Tag: Gabe Polsky

RED ARMY – The Review

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Anyone over the age of 40 remembers one of sports’ most famous moments, the “Miracle on Ice” – when the United States Men’s Hockey Team beat the Soviet Union in a breathtaking upset at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.

Knocking out the Soviets led the U.S. team to the Gold medal round against Finland, where they triumphed and relegated the Soviet Union to second place and the Silver medal.

The Silver medal was definitely not what the Soviet team was expecting, and it marked the end of what had been the Soviet Red Army hockey dynasty – the most successful dynasty in sports history.

Told through the eyes of team captain Slava Fetisov, RED ARMY is a gripping tale of both sports and politics in the former Soviet Union. For them, hockey was everything. Parents would send their sons (some as young as 5 years old) to the yearly tryouts in hopes that they would be chosen to spend the next 20 years in a strict and sometimes brutal “hockey camp” where they had limited contact with their families and the outside world.

A Red Army recruit from the age of eight, Fetisov talks about his career and the bond he shared with the other members of the Russian Five – defense partner Alexei Kasatonov and forwards Sergei Makarov, Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov.

Fetisov tells of players (including himself) who were not allowed to see their families for extended periods of time, and one in particular that was not allowed to see his dying father because they had to prepare for the next game.

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After the stunning loss at the 1980 winter games, the Soviet government tried to tighten its grip on players, cutting from the team all but a few for losing to the Americans, who were half the age of the average Red Army player.

It wasn’t long before Soviet players began to jump ship to chase the glory and huge salaries of the NHL. Some would defect, others went with their home country’s blessing – provided they gave huge portions of their salaries to the Soviet Union. (It should be noted, Fetisov would be one of the last to join the NHL, as he insisted on neither giving the government ANY of his salary nor defecting and never being able to return to his home country. He eventually was allowed to leave the Soviet Union on his own terms.)

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Director, writer and producer Gabe Polsky, himself the son of Russian immigrants and a college hockey player at Yale, seamlessly combines archive footage and emotional interviews with Fetisov and other players and coaches who survived that era.

One of the most poignant moments in the film is when Polsky goes through footage of the game between USA and Russia at the 1980 Olympics. The now older and grayer but still charming Fetisov looks both disgusted and despondent. By the end he has tears in his eyes.

This film is a must see for hockey and sports fans in general, if for no other reason than to hear a story that has never been told.

5 out of 5 stars

RED ARMY opens in St. Louis on February 20

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Red Army onesheet

Check Out The Brand New Trailer for RED ARMY

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From Oscar nominated and Emmy award-winning filmmakers Werner Herzog, Jerry Weintraub, and Liam Satre-Meloy, RED ARMY is a feature documentary about the Soviet Union and the most successful dynasty in sports history: the Red Army hockey team. Told from the perspective of its captain Slava Fetisov, the story portrays his transformation from national hero to political enemy.

Watch the new trailer below.

From the USSR to Russia, the film examines how sport mirrors social and cultural movements and parallels the rise and fall of the Red Army team with the Soviet Union. Red Army is about how an incredibly oppressive system produced one of the greatest teams in history.

From director Gabe Polsky (THE MOTEL LIFE), RED ARMY is an inspiring story about the Cold War played out on the ice rink, and a man who stood up to a powerful system and paved the way for change for generations of Russians.

The film screened at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Telluride and Toronto and Sony Pictures Classics will release RED ARMY in early 2015.

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Viachaslav Fetisov – aka Slava Fetisov – is among the Soviet Union’s most-decorated athletes, and is considered one the best hockey players of all time. He was the long-time captain of the Soviet Union’s Red Army team, won seven world championships, two Olympic gold medals, and three Stanley Cups. He was a two-time NHL All Star and played for the USSR First All-Star Team nine times. He was one of six players voted onto to the International Ice Hockey  Federation’s Centennial All-Star Team and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.

In the 1980s, Fetisov was instrumental in breaking the barrier that prevented Soviets from playing abroad. He was the first Soviet citizen to be granted a visa that allowed him to play hockey in the west. Fetisov’s efforts paved the way for thousands of Soviet and European players to play hockey in America.

After retiring as a player, Fetisov embarked on a political and executive career. He is currently a member of the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, and was instrumental in bringing the XXII Olympic Winter Games to Sochi, Russia. Fetisov is president of the professional Russian hockey Club HC CSKA Moscow, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kontinental Hockey League, and chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency Athletes Committee. He was also Minister of Sport in Russia from 2002 to 2008.

Photos – Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

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