Cargo 200

Cargo 200
Directed by	Aleksei Balabanov
Produced by	Sergei Selyanov
Written by	Aleksei Balabanov
Starring	Agniya Kuznetsova Leonid Bichevin Aleksei Poluyan Leonid Gromov Aleksei Serebryakov
Studio	Kinokompaniya CTB
Release date(s)	16 May 2007 (Cannes) 14 June 2007 (Russia)
Running time	89 minutes
Language	Russian English
Box office	RUB 3,553,428 (Russia)

Cargo 200 (Russian: Груз 200 "Gruz 200") is a Russian film from 2007 by Aleksei Balabanov that depicts a negative view of the late Soviet society. The action is set during culmination of the Soviet war in Afghanistan in 1984. The movie's title refers to the zinc-lined coffins in which dead Soviet soldiers were shipped home.

Plot

Artemy (Leonid Gromov), professor of Scientific Atheism at the Leningrad university, is visiting his brother in a small neighboring town Leninsk. There he meets Valery, a young man who is dating his niece and has come to take her to a party.

On the way back from Leninsk to Leningrad professor's car breaks down. He goes into an isolated farmhouse to get help. There the professor gets to talking with the farmhouse owner, Alexey. The two drink together homemade alcohol and argue about faith in God and retribution from sins, the professor defending the traditional for the Soviet society atheist worldview. The professor also encounters Alexey's wife, Antonina (Natalya Akimova), as well as a Vietnamese farmer working at the farm, who seems to be practically a personal slave of Alexey's, and a third stranger who is not explained at the time. The Vietnamese worker finally fixes Artemy's car and the professor drives on.

Meanwhile Valery goes to a party by himself, since his girlfriend (professor's niece) needs to study. At the party Valery meets another female student friend of his named Angelika (Agniya Kuznetsova) who is the daughter of a high-ranking Communist official. They drink together, and after the party, in search of more alcohol, Valery drives with her to a farm of moonshiners, which turns out to be the same farm the professor had visited earlier.

Valery tells Angelika to stay in the car while he gets the alcohol. However, instead of returning directly to the car, he gets drunk senseless with the farmhouse owner moonshiner Alexey.

Angelika, waiting in the car, notices that she is being watched by the third stranger. She gets scared, and tries to get help from Antonina, farm owner's wife. Antonina gives the girl a rifle and hides her in a barn. The stranger who turns out to be a police captain, enters the barn and takes away the rifle. When the Vietnamese worker tries to defend the girl, the stranger murders him, then rapes the girl with a bottle (it appears that he himself is impotent). In the morning he handcuffs her, taking her to his flat in Leninsk, and keeps the girl handcuffed to a bedframe in his bedroom, watched over by his alcoholic mother, while he brings local small time criminals in to rape her, killing one after he fails to "please" the girl. The girl threatens that her fiancé, who is a soldier in the Soviet army in Afghanistan, will save her. The police captain finds out, however, that her fiance had just been killed in the line of duty. He arranges to have the zinc-lined coffin shipped to his apartment where he opens it and throws the corpse on the bed next to the screaming girl.

Alexey the moonshiner is arrested for the killing of his Vietnamese worker. The police captain visits Alexey in his cell and convinces him to take the blame for the crime. Alexey gets a visit from his wife Antonina and explains to her why he has to agree to confess for earlier favors from the captain. Antonina meets Artemy, the professor whose testimony might exonerate her husband. The professor refuses to testify since that would jeopardize his academic career.

Alexey is convicted, sentenced to the death penalty, and is summarily executed.

Antonina, Alexey's widow, takes a rifle and forces her way to the police captain's apartment. There she encounters screaming Angelica still chained to the bed next to the rotting corpses. She shoots and kills the police captain, then walks out without attempting to help the girl.

In the last scenes Valery (who escaped the entire affair unscathed and without letting anyone know that he knows anything), is shown discussing business propositions with a friend of his (the son of Artemy, Slavic). The two are excited about the amount of money that can be made in the disintegrating country. The professor of Scientific Atheism enters a church and asks to be baptized.

Awards

Won

• 2007 - Gijón International Film Festival for Best Director (Aleksey Balabanov)
• 2008 - Rotterdam International Film Festival: KNF Award (Aleksey Balabanov)

Nominated

• 2007 - Gijón International Film Festival: Grand Prix Asturias (Aleksey Balabanov)
• 2007 - Sochi Open Russian Film Festival: Grand Prize of the Festival (Aleksey Balabanov)

External links

English

• Cargo 200 at the Internet Movie Database
• Review in The Atlantic Monthly
• Reviewed at Venice Film Festival
• Review by KinoKultura
• Review by Rusfilm
• Review in New York Times

Russian

• Official site of the movie
• Reviews of Russian critiques about the movie
• Interview with author, Novaya gazeta
• Discussion at Echo of Moscow