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“Cargo 200”, by Alexey Balabanov

SHOCK FILM “CARGO 200” OPENS THE ‘GIORNATE DEGLI AUTORI’ SELECTION

CARGO 200 is a Russian film about the end of the Soviet Union. The 11th film by Alexey Balabanov opened the parallel section ‘Giornate degli Autori’ of the 64th Venice Festival. It shows shocking torture scenes. But the worst is the focus on the moral decadence of a corrupt, amoral regime, of characters grasping small prerogatives inside the Party and the repression forces, of opportunism above any solidarity. Even worse, written at the beginning of the screening, is that it was all based in real facts that happened in 1984, in a province town near Moscow.

These were the soviet years known as the “stagnation years”. There is a light wind of freedom in the air, manifesting in the courage of the young people of dancing homemade versions of rock and roll in improvised ballrooms. Everything around seems to be improvised, by the way. Even the sacred vodka of desperate souls is clandestinely distilled, for in the USSR all nonconformism seemed to show and to be concentrated against liquor rationing.

The title of the film runs aside the terrible action the spectator will witness: the kidnapping and raping of a young woman, the leader of the provincial party’s daughter. CARGO 200 is the code of the airplanes carrying soldiers’ corpses that come periodically back from the fronts in Afghanistan.

The only surprise of the film, following characters with no moral, is to see that the barbarism overcomes itself with no compassion. Russian critic Maria Kuvshinova said that “the persistent object of socialist nostalgia – the Soviet Union - is presented here as a decomposing corpse”. The falling apart of all these humanist ideals has a key character – as amazing as it may seem, an Atheism University professor… The film ends with him going to a decaying church to receive baptism…

It is probably one of the most chocking films among all in the selection.
And also one of the best.

English version: Laura Rebessi