Product Details

• Actors: Vladimir Zamansky, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Oleg Vasilkov, Roman Grekov, Valeri Troshin
• Directors: Hussein Erkenov
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Russian
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Water Bearer
• DVD Release Date: October 17, 2000
• Run Time: 71 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004YKRL
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,709 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #63 in	Movies & TV > Military & War > International
  #77 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > European Cinema > Russia
  #80 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Original Language > Russian

• For more information about "100 Days Before the Command" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Mythical --Time Out

Product Description
Visually astonishing, erotically charged and emotionally jarring. 100 Days Before the Command is Hussein Erkenov's courageous and stinging indictment of Communism. Five young Red Army recruits struggle for survival against the merciless violence that surrounds them on a daily basis. Their only means of saving their dignity is by preserving the humanity and compassion they share for each other. Although not an overtly gay film, Erkanov's 100 Days Before the Command is remarkably direct in it's homoerotic imagery and subtexts. The film includes scenes where the soldiers share an intimacy and tenderness that is far removed from the brutality of most of their waking hours. (Amazingly all the roles are played by real life soldiers except one professional actor.) Banned by Soviet censors upon its initial release, Erkenov was forced to create his own sales company in order for the film to be screened at the 1995 Berlin Film Festival. 100 Days Before the Command is a unique entry into the world of post cold war film making from behind the former Iron Curtain.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Behind the lines, life in the soviet military, January 11, 2001

By	"thecriticalbishop" (London, England United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

Enigmatic and at sometimes a surreal film about the day to day monotomy and futility of the lives of a group of conscript Russian soldiers. The film is stark and bare, the actors largely former recruits and the film style moves from dream sequences to fly on the wall documentary.

Its hardly surprising this film was banned in the then Soviet Union - its harsh and disturbing view of conscript life is unreservedly critical, the visual presentation is almost hauntingly homo-erotic at times and as such the film isn't going to be a hit with authorities trying to conscript youths to military service where military life is marked by its drabness, un-ending boredom and the use of humiliation and bullying.

The acting is naturalistic and realistic, the players gritty and real. The viewer is left in no doubt that national service behind the Iron Curtain was neither glamourous nor particularly pleasant.

Well worth a spin if your into foreign films and like a challenging film, not for those who like Top Gun or Stripes.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good look at Russian boot camp, May 21, 2002

By	J. Kersh (Tallahassee, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 100 Days Before the Command [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Excellent movie. The film quality and color were above average. It is a somewhat surreal look at young men enduring life in a typical Russian boot camp setting. Haunting and powerful. You will want to watch this movie more than once. You will understand why this movie was banned in Russia. Not exactly a recruiting tool for the Red Army.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A timely meditation on the absurdity of war, February 15, 2003

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

At this moment in our history we need all the input about the multiple facets of the hideous War Machine that has an apparent strangle hold on every country on the planet. In this Russian meditation, 100 DAYS BEFORE THE COMMAND, we are shown the behind-locked-doors view of youth preparing to become soldiers and leaders of soldiers. On the surface the director's eye seems to be telling us that 'boot camp' for these VERY young appearing boys is no more than a summer camp experience. But then he gradually shows the darker, terrifying side of what preparing these innocents for war produces - suffering, self-doubt, death, alienating behaviour, dreams and nightmares. There is an incredible sense of innocence in the eyes of these youth, and a groping for comradery that lightly brushes on eroticism. The multiple nude scenes seem to be offending more people than the Russian censors, but they are some of the more tender and tangible scenes in this meandering film about questioning our place and mindsets in the propagation of war leaders. Of note, in this very Russian film, the music used in the background is all Bach - excerpts form the Passions, cantatas - instead of works by Russian composers. This adds another dimension to this apparent 'paean' for world peace. This film is not for everyone, especially not for those who still have difficulty with male nudity.........