I think I haven’t done many movie reviews here, but this one is an exception. The reason is that I couldn’t find any reviews of the movie before I went to see it.
Sure, there were writings that claimed to be reviews of the movie, but they are reviews of the story, not of the movie itself. The movie is not rated, so I was looking for something to tell me if it was appropriate for the kids. There was nothing out there that described the movie, so this blog post will fill that gap.
Let me start off by saying I was pleasantly surprised that they did not try to Russian-ize the title. It is The Russian Five written in standard English characters. They did not try to make it look more Russian by throwing a Ya (the backwards R) in there. Like Toys-Ya-Us. It would have been silly to have it read The Yaussian Five. Perhaps since there were real Russians involved, the title was left alone. Or maybe because it was a independently produced documentary, the title was left alone. Once Hollywood and marketing get involved, who knows what would happen.
Also, don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not really an interesting movie as entertainment. It’s a documentary – it’s probably not going to be enjoyable unless you are from Detroit or like hockey or you are nostalgic for Glasnost.
Now for the main part of this post: the family-friendliness of the movie:
- Language: Not the best. Much of the movie is fine, then they drop 1 s-bomb, 3 or 4 f-bombs, and 1 or 2 h-e-double-hockey-sticks. It’s a hockey movie, I had to use that term.
- Violence: It’s hockey. There are hockey fights. Some blood, some stitches, all from game footage.
- S-e-ecks: None. Trying to keep this post family-friendly too.
- Drugs: It’s about Russians. Vodka is a given. Most of the movie has nothing. Near the end, there are descriptions of drinking vodka at a celebration, plus footage of people drinking who-knows-what out of the Stanley Cup.
The one thing our kids didn’t understand, that we had to explain to them afterwards why anyone would do such as thing, was the glowing puck on broadcasts during part of the ’90s.
The movie does not have a narrator. The whole story is told via current-day interviews of the people involved, plus archival footage (either game broadcasts or news stories or home movies), plus some animated re-enactments of things that had no footage.
In summary: I laughed, I cried, it was a history lesson and a trip down memory lane.
and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
Exodus 18:3
This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
