Change Your Image
powerman611
Reviews
Syriana (2005)
Not for the average Arkansas redneck
This is an excellent movie; it challenges the American vox populi in terms of our politics and overseas policies. In order to understand Syriana on the third time of viewing you need to have a Bachelor's Degree. In order to understand it the first time, you need to have a J.D.
It is pretty complex, so I had to open up the encyclopedia a few times to research mergers and due diligence, after that everything fell into place.
Its own complexity saves it from widespread negative criticism and maybe even a nationwide ban. It tells us that Americans kill people because of oil, which we do, and that capitalist greed is the cause of terrorism, not Islamic morals. Since the average American is convinced that the United States promotes freedom and democracy all over the world, he or she would find this movie offensive and insulting, but fortunately the plot is way above his or her intellectual level, so Syriana is deemed as 'boring'. Unlike the Lord of War, which is not a Hollywood movie for obvious reasons, Syriana doesn't make such a direct reference to how the United States is the cause of much death and suffering in the world. Perhaps that is why Warner Brothers produced it.
I'd recommend this film to everyone, but it's *not* for everyone. Like I said, you need to have some degree of higher education in order to follow the plot, and it does contest the "official" reason for American involvement in the Middle East. So if you're a devout fan of WWF, NASCAR, NHRA, NFL and/or have an American flag billowing proudly on your porch, then don't bother renting this flick, because you just won't get it.
Shtrafbat (2004)
Gives Marines a bad image
This isn't a bad TV movie. Shtrafbat is short for Shtrafnoy Batallion, which means Penal Batallion. Such battallions were formed due to the increasing demand for soldiers as the Soviet Union was taking heavy casualties all through out the war. These battalions consisted of convicts and dishonored soldiers who were given the chance to clear their names by proving themselves in combat. They were looked down upon as scum and were expended easily during combat without much regret, or much honor, on the part of military. They were often sent on suicide missions and suffered extreme casualties. The ones who refused to fight were executed on sight. Needless to say, their lives sucked.
There were some very nice performances by the cast, especially by Yuri Stepanov who played Antip, Aleksandr Bashirov who played Stirah, and Roman Madyanov who played Major Kharchenko. However the series isn't really that addictive, in part because it's too long, it could've a lot shorter and as effective.
Although it's about war, Shtrafbat has very mild violence and pretty much no gore. It relies solely on the actors to make it work, and after all, it's a TV series, so the producers didn't want to scare off the viewers and the sponsors.
Shtrafbat explores the cruelty of the Soviet regime, and explaines why so many men chose to fight the Nazis instead of joining them. Personally I'd rather be a Fascist then a Communist given the circumstances presented in the film. One character explains that the Soviets stripped his farm clean and his family died of starvation. Out of anger he burned it down which got him arrested for destroying Kolhoz property and he ended up in the penal battalion as a criminal. Antip reminisced on how his mother killed her youngest son to feed the rest of the family. Both men explained that they fought for their motherland, rather than the for the Soviets.
The penal battalion had one Marine(Naval Infantry) who raped a girl, killing his comrade in the prosess, threatened his other comrade to keep his mouth shut about both ordeals, and then feigned injury when it came to fighting. On top of all that the girl committed suicide due to shame. I imagine if enough Marines watched this movie they'd pick up banners and riot on the streets calling for a boycott or an official apology from the producers.
To say the least, I'd recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in the former Soviet Union or World War II. I don't think I wasted 500+ minutes of my life.