It's a film, yes, so it may be prone to exaggeration, but how truthful is its portrayal of corruption within Russia? Are mayors basically local mafia bosses? Is the Russian Orthodox Church another facet of this corruption? I enjoyed the movie but at times it seemed completely unrealistic considering Russia is a developed nation.
shareIt's pretty close, though a lot of Russians already view this film anti-Russian and designed to appeal to the West. But there are very truthful moments in the film. The patriarch of the church for instance my guesses are based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Kirill_of_Moscow and his close ties to Putin. The whole abuse of authority that you witness in the film are pretty much on point. I'd still advise you to read up before you make any judgments about the people of Russia or to make generalizations. Just keep in mind that the film isn't exactly a made up fairly tale.
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Yes.It is a pretty much accurate portrayal of what chekist, federal and international criminal,war criminal and terrorist Putin and his thugs\oligarchs have turned Russia into.
As for Russian Orthodox Church ..they serve as Putin's Ministry Of Truth and this organization was actually "restored" from ashes by chekists back in the days of USSR.
PS I'm Russian.
First of all, this movie is based on an incident that actually took place in USA.
Second of all, we have to remember that this is a movie, and movies are made to entertain. If there wouldn't be anything "amazing" about this movie, nobody would like it in a first place.
I seriously doubt you can get an honest and true answer to your question, since there definitely is someone in Russia who had similar experience, and some people never faced anything even near the severity of the corruption displayed in this movie.
Think about it: this movie was actually filmed IN Russia. Do you think this would be possible if Russia would be even fractually as corrupt as it is shown?
There are movies filmed in America that deal with it's corruption and those are still made. Not saying that this film states that ALL of Russia is like that, but that it's still an issue.
Also, good to look at the film makers comments after winning the Golden Globe for the film and how they hope it would bring peace.
Wow. It is amazing how some people can blow smoke into your face and say its just a wind.
shareI love how people keep vaguely saying that the movie is based on some American incident but never clarifying what that incident exactly was.
shareI love how easy it is to find that this story was in fact inspired by an american event. The incident isn't that similar apparently but this film still deals with political and religious corruption which can be read as universal. I'm not sure which nation is more corrupt though I'm sure the nod would go to the Russians. Still us in the states can see our system in the story as well and take a lot out of it
shareI'm not sure which nation is more corrupt though I'm sure the nod would go to the Russians.
As someone who has actually lived in different countries, let me tell you this: I would rather live under ISIL in Syria, than ever move back to the US.
shareI'm sure that's hyperbole, but what exactly do you mean? I live here and really want to get out as well. For me the entire culture has been rotten from the inside out. It's a shame, I used to love my country so much. But the more you dig into what our government and corporations do, it's impossible to love a country like this anymore. America is evil, it truly is.
shareYou are a very naive and ignorant person. The entire world is corrupt, not just the US. It’s a sign of your ignorance that you think only the US and corporations do bad things.
Socialists, libertarians, capitalists, democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives, anarchists...among these are murderers, rapists, thieves, and every type of scumbag you can think of. Why? It’s because such behavior is very human. Villainy transcends ethnicity, politics, gender, and religion.
You really need to start reading history and paying attention to what is going on in the world because you are a woefully uninformed person.
There is no Utopia. There is no land of milk and honey. Every land on earth has corruption, violence, and immorality. That is the truth.
Just more in some countries than others. And the US is hardly the least of them.
shareRussia pays lots of people to spread propaganda. We can add one more to the list.
Go live in ISIL, please, for the sake of humanity.
Fully agree, ArthurDental -- what a display of childish stupidity and naivete to say such a thing. She wouldn't live long (not live in any normal sense) once she joined that orgniazation.. She's be at best a slave. Please go there, rid of us one more stupid person walking free.
Russian government also payed to film this movie. Surprise!
Also should I remind you that CIA budget is bigger than budget of some countries? Maybe you are one of those on their payroll?
This is such a ridiculous statement. I am far from patriotic or nationalistic, and in fact, I plan to one day study/live outside of the US, but how could you say something like that? It's ignorant to the people that are actually suffering daily under ISIL and would pay every dime they have to escape the country. Go ahead and try living in Syria for one week and see if you still say the same thing. They are in the middle of a civil war and the government has lost almost complete control to a group of barbaric zealots that are terrorizing the citizens. I am just somewhat shocked at how extreme your comment was... I am not sure if you know the extent of what is going on there or perhaps you merely meant it as an exaggeration to emphasize your point
shareVery interesting thank you. Where are you from if you don't mind? For me, the thing that really annoys me is that people in america have ZERO awareness as to how corrupt our politics are. In fact they have a pride and nationalism of what our government does overseas that is so sickening it makes me want to poke their eyes out since they get no good use anyway. Look at the film American Sniper, a great film in its own right, but that sort of blind devotion to patriotism makes me queasy because of how rampant it is. Americans have no idea that 9/11 was entirely provoked and that the mess in the middle east was caused largely by our own foreign policies.
Sorry for ranting haha. I'm sure living in Russia is much more disheartening since it's so evident that you can't trust anyone, but at least you know about it and don't fool yourself into believing that your country is the best in the world. Also, do you know how Russia got to be this way? Did the free market lead them here?
9-11 was the product of many acts, including US foreign policy. Middle Easterners are not the only ones to be subjected to harmful US policies. Latin America has suffered for far longer. Guess what? They aren’t committing terrorist acts in the US. You also ignore the fact that these Islamicists are killing other Muslims in droves. What did these people do to the Islamicists?
The issue of terrorism is much more complex than just US foreign policy. Radical Islam is a byproduct of a poverty, educated Muslims aware of Islam’s rise and fall, and internal problems(oppressive regime, theocratic states) within the Middle East.
American foreign policy was the way it was because of the Cold War. You can’t understand why the US was doing what it was without understanding what the Soviets were doing. Both sides were waging war-by-proxy. You can find that distasteful, but that’s the reality of it. They were using other countries as chess pieces in a global ideological war.
The US did this because they saw what the Soviets did to the Germans. They knew what Stalinism was capable o.9He starved to death some 5,000,000 Kulaks in 1932-33). The USSR was a tyranny rivaled only by Nazi Germany. Gulags, show trials, mass shootings, state-sponsored famines, officially sanctioned torture(decades before the US did it)...the USSR was a hell on earth. Now add China, Cuba, Libya, Vietnam, North Korea, and you start to see that freedom was a very rare trait in much of the world for 50 years.
American foreign policy was based on fear and when you base an action on fear you will inevitably commit despicable acts. The US did just that and now we have to live with that legacy. But the story is infinitely more complex and grey than the extremely simplistic understanding of it that you have.
Russian corruption is at the bottom mostly because people try to make a living on salaries that are a joke. The cops taking bribes etc happens because of that.
However, in the US corruption is at the very top. America exists to serve the interests of corporations who pay for the president to get elected. Lobbyists control law makers directly....
Russia is absolutely that corrupt. Take a look at the world corruption index. Russia is almost at the bottom. If anything, I don't think the film was brutal enough compared to reality.
shareI or rather, my girlfriend that is from there says that this movie depicts the sad truth, agree.
https://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results
Russia is on a 136th place out of 174 countries evaluated
to get an idea of how bad that is here is a selection of some of the countries that are even lower then Russia: Somalia, North-Korea, Iraq, Syria... get the idea?
M.
I am from Russia and can attest that the system is extremely corrupt. The image of a provincial mayor is relatively accurate even though it's slightly caricaturistic. The link between the authorities and hypocritical church is also demonstrated very truthfully. The Russian patriarch is an extremely corrupt and hypocritical person. He's driving fancy cars and wears watches worth thousands of dollars, owning property worth millions of dollars. Having said that, the director based some of plot partially on the events that have taken place in the USA, involving a man named Marvin John Heemeyer so the story is universal rather than purely Russian.
It's a metaphor and a political satire. Like, I don't know, 1984 (though it's not as good as 1984). While there's element of exaggeration and absurdity to everything, the idea is that something like this could've easily happened. Not only, but also in Russia. The movie was originally inspired by something that happened in the US. It's all universal. Including the Church (any Church) being part of the corrupt "System". No need to take it literally though, nor imagine that this is, or should be, a realistic, exhaustive and irrefragable portrayal of one particular country.
The reason people use a crucifix against vampires is that vampires are allergic to bull$hit.
I'll borrow the last line :D
shareHaving said that, the director based some of plot partially on the events that have taken place in the USA, involving a man named Marvin John Heemeyer so the story is universal rather than purely Russian.
The movie was originally inspired by something that happened in the US. It's all universal.
For what it's worth, this is based on a true American story - so the question really should be "Is American culture really this corrupt?"
shareAnother interesting question, however the director made the explicit decision to make the film in Russia using Russians, so in this case the question still remains 'Is the Russian system really this corrupt?'
shareThe amount of fallout the authors getting at this very moment (in russia) is unbelievable. There was a suggestion just today (from 'church official') that they have to 'pay back to people all money spent on making this abomination'.
And russia is so corrupt, there's no morals. Actors work for money. End of story.
I can continue...
The American story has surisingly little in common with the film plot. It probably sparked the idea, but otherwise these two stories couldn't be more different. There is no corruption in the American story, just poor business sense on the part of the guy (as I understand it). So - yes, the film portrays the Russian corruption and lawlessness pretty accurately (although these things can be found in many countries, they are universal, unfortunately).
shareWould imagine the Director could have got into some big time trouble if he had dictated a true Russia as this corrupt. While it is an American story, imagine it was his escape goat to tell a story about corruption in government period.
shareIts clear by your post that you didnt watch the film.
Based on a true story is a VERY broad,and generic term. Corruption happens at ALL levels of governing, and is why every citizen should vote for those who want to shrink govt the most! If their are fewer people in power to exploit us, which would mean fewer laws passed to expolit the rest of us, then we as humans need to be for it.
BTW, pic up a book on Russia, read or watch interviews from those who have lived there, this movie is spot on in regards to corruption in Russia.
There is a REASON, that 10 years ago RUSSIA, had the MOST billionaires in the WORLD! Thats right, due to decades of Communist MArxism, Russias wealth has been concentrated into a few hands, that is an inequality problem in Russia that last today,even in 2015.