Werner Herzog & Jerry Weintraub Present

RED ARMY

A Film by Gabe Polsky

ON BLU-RAY AND DIGITAL HD


 
 

Synopsis

From Oscar® nominated and Emmy award-winning filmmakers, RED ARMY is a feature documentary about the Soviet Union and the most successful dynasty in sports history: the Red Army hockey team. Told from the perspective of its captain Slava Fetisov, the story portrays his transformation from national hero to political enemy. From the USSR to Russia, the film examines how sport mirrors social and cultural movements and parallels the rise and fall of the Red Army team with the Soviet Union.

RED ARMY is an inspiring story about the Cold War played out on the ice rink, and a man who stood up to a powerful system and paved the way for change for generations of Russians.

 

The Cast

Filmmakers

  • Directer, Screenplay, Producer
    Gabe Polsky
  • Executive Producer
    Werner Herzog
    Jerry Weintraub
    Liam Satre-Meloy
  • Editors
    Eli Despres
    Kurt Engfehr
  • Directors of Photography
    Peter Zeitlinger
    Svetlana Cvetko
  • Original Music
    Christopher Beck
    Leo Birenberg
  • Sound Editor
    E.J. Holowicki

The Director

Biography

Gabe Polsky co-directed and produced the award winning and critically acclaimed The Motel Life, starring Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, and Stephen Dorff. Additional producing credits include: Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which was named in over 40 top-ten lists of the Best Films in 2009; His Way, an Emmy-nominated documentary released by HBO in 2011; and Little Birds, which was named among the top ten independent films of 2012 by the National Board of Review.

Polsky is adapting the novels Butcher's Crossing by John Williams, and National Book Award winning Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. Other notable projects in development include critically acclaimed novels Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, to be produced at Sony as a starring vehicle for Will Smith; and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Polsky has also secured the life rights to Albert Einstein as well as to surfing legend Dorian Doc Paskowitz and his family.

Statement

Making Red Army provided an opportunity both to explore my heritage and to examine the impact hockey had on the culture, politics and legacy of the Soviet Union.

I was born and raised in the United States by Soviet immigrants who seldom spoke about their past. I got my first pair of skates at age six, and played competitively throughout my youth, ultimately for Yale University. Training in the U.S. was focused on winning rather than player development. Practice was often basic and redundant. Coaches only paid attention to the standout players who scored the most goals.

When I was 13, I moved to a team that hired a new coach from the Soviet Union. Like most American kids, all I knew about Soviet hockey was the country's storied loss to the U.S. in the 1980 Olympics. The coach's philosophy and training methods were rigorous and unusual: we were forced to walk on our hands and do somersaults on the ice; we carried tires and skated with teammates on our backs. Perhaps the biggest difference was that he encouraged creativity and taught us to think as a unit. Many in the Chicago hockey community didn't take him seriously. But he transformed my entire concept of the sport. I tracked down old Soviet hockey footage and what I saw was eye-opening. Soviet hockey was amazingly creative and improvisational. The Soviets moved fluidly, like one body, and it looked more like an art form than a game. That's how I wanted to play.

When I was at Yale, I studied politics and history and learned about the unusual role sport played in the Soviet Union. The Red Army team was designed as an instrument of propaganda to prove the superiority of the Soviet system. The country's investment in the team's success was massive. The demanding lifestyle and oppressive circumstances under which the players trained were a reflection of broader Soviet society. It became clear to me that the Red Army's style of play, too, was significantly informed by the country's ideology. Much like Communism, there was little emphasis on the individual. Those who became heroes earned as much money as teachers. Priority was placed on serving your teammates and your country, and expressing individuality or questioning authority was forbidden.

Today's Russian leadership is comprised both of devoted fans of the Red Army team and of the players themselves. To understand the history of the team and the era is to understand much about who makes decisions in Russia today.

Red Army is about how an incredibly oppressive system produced one of the greatest teams in history. That success came with tremendous personal costs. My intention in making this film is to honor the Soviet struggle and to celebrate the art that emerged from such a charged and unique time in history.

Gabe Polsky

Biography
Statement
  • Gabe Polsky co-directed and produced the award winning and critically acclaimed The Motel Life, starring Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, and Stephen Dorff. Additional producing credits include: Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which was named in over 40 top-ten lists of the Best Films in 2009; His Way, an Emmy-nominated documentary released by HBO in 2011; and Little Birds, which was named among the top ten independent films of 2012 by the National Board of Review.
    Polsky is adapting the novels Butcher's Crossing by John Williams, and National Book Award winning Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. Other notable projects in development include critically acclaimed novels Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, to be produced at Sony as a starring vehicle for Will Smith; and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Polsky has also secured the life rights to Albert Einstein as well as to surfing legend Dorian Doc Paskowitz and his family.
  • Making Red Army provided an opportunity both to explore my heritage and to examine the impact hockey had on the culture, politics and legacy of the Soviet Union.
    I was born and raised in the United States by Soviet immigrants who seldom spoke about their past. I got my first pair of skates at age six, and played competitively throughout my youth, ultimately for Yale University. Training in the U.S. was focused on winning rather than player development. Practice was often basic and redundant. Coaches only paid attention to the standout players who scored the most goals.
    When I was 13, I moved to a team that hired a new coach from the Soviet Union. Like most American kids, all I knew about Soviet hockey was the country's storied loss to the U.S. in the 1980 Olympics. The coach's philosophy and training methods were rigorous and unusual: we were forced to walk on our hands and do somersaults on the ice; we carried tires and skated with teammates on our backs. Perhaps the biggest difference was that he encouraged creativity and taught us to think as a unit. Many in the Chicago hockey community didn't take him seriously. But he transformed my entire concept of the sport. I tracked down old Soviet hockey footage and what I saw was eye-opening. Soviet hockey was amazingly creative and improvisational. The Soviets moved fluidly, like one body, and it looked more like an art form than a game. That's how I wanted to play.
    When I was at Yale, I studied politics and history and learned about the unusual role sport played in the Soviet Union. The Red Army team was designed as an instrument of propaganda to prove the superiority of the Soviet system. The country's investment in the team's success was massive. The demanding lifestyle and oppressive circumstances under which the players trained were a reflection of broader Soviet society. It became clear to me that the Red Army's style of play, too, was significantly informed by the country's ideology. Much like Communism, there was little emphasis on the individual. Those who became heroes earned as much money as teachers. Priority was placed on serving your teammates and your country, and expressing individuality or questioning authority was forbidden.
    Today's Russian leadership is comprised both of devoted fans of the Red Army team and of the players themselves. To understand the history of the team and the era is to understand much about who makes decisions in Russia today.
    Red Army is about how an incredibly oppressive system produced one of the greatest teams in history. That success came with tremendous personal costs. My intention in making this film is to honor the Soviet struggle and to celebrate the art that emerged from such a charged and unique time in history.
    Gabe Polsky
 

Historical Background | Timeline

For more information about Russian and Soviet History:

The Economist: Russian and Soviet History

The Real USSR

For More Information about the Cold War:

The Cold War - The History Channel

The Cold War Museum

Wikipedia: The Cold War

 
 

Press

"The Obscure Hockey Documentary That Every American Needs to See," by Lindsay Moran. Huffington Post. October 21, 2014.

"Putin's Hockey Pal Tells All: Slava Fetisov on 'Red Army,' Soviet Nostalgia, and What Drives Putin" by Marlow Stern. The Daily Beast. October 9, 2014.

"Cold War Puck: The Beauties of Russian Hockey" by Nick Paumgarten. The New Yorker. November 19, 2014.

"A Conversation With Gabe Polsky, Director of the New Hockey Documentary Red Army" by Nicole Conlan. Sports Illustrated. September 8, 2014.

"Series >> The Director's Canvas >> Gabe Polsky." Vice.

"Wayne Gretzky on 'Red Army,' Dustin Johnson." SportsNet.

 
 

Reviews

CRITICS PICK!
"Offers a compact and vivid summary of recent Russian history."

AO Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

"Electrifying!
Illuminating and hugely entertaining. An eye-opener."

Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

"Grade A! Enthralling!"

Chris Nashawaty, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"A smart, energetic film. It's downright droll."

Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL

★★★★
(Highest Rating)
"Emotionally charged and viscerally exciting"

Godfrey Cheshire, ROGEREBERT.COM

"Riveting and important. So Witty, So determined, so principled, so wise. It's a window not just into the world of elite athletes, but also into the Cold War - it's oppression, its defections, its KGB trickery, its era of indefatigable distrustbetween them and us."

Lindsay Moran, HUFFINGTON POST

"Fabulous, compelling, relevant. A sports doc for people who don't give a damn about sports."

Jason Gorber, Twitch Film

"Unbelievable-but-true. This playful, poignant film presents a human story that transcends decades, borders and ideologies."

Mary & Richard Corliss, TIME

"A stirring, often infuriating tale of personal dreams clashing with political imperatives."

Justin Chang, Variety

"Gabe Polsky has made a smart and incisive film about an important moment in the history of a now fallen empire, and he happened to make it wildly entertaining as well."

Drew McWeeny, HitFix

"[A] stirring, crazy story - a Russian novel of Tolstoyan sweep and Gogol-esque absurdity."

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"Gabe Polsky's ingenious, touching documentary looks at the other side of the myth, the seemingly faceless, allegedly robotic players who made up the Soviet team."

Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

"Gabe Polsky's doc is outstanding. [It] left me floored. It's an engaging, entertaining, fascinating look at a turbulent time in history, and an inside look at the internal workings of the USSR."

Alex Billington, Firstshowing

 

Photo Gallery

Slava Fetisov

Viachaslav Fetisov - aka Slava Fetisov - is among the Soviet Union's most-decorated athletes, and is considered one the best hockey players of all time. He was the long-time captain of the Soviet Union's Red Army team, won seven world championships, two Olympic gold medals, and three Stanley Cups. He was a two-time NHL All Star and played for the USSR First All-Star Team nine times. He was one of six players voted onto to the International Ice Hockey Federation's Centennial All-Star Team and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.

In the 1980s, Fetisov was instrumental in breaking the barrier that prevented Soviets from playing abroad. He was the first Soviet citizen to be granted a visa that allowed him to play hockey in the west. Fetisov's efforts paved the way for thousands of Soviet and European players to play hockey in America. After retiring as a player, Fetisov embarked on a political and executive career. He is currently a member of the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, and was instrumental in bringing the XXII Olympic Winter Games to Sochi, Russia. Fetisov is president of the professional Russian hockey Club HC CSKA Moscow, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kontinental Hockey League, and chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency Athletes Committee. He was also Minister of Sport in Russia from 2002 to 2008.

Notable Achievements and Awards

  • Member of the Organizing Committee for 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
  • Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee
  • IIHF Hall of Fame
  • USSR Hall of Fame
  • 14 Soviet Hockey Championships
  • 9 Time Soviet League All-Star
  • 9-time IIHF All-Star
  • 5-time IIHF best defenseman
  • 7 Hockey World Championship Gold Medals
  • 1 World Championship Silver
  • 2 Olympic Gold Medals
  • 1 Olympic Silver Medal
  • 1 Canada Cup Championship
  • 3 World Junior Championships
  • 2 World Championship Bronze Medals
  • 2 Time CCCP Player of the Year
  • 2-time Soviet MVP
  • 9 Years Soviet National Team Captain
  • 3 Golden Stick Awards
  • Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  • Soviet Order of Honor
  • Soviet Order of Friendship
  • Silver Olympic Order
  • Order of Service to the Fatherland 4th Class
  • Order of Service to the Fatherland 3rd Class
  • 2 Orders of the Badge of Honor
  • IIHF International Centennial All-Star
  • Honored Master of Sports
  • UNESCO Champion for Sport
  • Russian Diamond Award
  • Order of Lenin Award
  • 2-time Stanley Cup Champion as a player
  • 3-time Stanley Cup Finalist as a player
  • Stanley Cup champion as an assistant coach
  • 2-time NHL all-star
  • Asteroid 8806 was renamed "Fetisov"
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TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE USSR
By John Soares, University of Notre Dame

1917
Communist "Bolsheviks," led by V. I. Lenin, seize power in Russia
1918
Lenin withdraws Russia from World War I (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
1918-20
Russian Civil War - Communist Red Army defeats the "Whites"
1922
Lenin suffers first of a series of debilitating strokes
Formal establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
1924
Lenin dies; Stalin will emerge as his successor after struggle with Trotsky.
1930s
Soviets begin playing ice hockey
1933
Latvia (independent at the time, later part of USSR), makes first appearance at world ice Hockey championships
1939
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Nazi-Soviet non-aggression) - paves way for Hitler's attack on Poland that starts World War II in Europe
After occupying eastern Poland, Soviets attack Finland
1941
Nazi Germany invades Soviet Union; Soviets join Britain and U.S. in "Grand Alliance" against Hitler
1946
Churchill warns that Soviet domination in Eastern Europe has created an "Iron Curtain"
Stalin warns that war is inevitable as long as capitalism exists (denounced in US as "declaration of World War III")
1947
official start of Soviet national hockey team
1948
Stalin supports Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, and imposes "Berlin blockade"
1952
Soviet Union enters Summer Olympics for the first time
1953
Stalin dies; Khrushchev eventually emerges as the new Soviet leader
1954
Soviet Union enters world ice hockey championships for the first time - wins gold
1956
Soviet Union enters Winter Olympics for the first time - wins hockey gold medal
1957
Soviets launch Sputnik, first man-made satellite to orbit the earth
1958
Soviet author Boris Pasternak wins the Nobel Prize in Literature for Doctor Zhivago, but declines the honor under intense pressure from Soviet authorities
1960
Soviets win Olympic bronze medal in hockey, after losses to US and Canada
1961
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes first man in spac
Construction of Berlin Wall cuts off West Berlin from the rest of West Germany
1962
USSR boycotts World hockey championships in Colorado to protest exclusion of East German team (part of political fallout from Berlin Wall)
Cuban Missile Crisis - placement of Soviet medium and intermediate-range missiles in Cuba triggers a two-week crisis that threatens a US-Soviet nuclear war
1963
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes first woman in space
Soviet hockey teams wins first in record string of world and Olympic hockey championships
1964
Soviets win Olympic hockey gold medal at Innsbruck
Khrushchev ousted as head of USSR; replaced by a collective leadership from which Leonid Brezhnev eventually emerges as the new Soviet leader
1968
Soviets win Olympic hockey gold medal at Grenoble
1972
Soviets win Olympic hockey gold medal at Sapporo
Czechoslovakia wins world ice hockey championship, ending Soviet streak
Anatolii Tarasov, the architect of Soviet hockey power, is ousted from his positions as coach of Central Army club and the national team
Canada-USSR Summit Series matches Soviet national team against Canadian pros for the first time ever
1974
Soviet national team defeats WHA all-stars in second Canada-USSR series involving Canadian pros
1976
Soviets win Olympic hockey gold medal at Innsbruck
USSR national team suffers stunning upset loss to Poland at world championships in Katowice, Poland and finishes second; this is just the second time since 1961 that a Soviet team fails to win a world tournament at which it competes
First Canada Cup tournament - national teams from USSR and Czechoslovakia, pros from Canada and U.S., best players from Sweden and Finland compete. Canada wins tournament, USSR finishes disappointing third
1977
After third place finish by USSR at world hockey championships, Viktor Tikhonov is hired from Dynamo Riga to coach both the Central Army club and the national team
1980
Soviets win silver medal in hockey at Lake Placid after stunning upset by U.S.
1982
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies; replaced by Yuri Andropov
1984
Soviets win Olympic gold medal at Sarajevo
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov dies; replaced by Konstantin Chernernko
1985
Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko dies; replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev
1987
Gorbachev and Reagan sign INF Treaty, agreeing to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons
1988
Soviet Union wins Olympic hockey gold in Calgary in what will be USSR's final appearance in Olympics
1989
first Soviet hockey players play in NHL
Collapse of Soviet-backed Communist regimes in Eastern Europe
1991
Soviet Union ceases to exist
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