Voroshilov Sharpshooter (film)
The Voroshilov Sharpshooter | |
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Directed by | Stanislav Govorukhin |
Written by | Stanislav Govorukhin |
Based on | by Viktor Pronin |
Produced by | , |
Starring | Mikhail Ulyanov Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov |
Cinematography | Gennadi Engstrem |
Edited by | Vera Kruglova |
Music by | Vladimir Dashkevich |
Production company | NTV-PROFIT |
Distributed by | Most-Cinematograph |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | Russia |
Language | Russian |
The Voroshilov Sharpshooter (Russian: Ворошиловский стрелок, translit. Voroshilovskiy strelok, named after a badge for markmanship) is a 1999 Russian action and drama film directed by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the book Woman on Wednesdays (Russian: Женщина по средам translit. Zhenshchina po sredam) by Viktor Pronin. The concept loosely resembles the rape and revenge genre. The film became successful with numerous awards given for the film including the prestigious Russian Guild of Film Critics 1999 for best actor by Mikhail Ulyanov. It also has 1 win and 3 nominations for Nika Awards.
Plot[]
In the summer of 1999, a decorated World War II veteran, Ivan Afonin, lives with his granddaughter Katya. In a nearby flat, three bored youths, Vadim Pashutin, local businessman Boris Chukhanov and student Igor Zvorygin, kill time by designating Wednesdays as a day of sexual gratification and hiring a prostitute. On this particular Wednesday, they fail to acquire one, and decide to resort to a random female passerby instead. They lure Katya to their flat under the pretense of "a birthday party" and rape her. Initially, the offenders are arrested. However, Vadim's father Nikolai is a senior figure in the police and uses his influence to have the charges against his son and his friends dropped.
Frustrated at the offenders having escaped justice, Ivan sells his dacha for $5000 and uses the money to purchase a SVD sniper rifle equipped with a silencer from an illegal weapons trader. While testing his purchase in the presence of the seller, he hits all the test targets perfectly, making the seller call him "a true Voroshilov Sharpshooter" in admiration.
A neighbour has left him the keys to her flat directly in front of and overlooking the offenders’ flat, so that he can look after the parrot. From there, he begins to administer vigilante justice. Taking care not to kill the offenders, he instead cripples them. First, he shoots Zvorygin's genitals through a bottle of sparkling wine (which diverges from the book, where he shot the student's leg). Secondly, he causes Chukhanov's brand new car to explode, by shooting the gas tank: although Chukhanov survives, the lower half of his body is severely burnt.
Nikolai figures out that Ivan must be behind both accidents, ordering the search of Ivan's house and the second flat. However, police find nothing (Alexei, the local police watcher, had found and hid the rifle in his own house a day before that). Still, Nikolai threatens Ivan, saying that should anything happen to his son, he will face severe consequences. Ivan interrupts him, saying that something has already happened (meaning that Vadim becoming a rapist clearly shows something has happened to him). Nikolai, however, takes his words literally, and rushes home, shooting out the door lock to open it (not knowing paranoid Vadim has barricaded the door). Following the shot, Vadim shoots back through the door with a shotgun, wounding his father and, after days of fright, losing his sanity.
In the epilogue Alexei tells Ivan of the hidden rifle and unofficially confiscates it, and at home Katya sings again, signaling her recovery and the return of domestic harmony, which moves Ivan to tears.
Cast[]
- Mikhail Ulyanov as Ivan Fyodorovich Afonin, pensioner
- as Katya Afonina, Ivan Fyodorovich's granddaughter
- Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov as Nikolai Petrovich Pashutin, police colonel, Vadim's father
- Vladislav Galkin as Alexei Podberyozkin, local policeman
- Irina Rozanova as Olga Ivanovna Afonina, Katya's mother
- as Vadim Pashutin
- Alexei Makarov as Boris Chukhanov
- Marat Basharov as Igor Zvorygin
- as David «Dodik», colleague and roommate of Olga
- as gun seller #1
- Aleksey Shevchenkov as gun seller #2
- as gun dealer
- Sergei Garmash as police captain Kashaev
- Vitaly Logvinovsky as domino player
- Vladimir Semago as investigator Shevelyov
- Georgy Martirosyan as prosecutor
Production[]
revealed she was replaced by a body double in the rape scene. [1]
Reactions[]
The film proved controversial, for its graphic and violent features with some film critics describing it as a call to violence.[2]
Several subsequent real life cases of vigilante justice have been compared to the film.[3][4]
See also[]
- The Virgin Spring
- The Last House on the Left (1972 film)
- Death Wish (1974 film)
- I Spit on Your Grave
- Sudden Impact
- Rape and revenge film
References[]
- ^ "Kak sejchas vyglyadit aktrisa Anna Sinyakina". www.kp.ru. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
- ^ ""Московским слезам провинция не верит", Argumenti i Fakti, 23 June 1999". Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
- ^ “The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment” hits Rostov-on-Don Komsomolskaya Pravda, 1 July 2008
- ^ "А был ли «ворошиловский стрелок»?" Argumenti i Fakti, 9 April 2009
External links[]
- 1999 films
- Russian-language films
- Russian crime drama films
- 1990s Russian-language films
- Russian films
- Rape and revenge films
- Films directed by Stanislav Govorukhin
- 1990s crime drama films
- 1999 drama films