The 9th Company
| The 9th Company | |
|---|---|
 Film poster |
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| Directed by | Fyodor Bondarchuk |
| Produced by | Alexander Rodnyansky Yelena Yatsura Sergey Melkumov |
| Written by | Yuri Korotkov |
| Starring | Fyodor Bondarchuk Aleksei Chadov Mikhail Evlanov |
| Music by | Dato Evgenidze |
| Cinematography | Maksim Osadchy |
| Editing by | Igor Litoninsky |
| Distributed by | Art Pictures Group |
| Release date(s) | 29 September 2005 |
| Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | Russia Ukraine Finland |
| Language | Russian |
| Budget | $9,500,000 |
| Box office | $25,555,809 |
The 9th Company (Russian: 9 Рота) is a 2005 Russian–Finnish–Ukrainian film directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk about the Soviet War in Afghanistan.
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[edit] Plot
The film follows a band of young recruits from a farewell ceremony with friends and family back home. They train in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley where they befriend a local woman who is more than happy to support the morale of the soldiers. On their arrival at Baghram air base they greet soldiers returning home who meet an unfortunate fate on their flight out. The story ends at a bloody battle on a mountain top in Afghanistan against the mujahideen.
The film is loosely based on a real-life battle that took place at Hill 3234 in early 1988, during the last large-scale Soviet military operation Magistral. Numerous Soviet armored vehicles and aircraft appear in the film which are rarely seen or depicted in Western films.
In the film, only one soldier from the company survives unscathed and the company is said to have been "forgotten" by the military command because of the Soviet withdrawal. In reality, the 9th Company, 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment was pinned down under heavy fire on Hill 3234 between the 7th and 8th of January 1988. They managed to stop 3 attacks by an estimated 200-250 mujahideen. The company lost a total of 6 men. Another 28 out of the total 39 were wounded seriously. Four of the killed soldiers were posthumously awarded the golden star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. The unit was in constant communication with headquarters and got everything the regimental commander, Colonel Valery Vostrotin, could provide in terms of rations, ammunition, reinforcements, and helicopter evacuation of the wounded.[1]
[edit] Reception
The film received a mixed reaction from the veterans of that war, who pointed to a number of inaccuracies, but nevertheless, judging by ticket sales, was embraced by the general public, and even by Russian President Vladimir Putin.[2] Although first released in 2005, and broadcast on TV in several nations, it was not released in the US until 2010 as a DVD.
Release dates:[3]
- Belarus 29 September 2005
- Kazakhstan 29 September 2005
- Russia 29 September 2005
- Ukraine 29 September 2005
- Estonia 14 October 2005
- Finland 3 March 2006
- France 20 May 2006 (Cannes Film Festival)
- Sweden 11 October 2006 (DVD premiere)
- Poland 12 October 2006 (Warsaw International FilmFest)
- Poland 20 October 2006
- Philippines 3 November 2006 (Cinemanila Film Festival)
- UK 16 February 2007
- France 17 February 2007 (TV premiere)
- Argentina 18 June 2007 (DVD premiere)
- Belgium 12 September 2007
- Netherlands 26 February 2008 (DVD premiere)
- Germany 26 August 2008
- USA 31 August 2010 (DVD premiere) (Blu-ray premiere)
[edit] Box office
The film was released in September 2005 and became a Russian box office hit, generating $7.7 million in its first five days of release alone, a new domestic record.[4]
[edit] Awards
In 2006, Russia selected the film as its candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film nomination. It was also given the Golden Eagle Award for Best Feature Film by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts.
[edit] See also
- History
- Films
[edit] References
- ^ Schofield, The Russian Elite, Greenhill, 1993, pp. 120-125
- ^ "Putin praise for Russian war film.". BBC News. 8 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4416774.stm.
- ^ IMDb
- ^ "Afghanistan War Movie Breaks Russian Box Office Record". Mosnews.com. 2005-10-05. Archived from the original on 2006-11-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20061121053405/http://mosnews.com/news/2005/10/05/newcinemarecord.shtml.
[edit] External links
- Official website (English)
- Official website (Russian)
- 9th Company at AllRovi
- 9th Company at the Internet Movie Database
- 9th Company at Rotten Tomatoes
