Product Description

A stunning, emotionally charged indictment of war, this OscarÂ(r) nominee* for Best ForeignLanguage Film is at once 'thoughtful, moving (Roger Ebert), potent, engrossing (Variety),and unexpectedly affecting (The Wall Street Journal)! Two Russian soldiersa fresh recruit named Vanya and a hardened veteran named Sachaare taken hostage by Chechen guerillas after a deadly ambush leaves all of their comrades dead. Their captor, a battle-weary village elder,wants to use them as a bartering tool to get back his own son, held prisoner by the Russian army. But when the trade goes sour and all trust is broken, Vanya and Sacha realize their hours are numbered and attempt to escape before they're forced to join their comrades in death. *1996

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12855 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Russian
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
There's a beautiful irony in the way that the most specific war tales are often the most universal. Set high in the imposing, isolated Caucasus mountains, where the 20th century meets ancient lifestyles, Sergei Bodrov's drama of the Chechyn war finds two opposing cultures locked in conflict for so long that the reasons seem moot. Young Russian grunt Vanya (Sergei Bodrov Jr., the director's son) and his jaded veteran Sergeant (Burnt by the Sun's Oleg Menshikov) survive an ambush by Chechyn guerrillas and wind up hostages of a village elder, a war-weary widower who has lost almost everything to fighting and wants merely to swap them for his POW son. Bodrov's humanism is directed with empathy and stirred with harsh realism--he takes no sides and offers no fantasies of happy endings, only small miracles of kindness that refuse to be swallowed in the destruction and mistrust. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

a memorable, moving film
This beautiful award winner moves me every time I watch it, and there are scenes that are forever etched in my mind.
Taking place in Chechnya, it has the same Central Asian rugged terrain that we've seen in recent news stories of Afghanistan, one of the many reasons that makes this an interesting film to view...a glimpse into what is an enigmatic part of the world for most of us.

The cinematography (Pavel Lebeshev) and soundtrack (Leonid Desyatnikov) are marvelous, and the performances perfect. How director Sergei Bodrov managed to get such fine acting from the local villagers (like Susanna Mekhalieva, who plays "Dina"), is a marvel. As the two soldiers tied by fate, he cast his son, Sergei Bodrov Jr., and Oleg Menshikov (who was so brilliant in "Burnt by the Sun"), and they are superb.

Losely based on Tolstoy's tale for children, "Prisoner of the Caucausus", it's a film full of compassion and love, and has plot subtleties that make this rare gem of a film deserve several viewings.

Bodrov does it again
This film is absolutly amazing. Everything fits together, from the soundtrack, to the action, to the perfectly balanced love interest. It delves into a sensitive subject without seeming to be preachy or overly romantic or anything like that.

An Americanized audience may have trouble with this movie. One of the most frequent complaints I hear is that it is 'slow moving.' It is true that since the film is character driven, there are many long scenes of contemplation, just watching the character's face to see his reaction to something. And while that may appear 'boring' to an audience accustomed to something blowing up every couple minutes, it does really make you appreciate and sympathize with the characters.

This DVD is in the original Russian with English subtitles. I was overjoyed at this because many of my favorite foreign films can only be bought here in a dubbed version, and those just never do justice to the originals. The only extra on the disk is the English trailer.

If you want to see a really good movie and don't mind reading subtitles, watch this one.

Powerful and haunting
This is a wonderful movie, wonderful in its simplicity and powerful in its ending. The scenery, setting, and characters are completely authentic and mesmerizing. I bought the tape because I am a fan of Oleg Menshikov and was not in the least disappoined. (A tip: don't read too much of the VHS cover jacket as it really gives too much of the movie away and is not completely accurate, in my opinion). All the way through the movie you dont't really know what will happen and when at the end you finally do, it is devastating. This movie will stay with you.