9th Company (2005)

Pretty Good

Let's be realistic.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

a different perspective. less heroic. more human. about fragility, friendship, errors, sacrifice and the importance of the other. a film about men in middle of terror. and about war. not as example of blockbuster's subject, not as fresco of cruelty and victories, far by romantic nuances or dark circles. only a honest picture about few men looking survive. a film who reminds a sort of innocence and force and courage and old fashion support for be in real, deep sense , yourself. one of Russian films who are not an artistic success but a story about life who defines things, events, sacrifice and purpose of facts in different, nuanced light.

I've watched 9 rota over 10 times. 9 rota is the movie that turned my opinion for the Russian war movies. I've never seen better movie about the war in Afghanistan. There weren't heroes, there weren't glory and medals...only pain, caused by political decisions. There weren't even winners and losers...it was a lost war from the beginning till the end. There was a friendship between brothers, difficulties, small victories and fear. All the characters in the movie were brilliant chosen ! The actors played fantastic their roles. Different persons with same destiny...pain and death. Compliments to the producers and directors of the movie, that they showed a realistic point of view to the war...a point of view of the simple man. They could produced heroes and glorious soviet army ! Instead, they made a real masterpiece. Thank you. Your movie is beloved in Bulgaria !

I was born and raised in Poland (until I was 18) and came to US 23 years ago. The reason WHY I mention it upfront is to make it understood that I viewed this film from the "Communist" and "Capitalist" perspective/indoctrination... and I didn't like anything about this movie. There is nothing original about the movie. There is nothing compelling (to me) about this movie. Just a very poor re-cycling of old Hollywoody clichés (like the helicopter raising behind a heroic soldier... or a reprimanded commander who is itching to get back in the fight, but who is prohibited from doing so). The scene where "the commander" is sitting in the field of red-poppy-seeds crying - is just such unsophisticated and clichedy scene that it evolved laughter in me instead of compassion which no doubt the director was shooting for. If you really want to see Russian war drama, a real tension, than nothing beats the old and tested "Seventeen Moments of Spring".

A Russian war film that follows the exploits of a band of green soldiers as they undergo basic training before flying to Afghanistan, where they will take part in Russia's ill-attempted war in that country in the late 1980s.Having never watched a Russian war film before, I was excited about this one. Unfortunately, where 9TH COMPANY falls down is in its slavish adherence to war movie clichés and plot themes familiar from dozens of Hollywood movies that have come before. FULL METAL JACKET s a particular reference point as it follows that film's structure down to the smallest detail.Recent Russian cinema has a tendency to be bombastic and over-the-top, as was the case with recent vampire hit NIGHT WATCH. Here we get lots of overblown slow motion, drawn out scenes of the utmost emotion and some ridiculously over the top moments of melodrama.Sadly, it's also a film roughly twice as long as it needs to be, with long scenes of male bonding and dialogue that really drained my energy. The characters are bland and as a whole the cast has few standouts, although the deranged drill sergeant is a highlight. The climax is a bit silly but generally exciting and well-staged, a shot of adrenaline at the end of an otherwise sometimes sleep-inducing experience.This isn't a bad film by any means, but Kubrick did it first.