Балабанов. Перекрестки

Alena Solntseva. Russian World Apocalypse

Starting with the film “Brother”, Aleksei Balabanov engaged himself in exploration of the so called “Russian World’s” foundations, the “Russian idea” which, after the USSR had dissolved, became the national ideology of the “siloviki” (the word was rarely used in the mid-1990s, but it is not a coincidence that the word “sila” (force, power) is found so often in Balabanov’s scripts). Inside the limited framework of the action or thriller genre, local particularities flourish. Bodrov’s character—the invincible Russian Rambo, or the national Bond—is an embodiment of that new Russian type which manifested itself in full force in the “Novorossiya” project. He is an outright monster despite the evident charm of this “thick-lipped boy.” His monstrosity—the lack of empathy, of common sense or sense of reality—is demonstrated quite convincingly, however, few perceived it that way at the time of release. It is interesting that while Balabanov probes the slough of the people’s life, he discovers no solid ground whatsoever, which leads to the macabre of “Cargo 200”, “The Stoker”, and “Me Too”. Illusive ideals do not hold a structure, the world falls to pieces because violence, its only cementing force, cannot bear real weight.