Red Army (film)



Red Army is a 2014 documentary film directed, produced, and written by Gabe Polsky, executive produced by Jerry Weintraub and Werner Herzog. It premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was released in limited theaters by Sony Pictures Classics on January 23, 2015.

Production background
The film relates the Soviet Union's dominance of ice hockey during the Cold War.

Directed by Gabe Polsky, the film tells the story through the eyes of team captain Slava Fetisov. Red Army made its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in American theaters by Sony Pictures Classics. The film is about the Soviet-Russian game from the 1950s to its deterioration in the 1990s. The film was screened in the Special Screenings section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Red Army details the link between sports and politics. The film also narrates how players were wooed by National Hockey League scouts and eventually flooded NHL rosters. The film is particularly harsh on the ruthless tactics of coach Viktor Tikhonov about whom none of players have a kind word. Tikhonov died in November 2014.

Reception
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called Red Army a "stirring, crazy story—a Russian novel of Tolstoyan sweep and Gogl-esque absurdity”. Time magazine said: "this playful, poignant film presents a human story that transcends decades, borders and ideologies". Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "one of the best documentaries that I have ever seen".

Red Army was the only documentary included in the official selections at the 2014 Telluride, Toronto, New York, and AFI, film festivals. Red Army won Audience Awards at the 2014 AFI, Chicago and Middleburg film festivals. The film was selected as the Opening Ceremony film of the 2014 Moscow International Film Festival. Red Army is one of the best reviewed films of 2014, maintaining a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.