Red Army | Gabe Polsky | NYFF 2014
Red Army is a telling documentary from director Gabe Polsky about the Soviet national hockey team during the Cold War. This is a documentary that will please hockey and sports fans alike, but will also be equally as captivating to those not into the sport (or sports) at all. This is credit to Polsky’s gracefully storytelling and the utterly interesting story that transcends much more than just the sport.
Polsky introduction to Red Army comes with a little bit of background about the importance of hockey to the Soviet Union, who were the best at the game. Being the best was about more than just hockey. It was a statement for their country, a different kind of battle that they could win. It was so important that the team became a political force, with command going straight to the top of the Russian government.
We learn about this through the team’s captain Slava Fetisov. Tarasov and his Soviet teammates give candid interviews to Polsky about how they were recruited as children. They were originally brought in to play under beloved coach Anatoli Tarasov, whose considered “the father of Russian hockey.” But he was fired after the 1972 Winter Olympics, and the extremely strict Viktor Tikhonov was brought in as his replacement, more of a dictator than a coach. This changed the temperament of the Soviet team completely, making it more of a unescapable life sentence than a sport. Tikhonov made the sport the players life, with grueling workouts that took up all of their time. He wouldn’t allow them to miss practices not even for Holidays or funerals.
Fetisov offers us personal insight into the hellish nature of the situation, a journey that takes us all over the emotional spectrum. The climax comes when Fetisov tried to defect to America to play in the NHL. His decision was met with great resistance by the state, who didn’t want their star player leaving to go play for the enemy. He had to go from hell and back to get to the NHL, and when he finally gets here he isn’t greeted with the open arms that he expects or desires. At least not at first.
As a very casual hockey fan I found Red Army to be utterly compelling and interesting. It gives great insight to the political and social influence that the Soviet national team had on the nation, and the humans whose lives were completely absorbed and forever changed by their involvement. Gabe Polsky masterfully pulls the audience in, and will make you want to go home and research the story even further when you get home. It was a real pleasant surprise of the film fest, a wonderful documentary that I can’t recommend enough.
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