Россия-Матушка

Red Army

Crit

The simple take on this sports documentary is that it demonstrates that the Soviet system, when true to its ideals of selfless collectivism, worked perfectly, and when it descended into cynical cronyism, everything came apart at the seams. Also, that an American movie is best off with a star, like prickly Slava Fetisov, star defenseman on what may have been the best quintet ever to lace on skates, later the senior member of another Russian five who helped bring a Stanley Cup to Detroit, and now a politician back in the homeland, who has served a stint as minister of sport.

Yale hockey fans: stay to the end of the thank-yous and look for the big yellow smiley face, a nod from director Gabe Polsky to his college coach.

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