Young soldiers in the Soviet Internal Troops are subjected to systematic abuse during their dedovshchina (hazing). The plot unfolds primarily aboard a prisoner transport rail car guarded by a unit of paramilitary conscripts.
Acting
Buldakov's Paromov: jovial tyrant, utterly terrifying.
Direction
Rogozhkin turns a moving train into a pressure cooker.
Production
Authentic Soviet rail car = character itself.
Director
Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Aleksei Buldakov
Paromov
Sergey Kupriyanov
Andrey Iveren
Aleksandr Smirnov
Private Khaustov
Vasiliy Domrachyov
Private Nishchenkin
Aleksey Poluyan
Mazur
Taras Denysenko
Korchenyuk
Andrei Zertsalov
Conductor
Dmitriy Iosifov
Zhokhin
Rinat Ibragimov
Rinat Ibragimov
Aleksey Zaytsev
Convict
Valery Kravchenko
Khorkov
Nikita Mikhajlovsky
Convict
Vladimir Yurev
Pavel Kornakov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during glasnost when Soviet cinema finally exposed military hazing; Rogozhkin interviewed real conscripts for authenticity.
The 'tea ceremony' scene — Paromov forcing humiliation through performative kindness — was improvised after Buldakov noticed the prop samovar on set.
SU
