'Red Army,' Documentary about CSKA's dominance and demise

[flip12 699]

I just found this browsing NYTimes and luckily I can get tickets for Friday night as Copenhagen's in the middle of its biggest documentary festival right now. Anyone seen this yet? I can't wait!

I'm a fanatic for Soviet hockey, and of course CSKA were the Yankees of that league/system. No one today plays quite like their best players did. That's probably just because at 30 I feel I'm just old enough to be properly nostalgic.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

Definitely looking forward to this.

[wrangler 157]

Looks very interesting. Their passing was great, and I still remember Tretiak as the best.

[flip12 699]

It sounds like it focuses on the KLM(+FK) years in the early- and middle-80's mostly, but I'm hoping to see the transfer from Kharlamov's CSKA to theirs to the Bure, Fedorov, Mogilny CSKA that dissolved. It's a little strange enjoying the talent on what was essentially 1/2-3/4's of the hand-picked national team, but the way the review put it, it sounds like both of those issues may be addressed.

[IPv6Freely 2083]

This looks great.

[flip12 699]

Saw it last night. The preview is pretty much the first 5-minutes of the film condensed, but there's loads of good content after that. There are some genuinely hilarious moments that have more to do with the characters and their stories than anything particular to hockey. What I keep thinking about after seeing it is how much more it makes Tikhonov look questionable. There's no one on his side in the film, but it really sounds like after Tarasov, Tikhonov just took all the credit while actually bringing nothing to the table. In "Behind The Red Line" Tod Hartje talks about the soviet view of the Miracle On Ice, where it was essentially understood as Tikhonov's great failure: pulling Tretiak after the first period, relying too heavily on the Kharlamov, Mikhailov, Petrov line which tired them out and not utilizing the young players enough, like Makarov and Krutov, who both scored in the first period, and then not pulling the goalie when they were trailing in the final minutes of the game." It reminded me of how much creativity some individuals realized partly because of their optimism about Communism, only to be removed or nullified by the official Totalitarian power above them.

Sadly, it barely mentions anything of the generation before Fetisov's and just a tiny bit more about the Bure, Fedorov, Mogilny generation, in what is mostly a gross mischaracterization of Mogilny's status in the Soviet Union as well as the motivation for his defection, and it doesn't even mention Fedorov's defection or Bure's defiance of Tikhonov, when Tikhonov insisted Pavel should sign a long term contract with CSKA even though Bure said he wouldn't because he wanted to play in the NHL. What the documentary mostly focuses on is Fetisov's struggle against Tikhonov and the rest of the system after being so happy under Tarasov, but the later guys, who were in their prime during the actual collapse of the Soviet Union and came to inspire North American fans as much as the best Canadians did, must have had an interesting perspective since they were developed under Tarasov's system, but never really got to play for him. All they knew was Tikhonov and then even greater success in the NHL after. None of those guys were interviewed though. Neither were Larionov or Makarov, and neither was Hartje. All of those sources would make the story even stronger...although perhaps it would make it more than 3-hours-long at a minimum. Also, that's easy to say with no concept of what the budget or the timeline for making the film was.

In the end, I still loved it. It's just easy to be critical when I know too much beforehand. Still, a lot of it was fresh and completely unexpected for me. I highly recommend it.

[jmiami 4]

Yeah, really looking forward to seeing this. I was surprised to learn atha the director of the film, Gabe Polsky, played three years of NCAA D1 at Yale.

Here is a fun interview/promo:

[Cosmic 178]

When does this film become available to the masses?

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

When does this film become available to the masses?

January 22, 2015 according to IMDB.

If you can catch any of the film festivals, here's a list:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3264102/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt

[flip12 699]

I just found this Swedish documentary (with English subtitles on YouTube) of the CSKA Green Unit (Krutov Larionov Makarov Fetisov Kasatonov) that's a little bit older and not quite as funny or colorful, but still interesting and informative. It has interviews with Larionov and Makarov, which is nice in contrast to the absence of their perspectives in "Red Army."

[Sichy 6]

Sadly, it barely mentions anything of the generation before Fetisov's and just a tiny bit more about the Bure, Fedorov, Mogilny generation, in what is mostly a gross mischaracterization of Mogilny's status in the Soviet Union as well as the motivation for his defection, and it doesn't even mention Fedorov's defection or Bure's defiance of Tikhonov, when Tikhonov insisted Pavel should sign a long term contract with CSKA even though Bure said he wouldn't because he wanted to play in the NHL.

It is funny that you mention Alexander Mogilny, Sportsnet will be airing a story about how Mogilny escaped from Russia (or more specifically the Soviet Union) to play in the NHL on Tuesday, November 25th. Click on the link below to see the trailer for "Defector".

[flip12 699]

That's great! Thanks for the tip. I'll see if I can find a way to watch it here, otherwise I may have to wait until it pops up somewhere. I always loved Mogilny's play, but I still don't know that much about his story, just enough to know that he was brutally misrepresented in "Red Army."

Ha, and I just noticed how the preview text for "Defector" unapologetically says he escaped from Russia. Well, nothing's perfect :)

[Sichy 6]

That's great! Thanks for the tip. I'll see if I can find a way to watch it here, otherwise I may have to wait until it pops up somewhere.

I'm not sure if you'll be able to view the video clip, but Sportsnet has now uploaded "Defector: The Alex Mogilny Story" on its website.

[flip12 699]

That was cool. It's a shame they couldn't get an interview with Mogilny himself. It's funny how Defector winds up almost completely outside of the narrative of Red Army, even though there's a lot of overlap between the two if you look a little more into the players' backgrounds. They don't go into Mogilny's trouble while with the Soviet team in the '88 Olympics or with CSKA, where he was disciplined for punching a ref and an opponent that he thought had tried to injure him, if I remember right.

[Sichy 6]

flip12, I think you should check out the 30 on 30 film Of Miracle and Men, which aired on ESPN this past Sunday, February 8th. I haven't watched Red Army yet, but based on your above comment regarding the film, I think Of Miracle and Men will address (a bit more of) what you wanted in Red Army. This 30 on 30 film draws on commentary from Vyacheslav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, Sasha Kharlamov, Sergei Makarov, Boris Mikhailov, Vladimir Myshkin, Vladimir Petrov, Tatiana Tarasov, Vladislav Tretiak, and Lou Lamoriello. In general, Red Army, Defector: The Alex Mogilny Story, and Of Miracle and Men are probably all complimentary (and at times overlapping) to one another.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

Is there anywhere to watch it? I can only find a bit on ESPN.com

[SlaterC42 51]

I saw that they're replaying it tomorrow night on ESPN2 @ 11:30 pm ET. I've got my DVR ready to go.

[IPv6Freely 2083]

Downloading it now. Should be interesting, despite how little I know/care about the "miracle".

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

I saw that they're replaying it tomorrow night on ESPN2 @ 11:30 pm ET. I've got my DVR ready to go.

Thanks for the heads-up. DVR'ing it tonight.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

Watched it. Really interesting piece. Love hearing all the different sides of the story. Got the sense that Tikhonov was really riding the sails of Tasanov, or at least attempted to turn his work into science.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 132]

Of Miracles and Men is now streaming on Netflix for those who missed it.

[SlaterC42 51]

Slava Fetisov was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, I'm sure they'll replay it today a few times.

[flip12 699]

I just saw the post about Of Miracles and Men, can't wait to check that out. The Stewart - Fetisov interview was pretty bad, in my opinion. Stewart obviously knew hardly anything to ask Fetisov...not even really decent talking points based on Red Army.

[jacob309 2]

I caught it at a local theater last weekend. Great documentary. Seemed a little bit more about the story of Fetisov rather than the entire team/country's hockey history. But very entertaining overall.