Transit (2006)

People are voting emotionally.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

First of all I was all in desire to watch this film only for one actual reason - this reason has the name - Daniil Strakhov. I have never seen him in the full screen picture so that was interesting, but when I saw it I have found out that this is a very good work - in general this film makes a very good impression from the point of the view on the history of the Soviet Union.......not in general meaning but on some specific aspects - political question was revealed very well. I loved the stories - a lot of personal stories told in the film. There was no main hero and everyone was important to the plot. Couple of words about the plot of the film: the story starts in the North of Russia - near the border with Alyaska in early 1940s.....where American pilots transit planes to the Soviet pilots to combat Germans....... Everything else is to be seen by your own eyes and heard by your own ears.

More dispersed than the life and death story of Rogozhkin's "The Cuckoo," "Peregon" ("Transit") still has the same patience with practical procedures. There is a very plausible reconstruction of a World War II Siberian airbase, done presumably on a much lower budget than the sets of Spielberg's "Empire or the Sun" and with less bedazzlement, but with a better sense of individuals, social dynamics, relation to the civilian population, and political complexity. The airplanes here have mechanics and pilots. Like an Altman movie, "Peregon" follows many complex individuals, but it also gives a sense of the overriding Soviet culture during the war years. It succeeds in representing people working within history.

Rogozhkin is famous as a comedy maker. So when I saw the movie first time I was waiting for a comedy. But it was not a comedy (it had some funny moments but their amount is not enough to let to call it a comedy) so I was disappointed. But then I thought about my impressions and I understood that the movie had a lot of charm.During WWII the USA sent planes to the USSR. Some of the planes flew to the USSR on their own. A net of intermediate airfields was organized in undeveloped areas of the USSR from Chukotka, the territory that was closest to Alyaska, to the Urals. Some pilots used to drive the planes from their airfield to the next one, then they used to return on their airfield and were waiting for a new party of planes from the previous airfield.The movie describes the life on one of such airfields in Chukotka. That was the first airfield of the airfield net. American pilots used to drive there 'Aircobras' from Alyaska and then Soviet pilots used to drive them to the West, to the next airfield inside of the USSR.The Soviet pilots who operated from the airfield were young guys. In the beginning of the movie the twelve young pilots were waiting for the planes and were looking how the American pilots were landing on those planes. Suddenly it turned out that all the twelve American pilots were young pretty girls. Then those guys and girls used to meet again and again in the airfield.But the movie is not only about those pilots. The movie is about the life on the airfield. The movie has got no main hero.Also the image of the Americans is very good in the movie. The Soviet and Americans behaved to one another as friends. The Americans were played by American actors. And the "Aircobras" are looked real. Sometimes soft American music of the 40th plays and it attaches very good atmosphere to the movie scenes. The Russian DVD I bought has got English subtitles.So I RECOMMEND to everyone to buy this movie. It is really good movie and it stands out against a background of the stream of the mediocre modern Russian military movies that have been produced in the last years.

I saw this flick yesterday and I was awed by the flaws of it.Later Russian films tend to be more sufficient,modern with better actors,bigger budget and less Russian propaganda.This here thing has followed the steps of cheap Hollywood filmmakers,with their leader in front - Uwe Boll.Peregon really reminds of some off Uwe's masterpieces.Throughout the movie,nothing happens.I mean NOTHING.Some guy gets drunk,chases a woman,then again the same.It's kinda comical.Then there's the drama for all you romance lovers,but you cant really make out who loves who.There is some action in Peregon,really,cross my heart...about 8 minutes of flying planes.What a crock,I wasted two hours of my life,just to go to sleep at 1 AM in the morning and haven't seen a single scene which I liked.So if you kept reading and didn't get it - try to avoid this "masterpiece".