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Simply A Masterpiece

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i must have seen a different film!!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

While Bumer 1 was a trivial gangster movie with not much substance, Bumer 2 (or Heaven on Earth) is a mark of a genius. It is very subtle and to an unsuspecting viewer it may seem not much. There is a plot but not much action: no flying bullets, no blood and no revenge.Nevertheless, today I watched it for the third time and it was even better then the first two. Do you have to be familiar with the Russian culture to understand it? Not really. If you ever felt like the system's got you or if you felt like there is no way out - you'd get it, I promise.One of my favorite movies so far.

My take on story - I will compare it to first film of Bumer, since I find sequel amazingly similar, unlike most people. It got really long, sorry for that.First movie, "Bumer" was about fragility of freedom and tragedy of those, who decide to oppose law in such regime as it is in Russia. Bumer 2 tries to pass this message again, only this time, it's written in big letters, painted red and followed with memorable quotes & song "Svoboda".Since many of messages and plots are subliminal, many might be confused with this movie, like who did this or why, so it's quite safe to say that to fully enjoy this flick, you have to think along and concentrate.Apart from violent events (which I miss, really) Bumer 2 isn't very different from prequel: post-Soviet Russia still makes totally mysterious, unbelievable world where anything is possible, nature is still breathtaking and just like in first movie, once glorious civilization feels still sad, abandoned and broken, simple Russian village life sounds still so idyllic and stress-free, in comparasion with city-rush... minus local thugs, of course... and a BMW-series car is still only thing protagonists have left in this godforsaken world. It was all shown in first movie and it is amplified in this one.Some more random observations: First movie played with word 'curse'. Four friends were cursed and whatever they touched or left behind, became tragic for others. Like Dimon's stolen Mercedes, which eventually killed a policeman, gift of a baseball bat, which turned youngster into crime, fake 2-dollar bill, which caused policeman to lose his hand, screwdriver from Dimon's wound - which later paralyzed truck driver, character "Rama" who left behind a child, etc etc.I was waiting for similar subliminal plots from Bumer 2, but there wasn't much left for Kot. True, Dimon had his last bit of unluck, freeing a friend caused Dasha's brothers death. During whole movie, Kostya made only one mistake, that was - refusing Dimon's offer - and killed Dimon by this and by conclusion, himself also. So basically, the theme was there, but whole movie was built around only one event instead of many. Which is good, because from reviews of Bumer 1, nobody has figured previous part out, it seems.Another interesting thing is that Bumer 2 feels like longest 2 hours in the world. And not in a bad sense. Some movies pass so quickly that it feels like 30 minutes. This one feels more like 5 hours. Is it because of thinking it requires to follow or are those 4 hours untold & unfilmed, and you add them in your head? Probably.I personally missed violence. All that mystical, fragile and hopeless world movie created around characters felt a bit... unused. Whatever the grand, philosophical message in this movie wasn't, about freedom and Russia and whatnot, movies are still for some fun and adrenaline. And judging from drama, I'm sure that more adrenaline and action could have been added in a way it wouldn't ruin anything really. Producers feel really competent. Maybe their talent was wasted/underutilized a bit here too.If you liked Bumer 1, and all the atmosphere, Bumer 2 delivers, and truckloads of it. Instead of brawn, wits are required this time, to fully enjoy it, but it's still as good - if not better - than first movie.

====minor spoilers ahead====*I apologize for the length of this review, but reading so many inadequate comments on this movie provoked me to be a bit more verboseSwimming against the current is pretty much what Pyotr Buslov does with his second Bumer movie. It makes it twice more admirable that he does it against the current he himself helped create.Beginning from Brother (1997), the Russian cinema produced a myriad of gangster flicks, which contained great amount of gore and blood, several memorable anti-heroes, and ultimately very little criticism of a reality so fundamentally flawed, that to a westerner's eye it appeared as cartoonish and unrealistic, as say the reality presented in Bekmambetov's Nightwatch universe.Bumer (2003) was different, but too few people realized it. It had plenty a shiny metal, guns, girls and blood to mask itself well. But to a careful eye, it somehow didn't match. To begin with, the gangsters were running away, they were being hunted and endangered, but not by other gangsters, or crooked politicians or even ex-KGB agents, but by the same marginal characters that so often appear to be the victims in contemporary Russian cinema - truck drivers, drunk cops, villagers. In fact at one point even an old babushka managed to scare them. Contrary to the established existential model in which a gangster starts out small and poor and struggles to the top of the food chain with all means possible, in his first movie Buslov did something completely different. As the four friends were running away, the world itself became rougher and darker, up to the point when it consumed them all, together with the BMW.While the first film relied on certain quantity of raw violence to attract attention, the second conveys Buslov's real message in a much more artistic way.All begins with a flashback of the first movie's ending. Fast forward four years. Two of the four are dead, who they were matters no more to those who survived. Notably the introduction remains the most violent scene in the whole movie. From then on lyricism slowly begins to take over from the violence as Buslov's main expressive tool. Kostya is getting released from prison but his past is done. There is no vengeance , no scores to settle. There is no empire to build. Vladimir Vdovichenkov pulls out another awesome performance as the wandering Kostya. Already vanishing in the first movie, the cocky, violent thug has now completely disappeared, and instead an ordinary man who's accepted the loss of all and simply wants to live the rest of his days on his own, away from everything has emerged. But along comes Dasha, a teenage criminal with a plan and at one point the journey ahead somehow becomes too easy. Drive far enough, buy tickets, reach paradise. But Kostya can't go to paradise. He's too old, he's seen and done too much. They don't let people like him in paradise. It is this realization that ultimately helps Kostya make a decision that redeems him and lets him find his own "paradise on earth".Early in the movie Dimon makes a very interesting statement. The times are changing, says he to Kostya, but we learn very quickly that under the surface, this is not the case. Some things can never change. Thus, trying to change things in general might not be what is essential. Instead, changing one person might be all it takes."I'm uncertain of what I'd have done in your place then" says Kot to Dimon at one point, but at the end he knows. I read someone complain of the sad ending. The concept of the movie would have not have worked without it.Despite what she does, Dasha is still a child, an Buslov tries very hard to make this point. There are no sex or nude scenes (in fact not even a kiss) with her in the movie. While Kostya's life is pretty much over at the beginning of the movie ("Tell your children to live better lives than we did" says he to Dimon), for her there is still a chance somewhere else. Ensuring she gets that chance becomes Kostya's chance and his decision at the end ultimately makes the difference between the two Bumer movies and much of the rest of what is produced cinematically in Russia today. Apart from the great story all work done on the movie is superb. The cinematography is simply amazing, with plenty a carefully situated and crafted shots, as intricate and subtle as in some of the most visually brilliant recent western movies. In fact some centerfold scenes were so skillfully made that in a weird way they reminded me of "Lost in Translation". As always Sergei Shnurov does his business flawlessly and the score is more than appropriate, with several exceptional songs, including "Svoboda" ("Freedom") with samples of Kipelov's "Ya Svoboden" ("I'm Free") which breaks through half-way through the movie and pretty much synthesizes the spirit it was created with. In the end Bumer 2 makes for a moving and highly artistic movie, much more in the fashion of "The Return" than of "Brother". For this, all of us who consider cinema, Russian and world, to be more than guns and gore, can only be thankful.

1) Why did they kill the real brother of Dasha?In order not to pay to Dasha's brother, whose term was almost over, for replacing Kot (and Dasha's brother might not have agreed to spend 12 more years in prison). Also they would have to spare few hundred $ to get a new passport for Kot, but here they got it for free - all they needed is to replace Kot's photo in Dasha's brother passport.2) Who the hell would want to kill Kot?The same prison authorities. They are afraid that Kot may get caught for new crimes and when his fingerprints are matched with computer database they may bring his real name, and then their little business would be uncovered, and they are in trouble. But they can't kill Kot before he meets Dimon 'The Scalded' (who obviously paid for his freedom), so that's why they waited until after that meeting.3) Kot wanted to start over but wouldn't it be easier to sell his half of car show room than let the girl rob tourist agency?He can't even sell a single car - the one they are driving - because it was in the police database as being looked for. Regarding the car show room, after the death of Dimon it is unlikely that Kot may get anything for his 50% of Dimon's business - nobody except Dimon knew who he was, besides Kot was officially dead. Dimon might not have known the exact details of how Kot was freed and that now he is going under the name of Dasha's brother, and didn't make the changes necessary to make Dasha's brother a co-owner.4) When he met her, why didn't he just tell her the truth straight away?Kot waited Dasha to calm down before he announces that her brother is dead and that he, Kot, is indirectly responsible for his death.