Unique, deeply disturbing combination of 'Last House on the Left' type horror, pitch-black political satire, and fury at the sickness of one's own society.
The film was said by it's director to have been explicitly made to combat the growing nostalgia, fueled by Putin, for Soviet era Russia.
Based on true events that occurred in 1984, as the Soviet Union sank ever deeper into the Afghanistan quagmire ('Cargo 200' is the code names for bodies being brought back from the war), this depiction of a 'Deliverance' type grotesque family who sell illegal booze to finance their fantasy of one day creating a utopia in the middle of nowhere, and the complete psychopath of a police captain 'friend' who protects, but ultimately turns on them, and ends up committing murder, along with rape, torture and kidnapping of a young girl who happens by – all while being paid by the government.
The slow build is handled pretty brilliantly, and we're surprised over and over at exactly who turns out to do what – although the feeling of doom hovers over the film from it's first moments. By the end of the film, the depravity is so insane, and depicted in such a matter- of-fact way, that the only reaction one can have is to laugh a terribly disturbed, uncomfortable laugh.
It's as if Balabanov took torture porn, but turned it into the darkest possible comedy performance-art by having it comment on the world in a bigger way (but isn't that really what all the truly great horror films do?)
The cinematography is also 'beautiful' in its almost loving framing of ugliness, both human and industrial.
Major plot questions are left unanswered, but that doesn't feel like sloppy film-making, but rather an intentional (if frustrating) method of making us ponder what we've just witnessed, instead of being able to walk away and forget.
Some of the acting is awkward, but there are images I that will stick with me a long time, and I have the feeling the film might grow even deeper on repeated viewings. It isn't often you read various critics comparing a film to both the Coen bothers and 'Saw', or a critic saying 'it made me want to puke, and I mean that as a high complement', but it's that much a one-of- a-kind film.
The film was said by it's director to have been explicitly made to combat the growing nostalgia, fueled by Putin, for Soviet era Russia.
Based on true events that occurred in 1984, as the Soviet Union sank ever deeper into the Afghanistan quagmire ('Cargo 200' is the code names for bodies being brought back from the war), this depiction of a 'Deliverance' type grotesque family who sell illegal booze to finance their fantasy of one day creating a utopia in the middle of nowhere, and the complete psychopath of a police captain 'friend' who protects, but ultimately turns on them, and ends up committing murder, along with rape, torture and kidnapping of a young girl who happens by – all while being paid by the government.
The slow build is handled pretty brilliantly, and we're surprised over and over at exactly who turns out to do what – although the feeling of doom hovers over the film from it's first moments. By the end of the film, the depravity is so insane, and depicted in such a matter- of-fact way, that the only reaction one can have is to laugh a terribly disturbed, uncomfortable laugh.
It's as if Balabanov took torture porn, but turned it into the darkest possible comedy performance-art by having it comment on the world in a bigger way (but isn't that really what all the truly great horror films do?)
The cinematography is also 'beautiful' in its almost loving framing of ugliness, both human and industrial.
Major plot questions are left unanswered, but that doesn't feel like sloppy film-making, but rather an intentional (if frustrating) method of making us ponder what we've just witnessed, instead of being able to walk away and forget.
Some of the acting is awkward, but there are images I that will stick with me a long time, and I have the feeling the film might grow even deeper on repeated viewings. It isn't often you read various critics comparing a film to both the Coen bothers and 'Saw', or a critic saying 'it made me want to puke, and I mean that as a high complement', but it's that much a one-of- a-kind film.