Legenda 17

About the legendary no. 17, as it seems it would be from the introduction? About one of the most contradictory and most idiosyncratic trainer/dictator in the history of ice hockey, in an excellent performance from Menshikov? A fairytale about the Soviet team and their year of triumph; in other words, the legendary “Cold War on Ice" series which, together with victory at the subsequent European Championship, crushed the Canadian maple leave once and for all? It’s a cross between all of the above, but not one of the themes leads to any conclusion. The most interesting aspects of Kharlamov’s fate were surprisingly ignored and the fairytale finishes with the first match. It seems more like an attempt to get the domestic audience hyped about Sochi. Overall it is tailored to the Russian viewer and so it is overflowing with naive Russian “chest-beating" ostentation so familiar from Soviet war movies. If you find it too hard to swallow, it changes into an unintentional, self-parodying affair, but if you withstand it, you are in for a solid genre picture where everything is polished black or white (and if not, they don’t show it) and which isn’t enough to just pay homage to, but rather demands to be placed high up on a divine pedestal. P.S.: When we make a movie about Jágr, I hope we borrow the scene with the cooling towers; I can see it now. Jágr in personal and professional crisis traverses hand over hand on a rope strung between the two steelworks chimneys in Kladno, thinking about really profound problems and comes down a far more ambitious player, several levels higher than before. (01/12/2013)

I never would have thought that combining a biographical film with a Russian twist could result in such a brilliant movie, an epic that is flawless in its category. The Russians really outdid themselves and delivered something so unexpected that it took my breath away. You can see how much effort they put into this film because they wanted to create a final product that no one could criticize. I’d like to start with the actors, who aren’t just puppets with one expression, but actually deliver solid performances. Danila Kozlovsky is an incredibly charismatic actor, and he shined in the role of Kharlamov. In the supporting roles, I have to praise Oleg Menshikov as the relentless, successful coach Tarasov, who applied some truly unorthodox methods to his players. As for the film’s atmosphere, there’s nothing to criticize. It was also interesting to see the political influence that naturally affected the Soviet hockey industry. Some might find the effort to portray the Canadians in a purely negative light a bit over the top, but it’s understandable that the Russians wouldn’t depict them in a positive way and might exaggerate a bit. The film is incredibly engaging, and the colorful filter adds a great deal of authenticity. I also have to mention that the sequences on the ice completely overshadowed its Western competitor Miracle. I can’t rate it any other way than giving it 91%. (17/05/2017)

I’ve hated this football team my entire life and suddenly, I’m supposed to celebrate it? But okay, I believe that the Russians truly do celebrate it, as much as I believe they’re this patriotic. And don’t even get me started on the pathos in this movie… But there’s no doubt it’s high-quality cinematography. (24/04/2018)