widthThe title of the movie pays tribute to Robert Bresson, and the high-concept screenplay throws its hat on the fugitive. The movie is actually its own beast, a cheerful cat-and-mouse set in the Soviet Union. horror film Russia Everyone is a subject, even the responsible soldier. It is Leningrad in the late 1930s, and the great purge is in full swing. The captain longed for salvation and entered heaven at the last moment. At the same time, he runs like a rabbit in hell.
Yuri Borisov plays Volkonogov, a strong bald man of the National Security Agency who absconded with a folder containing a list of the dead. His plan is to inform the family members who still send socks, scarves and letters to the Gulag every week, believing that their relatives are still alive and will be released one day. The truth is shocking, but it also brings an end. Volkonogov believes that if he can persuade a person to forgive him, his own soul may be saved.
The settings of Aleksey Chupov and Natasha Merkulova’s films are mechanical processing and schematic diagrams; the hostage of fate must be fully fulfilled in the future. But it does not matter. When the captain goes from one name to another, it sets the direction of travel and provides a powerful narrative engine. Following him through the dust and rubble of the city is Major Golovnya (Timofey Tribuntsev), who suffers from lung disease and is trying to persevere. The captain knew that the major would kill him if he caught him. The major knew that the colonel would kill him if he failed. The Russian command system is a series of murderers, each with a knife on the back of the person in front.
No wonder Volkonogov despaired of all this. This movie shows us a country that has slipped through the mirror. In this brightly lit hall of mirrors, nothing is true except for the high-decision things. The “arrest schedule” needs to be met on a daily basis, and the “reassessment” always involves the death penalty. In a creepy scene, a Soviet military officer smirked and admitted that the person they were targeting was not a real spy or terrorist. However, the problem is that they are unreliable and cannot be trusted in a crisis. “They are innocent now,” the officer concluded. “But they will plead guilty later.”
Volkonogov is at large, but the title is misleading. No one can escape this world, and no one even gets away with impunity for a long time. The captain himself is a master of torture, execution, and the logic of the country’s Catch-22. He understands this like anyone else. The release he wants is not a physical release.
Captain Volkogonov Escaped is a bullish middleweight contender in this year’s lineup. Its attack line is relentless, continuous hammering rain, but it never feels particularly gloomy or heavy. If anything, Chubov and Merkulova’s handling of the material is almost joking, and they chose to portray Stalin’s Russia as a nightmare indifferent comedy. The scene of Volkonogov in handcuffs trying to get rid of the captives is a bit farce, while the depiction of national security mobs wearing sparkling bullets and ruby tights is an absurd camp. One of the most vivid residents of this horror chamber is the state executioner, a Leningrad legend who was flattered by military officers. Wearing a tie and apron, he gently adjusted the tilt of everyone’s head, like a kind old barber, seduce his customers one by one.
