that impart movement and invite engagement. The one smirch is failing to reveal Fetisov’s stake in what we are seeing until near the end; doing so would have helped explain why his earlier answers sometimes have an air of guarded ambiguity about them. All in all, though, this is an impressive look at the club that came out on the short end of the U.S. Miracle on Ice.
Report
Red Army illustrates a masterful balance of telling stories that otherwise would (rightfully) battle each other for attention, coupled with a precision integration of those stories to create a well-paced, cohesive narrative, and wrapped in a terrific collection of clips, pictures, and hockey highlights. All credit to writer/director Gabe Polsky for taking what could have been a half-dozen solid independent documentaries and turning it all into one lithe, 85-minute trip to a past that feels like forever ago, yet one so many of us lived at least part of. This is a can’t-miss doc for laypeople and puckheads alike.
Report
Audiences knowing nothing about hockey will still be able to appreciate this movie as a somewhat jaunty take on the cold war and its aftermath – and resurgence. A curious kind of cold-war nostalgia can be felt in the West these days; President Vladimir Putin is the kind of comprehensible villain Americans feel comfortable with.
Red Army is a thoughtful and cheer-worthy examination of how sports can shape cultures, redraw borders and change history.
The strength of Red Army lies in its deep appreciation for the many ironies of the situation, the bone-deep complexities of national identity, and the fact that, on some level, home will always be home.
Red Army ends with Fetisov back in Russia, as a politician. Despite the sometimes shabby way in which he was treated by an authoritarian hockey regime, he says he “never had more fun than playing with those five guys.” Once a comrade.
A fast-moving, fascinating and at times even fun documentary residing squarely at the intersection of sports, geopolitics and history.
An excellent documentary about hockey that's not just for sports fans. In detailing the experiences of the Soviet Union's much-celebrated Red Army team, the film also delves into such topics as global politics, human relations, creativity and teamwork. A surprisingly insightful piece of filmmaking that's also a lot of fun to watch.
Report
A good documentary if you didn't know much about Soviet Union's hockey before, but if you did and especially if you have heard of the players and what they have achieved and the regime that was there in USSR for hockey training etc, then there's not much new. For me, being used to documentaries that dig deeper and explore more, I felt like this is lacking something. And it skipped through lots of time periods quite quickly too. I think this is more a documentary about Fetisov than about whole Red Army team, but still, was interesting to see.
Report
Production Company
Gabriel Polsky Productions
Release Date Nov 14, 2014
Duration 1 h 24 m
Rating PG
Genres
Website
http://sonyclassics.com/redarmy/
Awards
Zurich Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Chicago International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
AFI Fest
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
