antonialubo Very aweful. Don't waste your time to watch this film.

Teh Pwn Another reviewer here called this movie "nationalist propaganda". One has to understand that Nevzorov is s a cynical man by nature, who has not just seen the war trough the tube but been there himself. He in his own words remembers soldiers trying to hold their guts from falling out with their own hands, the feeling of walking "on a carpet of casings" and last but not least knowing and understanding the mentality and psychology of both sides in the war - Chechen and Russian. Nevzorov is neither friend or enemy of either sides, in his own words. This war "nummed" him to nationalism, civil life etc. This movie can not be called anything else but "demotivational", but nationalistic it's absolutely not. Now to the movie itself: it's a horror show like no other. It is perhaps too gory, but what else can be said of a film that tries to condense a whole war into just over an hour's time. In the movie there are no heroes - everyone alone with their truth, everyone having a price to pay. The first Chechenya campaign was a bloody failure, and that's what this movie tries to portray. No glorious "one squad takes on an army" style American feelgoodism, no fancy happy end, just a meaningless slaughter that is the war that could just as well be called a civil war. The main characters is a team of Spetznaz and chechen doctor turned field commander. The plot is very basic, but based on real events. If it was taken too far or had some "blood icing" put on this cake of misery, perhaps. But the movie stands out, despite that, as a monument of Russian realism - balancing perfectly between that and defeatism.

overninethousand First of all, the other reviewers said things like "sort of a documentary-like this movie", "this one shows what really happened", and even a "terrific documentary drama". This is completely wrong, as this is a fictional story about fictional characters. In short, it's a fiction - and it doesn't have a documentary feeling neither.The movie is utterly unrealistic portrayal of the possibly bloodiest battle of Grozny of 1994-1995. Taking place in the biggest city in the North Caucasus region, there is a complete absence of civilians (thousands of which died, Russians and Chechens) - but there are, to cite another reviewer, "women snipers (from the Baltics), black mercenaries (speaking in English)" (both being Russian propaganda myths). The Russian tank survives multiple RPG hits to be knocked-out (after it fires many salvos despite the Chechen fighters standing in a line like a firing squad carrying grenade launchers even before it opens fire), but the Chechen tank is destroyed after being hit once. There's not a single RPG-7 ("Chechen atom bomb") in the movie, everyone fire just a one-shot Mukha launchers. The Russians use ASG (heavy automatic grenade launcher on a tripod) to shoot at people inside the same building, few meters from them, just for a "cool" execution (target being a man carrying a wounded). And so on.Chistilishche is a weird movie. It's full of strange, pointless gore (like the Russian tank - there is only one such working in the movie - driving back and forth on a Russian bodies in a long close-up scene), but it's not an anti-war film. Writer and director Aleksandr Nevzorov is a Russian ultra-nationalist and Duma deputy who supported this war at the time when it was extremely unpopular. It's a grind-house propaganda flick, like if John Wayne's Green Berets was made by Lucio Fulci.In addition, not only Nevzorov tried to get all discredited myths into one movie, he also helped to create new ones, which then circulated further. To cite The Jamestown Foundation's review of a book The Wolves of Islam: "The sensational tone of the book is set in the opening pages, which warn that "graphic descriptions of terror, acts of torture, and human cruelty in this book will disturb the reader." Indeed, much of the first half of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of various atrocities allegedly committed by Chechens. The author devotes some space to a gruesome account of the crucifixion and mutilation of a Russian soldier during the 1994 battle for Grozny. The "crucifixion of the innocent soldier" is a recurring propaganda motif that dates back to the Belgian front in the First World War (where the victim is usually described as a Canadian soldier victimized by Germans). But the author insists on the authenticity of his account, citing a scene from a novel (though Murphy does not describe it as such) by Vyacheslav Mironov and a similar scene from the 1997 movie Purgatory (Chistilishche), made by Russian nationalist and Duma deputy Aleksandr Nevzorov."I find it unsettling this movie's user score is higher than of the critically-acclaimed (Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated) Kavkazskiy plennik (Prisoner of the Mountains/Caucasus), which is a so much better film about the same war.

thesiouxfallskid A terrific documentary drama very well done. The director himself was a TV journalist at the scene at the time of the fighting depicted in the film. I liked the brutalization rather than the family entertainment kind of glamorization so often seen in war film that hold back because of those who would complain of too much violence. The better we face reality, the better we can deal with it. I know of no version with subtitles but this should not keep anyone from seeing it. After reading what I write here you should be able to follow along. NO SPOILERS here. I am only starting it off so it can be understood, and I give away nothing of what happens. The quote at the very beginning is from the 137th Psalm of which the last part goes like this: "O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you for what you have done to us and he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." Early January 1995 the Russians have entered Grozny (capital of Chechnya). In the first scenes a military unit is pinned down by unexpected fierce resistance at a hospital complex. They try unsuccessfully to take away their wounded. The camera switches constantly from one side to the other, and usually it is not difficult to tell which is which. The Chechen side includes women snipers (from the Baltics), black mercenaries (speaking in English), fighters in Islamic headdress, and a pony-tailed commandeer. The Russian officer (just lost one eye) seeks help by radio but keeps connecting to the Chechen commandeer using a scanner to listen to Russian communications. Killing, hate, blood, grime. The Russians pin hope on a tank. I have spoiled nothing so far, and even if you do not understand Russian your imagination should carry you along. Much effort went into this film. Ten stars. P.S. I add this note April 2013. English subtitles - good ones as well as one set of horrible ones - do exist but you need to know where to look.