72 metra (2004) User Reviews

Good submarine movie

[onefern · 7/10 · 8 October 2008]

Hmm, I thought it was a pretty good submarine movie! Just a pity that after all the compelling build-up to their only chance of survival, the movie ends and is not quite resolved. And yes, it's true that the lead actress' talents were not shown at all.

The relationship between the two actors were also not aptly fleshed out through the flashbacks. It also seemed like much of the crew was too cooperative, and the weak attempt to inject a black sheep only failed to add to the suspense when his attempts to disrupt the status quo were quelled by the other crew members.

But overall, I was glued to my chair. A thumbs up. Just too bad for the ending.

Aleksandr Pokrovskii's masterpiece deserves a better screening

[fulbert · 6/10 · 13 July 2006]

I don't think the film is the total failure. It's just a bit... confused. It really could've been better, and that's a pity, because some episodes really are moving, especially to a person who had to suffer all that - I mean, the collapse of the Union, the betrayal of "fellow" republics and... oh, what the hell! What I mean is the film has some really good ideas, some of which are very nicely shown (e.g. attestation in the Ukrainian port - yeah, that episode was sweet!) but in general - oh my. I had an impression that the director was a green novice who just bit more than he could swallow. If it was directed by a person who really did know what he was doing, everything could've been quite different. BTW, the script is based on the collection of short stories about Soviet Navy titled "72 Metra", by Russian naval writer and former Navy officer Aleksandr Pokrovskii. The stories are simply magnificent: some of them are as funny as hell, and the other ones are very deeply touching. The guy's a writing genius, so I deeply recommend you find and read the book. Well, I don't know whether it's translated into English but if it isn't, learn Russian, then find and read it. It's way better than the film.

P.S. And yes, to those who consider parts of the film nationalistic. I deeply understand that furious tolerance and merciless political correctness are conquering the world, and in fact, I don't really care. The film is not about furious tolerance and political correctness - it's about life of military people who don't in fact care that much about all this stuff. It was explained about the crew's dislike of Ukrainians in the film, wasn't it? And as for that phrase "Hey, Slavs, anyone alive there?" - it's just not appropriately translated. "Hey, Slavs" is just a piece of lyrics of an old song and has no nationalistic connotation whatsoever. I think it just shows that people are trying to stand firm in a very bad situation, that is all. P.P.S. Yeah, and the sub was called "Slavyanka", if you didn't notice, which stands for "Slavic girl". So the Slavs in the film could've been just "Slavyanka" crew members.

The first real movie about Russian navy

[nemesis-88 · 10/10 · 23 January 2007]

The movie is excellent. It's quite difficult for a foreigner to understand and appreciate. What seems like a good joke to a Russian, may seem offensive or even "nationalistic" to foreigners. Examples are given by the previous (Turkish mind you) poster. "Hey Slavs" is an allusion to a very famous novel by Ilya Ilf and Evgeniy Petrov "12 chairs". Also the name of the submarine is "Slavianka" which gives the character the right to call his crew-mates "slavs". "You ain't Ukrainian, are you?" refers to the never-ending "psychological warfare" between Russians and Ukrainians meaning mostly mocking each other and telling harmless jokes.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... Like I said, it's absolutely impossible for a non-Russian to understand all this. Just like with Texans, you have to be born in Russia to be a Russian.

The movie is great! The love story line is tense and intense. It is depicted through a series of well-made flashbacks which shows just what love of a true Russian navy officer means. And how much friendship means to him.

It's a movie about love, friendship and courage. It's a movie about people who do their jobs protecting their country but don't brag about it or even feel they do something outstanding. The movie is filled with wonderful (untranslatable) jokes and fantastic sense of humor. All that played by the best Russian actors.

Definitely 10/10!!

The best

[nikolb · 10/10 · 31 January 2005]

I love this film because it doesn't try to make the regular drama -"everybody died" or"everybody happy" it shows something else. The bottom line of this film wasn't to save the crew from the submarine but to put the soul to the next level and if there is one person that you can save you have to save him.Maybe most of the people who saw the film ,saving this strange person- Makovetskiy(Chernenko) wasn't necessary for them but it was.Like Makovetskiy's character says in the film :"The world payed so little attention to me that I thought myself dead"and maybe because of this he was worth saving.By saving Chernenko they save their souls. Very good actors the best music by Ennio Morricone

What could have been real drama fell flat, really flat

[Illiarian · 5/10 · 30 December 2004]

This movie seems to be alright. And it desperately tries to feel alright. And for a large part of the population it might be alright, but it isn't.

This movie may have become the greatest drama of recent Russian movie history. However, it's attempt to describe too much at once greatly undermines its quality.

One one hand we have a typical disaster movie - an explosion on a submarine, with all necessary genre "features" - survivors, random acts of heroism etc.

On the other hand we have a standoff between main characters, which could have (only could have) been very intense. Unfotunately, Russia seems to have lost all of its acting talents. These actors simply cannot deliver.

On the third hand (oh, yeah, there's more) we have personal drama of one of the main characters, delivered through a series of flashbacks. Again, it doesn't touch on any emotional level.

On the fourth hand we have a feeble attempt to describe the dire state of Russia'a fleet after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These attempts are not only feeble, but overly nationalistic as well (things like "Hey, Slavs, anybody here" followed by "You are not Ukrainian, are you").

Et cetera, et cetera.

This movie could have been great. It isn't. It may have been Ernst, who didn't let the movie blossom, but you can't blame Ernst for everything, can you? 5/10, not more

Just a good film

[ivalti · 10/10 · 7 March 2004]

I have seen an advertisment on TV and went to see this film in cinema. And i was shocked - this is really good film with good playing of all actors. This film is provided by Mariccone's music that help the film to be more pretty. I can't say it is action nor comedy. No, it is well-made drama with an atmosphere of the best films, No, it has its own atmosphere - sad, but sometimes funny. The film to think, and to hope, the film to cry and believe in a better life. This is good film about strong mans. I was depressed for some time but when I saw the film the depression left me. I think forever. I hope, 72 metres would be well-comented and become one of the best films in imdb. Big thanks to creators of this film and good kuck to restorated cinema of Russia!

I advice this film to everybody 10/10.

If I could give this film a zero, I would give it

[yahin · 1/10 · 20 March 2005]

The only modern Russian film I can label a total failure (given it was directed by Khotinenko, formerly the leader of 1980s Russian intellectual cinema).

Nothing and nobody worked well in this piece of crap. How can one shoot a film which is a total disaster given the best opportunities provided: Ennio Morricone as a music composer, Chulpan Khamatova (the best Russian cinema actress (along with Ingeborga Dapkunaite)) as a leading female hero, enormous funds of Russia's Channel One, good (meaning cheap:) connections with the military allowing to use resources of the Russian Navy, and a plenty of good examples of "submarine movies"?

It is almost impossible to make a bad submarine movie nowadays given the stunning (e.g. Das Boot by Wolfgang Petersen) or simply good like "K-19" or "U-571" sub film examples. "72m" even employs some citations from Das Boot which means that somebody from the film crew has seen that film:)) - however, ineffectively.

One might argue this was the first experience of a "blockbuster" film by contemporary Russian TV producers - I regret they have not realized that they should better shoot their TV-series crap than to spoil the perception of the great Russian cinema. I mean the great Russian directors like Eisenstein, Kozintsev, Pudovkin, Dovzhenko, Klimov, Tarkovsky, etc. just whirl in their coffins when somebody tries to judge about the Russian cinema thinking of the "72 meters".

The same producers later delivered the "Night Watch" - an evenly questionable, though better shot, piece of film. So there is some hope for Russian viewers - maybe the Channel One (ORT) producers in a dozen of films will learn what they had to learn at a film school which nobody of them have attended.

Please do not waste your time or money. 0/10.

"72 Metra" is supposed to be Patriotic?

[AKalinoff · 4/10 · 15 May 2006]

Some things I heard about this film before it was released was that it was "patriotic". Well I fail to see the patriotism. All I see is a submarine crew that dies at the bottom of the sea.

It also does not help recruiting for the Submarine fleet. The whole movie makes it seem like a WW2 mine can bring down the whole Russian Navy. In fact those old magnetic mines would be ineffective today because of specialized hull construction.

I don't understand what purpose does the film serve? Is it supposed to be in memory of the "Kursk"? One of the reasons given for the loss of that submarine was a mine.

Something Russians don't need right now are Disaster films. You will never find a similar film in the US. Most US submarine movies like "Crimson Tide" and "U-571" involve triumph over an enemy, Hollywood would never even think about making a movie about a Submarine disaster involving their own submarines. 1st Channel should have made a Russian answer to "Crimson Tide", the usual "evil Russians" movie from Hollywood, not this movie.

The Music and Special Effects were good, just the movie was bad.