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.
shareWhilst it is from a "News Show" watch Vladimir Putin's Long Shadow - the fifth estate - YouTube, gives a pretty good believable insight.
shareNo, Russia is actually a bastion of freedom and liberty, whereas America and the EU are total fascists. I know this is true because it said so on Russia Today.
~.~
There were three of us in this marriage
http://www.imdb.com/list/ze4EduNaQ-s/
And there's no way a state funded newspaper accused of
1) Gross propaganda
2) Corruption
3) Promoting friendly conspiracy theories such as how the Boston Bombings were a US Govt plan
4) Zero criticism of Medvedev & Putin
could be wrong so I will obviously take your word for it because this is the internet.
Almost the same story (property stolen by those with ties with administration) happened to my family. So, it's not just 'truthful'... It is EXACTLY how it is.
shareI know it's comforting to see your visions of the outside world made of cheap PR brainwashing confirmed. It's also true that Russia is corrupt, but still there is no room for USA citizens to rejoice. There is documentary, so not a movie, DOCUMENTARY about corruption of Family Court in USA and how parents and children are terrorized by judges, lawyers and their system for profit and how they even take away visitation rights from people if they dare to speak out on their blogs - freedom of speech - yeah right! Documentary is called Divorce Corp - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2636456/
World is sadly not B&W!
Don't turn you country into Murica!
Divorce is very cheap in a country where most people have no rights and no property -- and thus, nothing to fight over.
shareYour statement is simply false. Scandinavian countries have it way cheaper than USA and I don't know who in their right mind would call them poor or without rights.
Also the process is so expensive in USA not because people are rich but because rich divorce lawyers and their bought judge friends are running a racket, but yeah USA is sooo much better than Russia. LOL
I'll give my opinion as someone who reads Russian news and blogs for decades. This movie is a microcosm of everything that the author thinks is wrong with modern Russia. Lots of dark themes: alcoholism, the government corruption, the grim life in provinces, and the orthodox church whose business is intertwined with the corrupt government. How likely that all of these dark themes will be present in the life of the same family? Possible, but unlikely. But on other the other hand, all the dark themes of the movie are present in the real life.
The grim life in the provinces with no hope. Check.
Rampant alcoholism. Check.
Lawyer being intimidated by the government. Check (worse happened in the real life, could get easily killed)
A corrupt mayor, governor, or senator, who runs his areas as a personal fiefdom, also is friends with high ranking church official, and probably uses church to prop up his own election campaign? Check
It's an ugly film about the ugly reality. It's a film about thing that everyone knows about but doesn't speak in public about it.
There is corruption of course in all segments of society including the Russian church but it's all local. That doesn't mean these structures themselves are corrupt to the core from the top nor should we make generalizations.
China is similar.
Big countries with still not fully established middle class tend to be more centralized politically (China and Russia) and therefore more prone to corruption.
However, that being said the US is technically just as corrupt. However, our corruption is legalized. I can go on forever on this subject but I think you can do your reading.