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You won't be disappointed!

Redundant and unnecessary.

Excellent but underrated film

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Sometimes sports can seem like they have a bloated sense of self-importance but it can resonate in the grand scheme of geopolitics. The Cold War was indeed an era of tension and it manifested itself most publicly when the Soviet Union brought its teams to North America. It wasn't just teams representing countries, but they were representing ways of life - America, the capitalist way of life, and the Soviet Union, the communist way of life. And ostensibly, those lifestyles determine who has the better players, at least that's what they wanted the teams to think. When you hear that a country has beaten Canada at hockey, you know that means business. However, the documentary Red Army shows how the Soviet Union team members, who are all world class athletes, become disenchanted with their leadership and are recruited over to American leagues.As expected, the attitude of the Russians today in the interviews are amusing and intimidating. Director Gabe Polsky feeds off the candid moments he captures, even if that results in the participants condescending him. With very deliberate motions with the camera, he capitalises on moments that other directors would have considered an outtake. There's a sense of humour and a sense of danger constantly bubbling, and Polsky's collection of archive footage always perfectly illustrates the portrait that the anecdotes form. It shows a skill in hockey that I've never seen before and Polsky makes it quite poetic at times. However sometimes its drama is too boisterous, but it's only real crux is that with such a big team it's hard for it to stay focused and follow all its characters at once. While it's most likely drenched in bias coming from an American, but pushing politics aside, it's the individual lives that matter.8/10

Director Gabe Polsky uses his debut documentary Red Army to explore perhaps one of the most intriguing stories of hockey that has ostensibly swept under the rug in the modern day. Polsky tells the story of the Soviet Union's hockey team during the Cold War. He uses the captain of the Soviet's hockey team known as HC CSKA Moscow Viacheslav "Slava" Fetisov to paint the picture of an unstoppable hockey team that practiced ruthlessly and was kept under less than adequate conditions by their dictator of a coach.Right of the bat, Fetisov is a cantankerous presence, thoroughly unpleasant to the audience and Polsky, going as far as to flip off Polsky whilst he plays on his phone in the middle of an interview. However, Fetisov finally gets the intriguing story out of him that we came for. He tells of a time when the Soviet Union selected hockey as the country's sport and how numerous young children would stand in line for hours on end to try out for the Soviet teams. The USSR was about unity and people saw hockey as a way to unite everyone through the spirit of a team and the desire to win at all costs.The HC CSKA Moscow, better known by their name of the "Red Army," was a meticulously coached and organized team. Archival footage showing practices and actual games show a team hellbent on executing strategy, with slick, blink-and-you-miss-it puck passing amongst players, even in the tightest situations. One of Polsky's angles in the film is how there is a contrast between American hockey and Soviet hockey and that contrast is evident just by looking at a few clips of the Red Army in action. Where the Red Army was concerned with maintaining puck possession in the toughest situations, American hockey finds itself often preoccupied with checking and fighting.The Red Army was coached by Viktor Tikhonov, the aforementioned ruthless coach. No player featured in Red Army has a particularly kind word to spare for Tikhonov, all of whom reflecting on some of his most frighteningly strict and demeaning moments. One player recalls how he wouldn't let a teammate visit his dying father back home, and another reflects on how players urinated blood because Tikhonov worked them so hard. Tikhonov believed in a dictatorship when it came to coaching hockey; he was also worried about players defecting or abandoning allegiance to the USSR in favor of playing for the NHL. If Tikhonov thought one of his players was planning to jump ship, no matter how skilled they were, he would cut them and blacklist them from hockey, all but guaranteeing they'd never get an opportunity to play in the NHL.Those who did get the fortunate opportunity to play in the NHL, thanks to their unbelievable talent and skill, like Fetisov, a nineteen-year-old rookie named Alexandr Mogilny, and the talented center Sergei Fedorov, found themselves under an unrealistic amount of scrutiny for their decision. Fetisov, in particular, had to jump through a series of hoops in order to land the spot on the roster of the New Jersey Devils. Devils' manager Lou Lamoriello had granted an immense signing bonus to Fetisov but the Soviet Union refused to give up one of their most dynamic players. The Soviets saw players jumping ship for the NHL as a victory for the west and a grand loss for the USSR.Red Army does a fine job at exposing the blurred line of sports and politics, showing how during the Cold War era, the two worked in conjunction with one another quite brazenly. Polsky works to keep this documentary on topic, although in only eighty-four minutes, and admittedly a great deal of ground to cover and characters to profile, it's difficult for Polsky to hit all his targets with complete development. It almost feels like this runtime was set before the documentary even began filming and he was prohibited from going over by even a minute. Still, this is a hearty documentary that houses a great deal of personality in its depictions of contrasting views and politics of the same sport and how politics itself got involved in a sport and resulted in a messy ordeal for many involved.Directed by: Gabe Polsky.

Both ideologically (vs the West), between players loyalty and vs the system exploiting them, the film explores men with core values and the trouble they have corrupting them to suit an evolving world-wide game.The film has flaws: no discussion of steroid use, an epidemic in most sports in that time...why were they so good? Brutal training and finesse has benefits but what about the 300 lb gorilla? There is also the 1980 Olympic victory by the US Team. I don't know if the director asked the question, but given the state of Soviet hockey, how did they lose that game? Ask the question! Did they throw the game (because of Tikhonov?).What a contrast to their peers. To these aging Soviet players we can compare Caitlyn Jenner, a triumph of the West, of individualism tailoring the body to a self-image; whereas these men dutifully serve Russia by developing hockey there.

Excellent biopic of of the Soviet Union's Red Army, as seen through the eyes and memories of great defenseman Slava Fetisov.Some of the previous negative reviews I think missed the point -- this was a film about Fetisov and the other players forming the "5-man" unit, a concept that is very Russian and is pretty much unheard of today in NHL hockey (possible exception of power play units notwithstanding). References to 1972 Summit Series would be out of place -- Fetisov was 22 for the 1980 Miracle on Ice, and it would be remiss to not mention the dominance that team would go on to have. Beating Canada in the Canada Cup final in 1981 (8-1!) was a testament to how good that team was. I should mention that Canada team included Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Guy LaFleur, Gilbert Perreault... a veritable "who's who" of NHL stars at the time, and all Hall of Famers now.Very revealing in what is said about Tarasov, his innovative coaching techniques, his sheer love of the game was obvious. Most shocking moment for me was to compare the affection Fetisov had/has for Tarasov, and the dislike (probably hatred is a better word) for Tikhonov. Watch his eyes narrow and expression change when Gabe first mentions Tikhonov.Fascinating to see the inner torment Fetisov had -- he is clearly a patriot who loved his country. Yet he was a virtual slave to a system that allowed him to play the sport he loved. His affection for his teammates is matched by his dislike of his coach, despite all the success he had with the team. He left the Soviet Union and joined the NHL, presumably because he wanted something for himself, but was branded here a "communist" and treated with no-little amount of contempt by opponents and even new teammates. I remember the press of the day and it was not positive (in general) to the newly arrived Russian players to the NHL, although foreign players (Swedes, Finns, Czechs, Slovaks) were already playing in the NHL for some time.Seeing film of Russian kids playing hockey made me think that could have been taken from almost anywhere in Canada. It was a nice moment.Part of me yearns for those days when "our" game and "their" game really were different. Now the game is more homogenized -- Canadian players at the NHL level are praised for their skill level (Crosby), while foreign players have often taken a more physical approach to their game and are successful (Ovechkin, Malkin).I grew up watching and playing the game, so it would seem to me to require some amount of "hockey-sense" to get the most out of this film. And yet, reading some of the former reviews by those who claim to know little/nothing about hockey indicates that maybe that criticism is unfounded.It's just a great documentary, very tight pacing and enjoyable. See it.