MovieChat Forums > 9 rota (2005) Discussion > Grozovie vorota + Help

Grozovie vorota + Help

posted 18 years ago by runbone
19 replies | jump to latest

I am looking for information on "Grozovie vorota" or The Thunderstorm Gates. A Russian TV series set in Chechen war. I'm a high school teacher in US and I find showing parts of foreign films helps the students to understand the rest of the world (they pay way more attention to these films because they have to read subtitles or they don't know the story, it works wonders). A buddy of mine told me about Rota 9. Reading the post it looks like some of the folks on here may know how to find more information or have any recommends for a good film about the Chechen conflict I can use or historical films in general (I'm a world history teacher). Any help will be great.

[–] vmkris 18 years ago

Hi there!

"9th company" isn't too historical film. It gaves emotional picture of Afganistan War , not pure historical facts. For example, the whole company but 1 soldier died in the movie's battle and only 6 soviets soldiers died in real one. (The film is based on the real combat story) The most close to reality is "Afganskiy izlom" ("Afganistan break"). It was shot while in USSR period, but during rise of glasnost and is quite free from propaganda.
It's the "Apocalypse today" of Afganistan war.

I live in Moscow but never heared about "Grozovie vorota". But I don't watch TV mutch last time. And what I've read now here: http://www.kinopoisk.ru/level/1/id_film/252003/
tells me, that this is a TV-series about 6th company, that instead of 9th really died all but 2 heavily wounded guys in 2nd war of Chechnya. (200 marines suddenly met more over 2000 chechen gangs while night march, took battle, killed 300, but all died that night before support arrived. That happend in mountains. Disaster were even published in massmedia in real time, but nobody could save em, despite of air support) The comments on site tell that film is not too good.

I don't think we'll see a Russian full-scale blockbuster soon about Chechnya war. The reason is theme is still too painfull for Russia. Don't forget, that that was internal war, even those chechen gangsters (and episodic civilian victims) who killed in that war weree citizens of Russian Federation. So, sitting in the cinema, eating of popcorn and watching like real hell happens in your country is not so fun.
Most nice pictures about Chechen war are of philosophical genre. They rarely have full-scale war scenes and so one nice-looking videos. My favourite film about Chechen war is "Blokpost" (That means "Military Road Post")
Its a story about one of those posts at the end of 1st Chechen wars, wich was under constant sniper's fire of unknown Chechen shooter.
Here are some screenshots: http://kinoclub.by.ru/movies/b/blokpost/frame.shtml?001
This picture is really strong. Must see.

Many like "Voina" ("War") http://www.kinopoisk.ru/id_wall/42695/w_size/1024/id/41431/pole/film/type/wallpaper/page/1/base/popup_wallpaper/ - another film about Chechnya, but I think its too pathetic.

And also there is author's TV film of Alexander Nevzorov - "Chistilishe" ("Purgatory"). That is a real bloody mess. That guy likes to shot nigtmare horrors. He was an athour of bloody-stunning TV show "600 seconds" about crime stories of 90th years in Russia. In "Chistilishe" TV film all nightmares of 1st Chechen war were collected, such details like Russian tank, messing under Chechen fire bodies of Russian soldier's with its tracks - the reason is not to left bodies to muslim fanatics that were like cutting of dead's heads and pulling them to Russians positions with RPG missles. I'm not sure your students will be glad to see such a pictures. I have a strong psychics, but really don't watch that film again. Sometimes pure realism can be not so good.

I will be glad to help you more - you can write me to "vmkris [aaaat] yandex.ru"
I think you have a good purpouse to give to your students another points of view to Chechen war, but stupid Washington Post's propaganda (Some of US press is just a reincarnation of Soviet "Pravda", just a bit in another way)

[–] runbone 18 years ago

Thank you for your comments and help. I can tell that the film is rather a dream rather than a fact filled historical war film. I enjoyed it a great deal. The English subtitles on the copy I got (widescreen) didn't always make sense but I've found that films from Finland with the subtitles made by the Finns tend to also have the wrong English words thus I knew how to handle the Russian to English translation.

I'm always look for films that give another point of view on the events our past. I really enjoy the films which show a great deal of geography, and different landscapes. It lets the children see more of the world even if they never leave there home area. 9th Company does this very well. I may use it in the future.

I understand that a Russian film about the conflict in Chechen War will not come soon, I did enjoy the film "Prisoner of the Mountains". A nice fictional. I would have sent an email but it’s been exams and I've been rather busy, also I help coach the wrestling team, busy time of year. Also I don't know what "vmkris [aaaat] yandex.ru" really the (aaaat) is that the @? Look forward to another post at some time. Rather few folks have answered my questions, but I hope to hear.

Also check out this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgz4WcrgA14
The trailer for the movie has a song put to it. Do you know the tune? Does anyone know the song?

[–] siroza 18 years ago

this song doesn't really connect to the movie. in the comments it says: sings Andrey Derkov from "Tayland" group.

Grozovie vorota - a good movie. some soldiers' actions make more sense than in 9th company. some parts are too naive to be serious.

[–] siroza 18 years ago

http://tay-land.ru/first.shtml

here you can read about that group even in English and if you want to download that song "Tabu" or "Taboo" (sorry) you can do it in a mp3 section.

[–] vmkris 18 years ago

That song sucks.
Check out THIS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxwxX0mjXpA

[–] allblacks-1 18 years ago

That's ma *beep*
It is called: Feel the difference.

[–] drains 17 years ago

That song sucks.
Check out THIS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxwxX0mjXpA

That song is amazing, what is it called and who is it by?

Many thanks if you can help :)

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] naimbakar 17 years ago

Thanks for that Blokpost link, and anyhow even mentioning it's name. Saw that movie few years ago and didnt get its name down at the time, and been hunting it ever since then.

[–] allblacks-1 18 years ago

Try to find these two:
1. Prizoner of the mountains (Kavkazsky plennik).
You can find it on imdb for more information.
2. Purgatory (chistilische).
This one is hard to find even in Russia. It's a brutal, gory movie about the first compain in chechnya. It is pro-russian from one point, but it is definetly a must-see.
Plus you can check out Blockpost (may be known as Checkpoint, Block).
The director here is Alexander Rogozhkin, and he knows how to make movies.

They all are pretty hard to find, but It is worth it.\

So, good luck!

[–] runbone 18 years ago

Thanks. I've seen Prisnor of the Mountains. Good film. Yes I've been looking for Purgatory and having very little luck. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the help. Are you kiwi? If so good luck with the All-Blacks in the Tri-Nations.

[–] bratsk2005 18 years ago

Grozovie Vorota is not a bad film. A little bit like 9th rota, i didnt like the end very much because it was just an impossible one. It is basicly about soldiers protecting some hill, while chechens are summoning a huge army to attack, so those few guys on the hill must hold them off. Pretty interesting movie. Chistilishe is a very brutal movie. About a group of soldiers trying to hold on to a hospital, but again, chechens are all around them. I think it was pretty accurate on how unprepared our troops were. It has a lot of gory moments, like head cutting, and a tank rolling over dead bodies, i found it hard to watch. If you actually do find it, i dont know if it is appropriate for a classroom viewing, but grozovie vorota is.

[–] allblacks-1 18 years ago

No, I'm russian, but thanks for wishing. I don't think I'll be able to watch it, but I hope AB will prevail.

[–] alexr1407 17 years ago

There is a new Russian Govt-sponsored film about Chechnya that has been released-in Russia at least. It's called 'Proriv' (Breakthrough), and similar in outlook to 9 ya Rota.

[–] runbone 17 years ago

Thank you. I will start looking for it. Having an awful time finding good russian war films with english subtitles. I do have an international DVD player but if I don't undertand the words it isn't worth the money to order a film from Eastern Europe. If anyone has a clue how to get some of the films on this tread that folks have named let me know. Thanks.

[–] wiltvid 17 years ago

Hi Runbone

I got Grozovie Vorota with english subtitles from ebay a year ago.
It is quite a good warfilm,and yes very much like 9 Ya Rota.
I have a very large collection of russian war movies, and I buy everyone with english subtitles i can find.I share your philosophy of teaching the young in northamerica about the viewpoints from othercountries. I run an international videostore in Parry Sound Ontario. I promote international movies and I love russian cinema.
Here are some usefull links for you, to get russian movies:

www.ruscico.com
www.russiandvd.com
www.oversystem.com
www.petershop.com
www.alldvd.ca

I could dig out a few more ometime I order them from asia,because they sometimes
add english subtitles on their own initiative :
www.dvdasian.com
www.yesasia.com
www.ethaicd.com
Cheers
Ernst

[–] runbone 17 years ago

Thank you for the links and help. I'll try those outs. Wow, you got Grozovie with English subtitles. I'll see what I can do. Again thanks.

[–] motley_moth 17 years ago

Here are some usefull links for you, to get russian movies:
www.ruscico.com
www.russiandvd.com
www.oversystem.com
www.petershop.com
www.alldvd.ca

From this list, only RusCiCo.com, PeterShop.com, and AllDVD.ca sell legal copies. RusCiCo.com is the website of the Russian Cinema Council, which produces high-quality DVD editions of classic Russian films. They only sell their own DVD's at their website. AllDVD.ca is "remodeling" right now, and is offline. In the meantime, you can buy from their partner sites DVDigitall.com (English) and DVDigital.ru (Russian).

The remaining two are run by the Russian-speaking Armenian mafia in "Banditskiy" Brighton Beach, New York. When President Reagan pressured the USSR to let Jews immigrate to the USA in the early 1980's, the KGB played a trick on us: they solved many of their problems with Jewish organized criminals by sending them to America. Their strongholds are Brighton Beach, New York, and Miami Beach, Florida. Since they speak Russian, many people mistake them for the Russian mafia, which actually doesn't have that strong a presence in the USA.

The main perpetrators are the Rabinowitz brothers, two Armenian Jews who came to New York in the mid-1980's. They run RussianDVD.com. Their old website was RBCMp3.com. They are the center of a multi-million dollar bootlegging industry that floods the USA with phoney Russian-language DVD's and CD's. Between 60% and 80% of what is sold in Russian-America is one of their bootlegs. Some of their notable bootlegs were "Cheburashka" and "Night Watch". Both of these ended up in multi-million dollar lawsuits. "By Jove Films", the legal owners of "Cheburashka" in North America, were almost destroyed by their court costs before they eventually won a settlement, but the loss of expected revenue from licensing fees forced the creator, Soyuzmultfilm in Moscow, into bankruptcy. Fox, the legal owners of "Night Watch" in North America, is currently suing the Rabinowitz brothers over their notorious NTSC bootleg of "Night Watch", which said on the cover, in English, "Night Watch - In the Style of Blade and Underworld - European Box Office Smash Hit." They sold millions of these between late 2004 and mid 2005 out of Brighton Beach at $25 each before Fox sued and called the FBI in to shut them down.

They fix prices, force retailers to sell their bootlegs, forge distribution agreements, and attack those selling legal products with frivolous lawsuits. They are criminals, and have been known to threaten those who resist them. AllDVD was actually forced to move to Canada to get away from them -- that's why AllDVD is in Canada and not the USA!

I could dig out a few more ometime I order them from asia, because they sometimes add english subtitles on their own initiative:
www.dvdasian.com
www.yesasia.com
www.ethaicd.com

These are all Asian bootleggers. Do you really believe that they could just add English subtitles on their "own initiative"?

I got Grozovie Vorota with english subtitles from ebay a year ago.

That's a bootleg. There are no legal copies with English subtitles. If you want to see whether a legal version with English subtitles is available, check DVDigitall.com. If there is a legal version with English subtitles, they will know about it and sell it. Here's what they have. Notice there are no English subtitles --

"Grozovie vorota" at DVDigitall: http://www.dvdigitall.com/dvd/w6006

Most DVD's of Russian films on eBay are bootleg. The inexpensive $7-$9 bootlegs are from Asia or Ukraine. The more expensive $20-$22 bootlegs are from "Banditskiy" Brighton Beach, New York. Most Russian CD's are Brighton Beach bootlegs, as well. RussianDVD systematically drives all those who sell legal products off eBay by false claims of distribution rights and threats of lawsuits. eBay is a major outlet for Brighton Beach bootlegs.

I run an international videostore in Parry Sound Ontario. I promote international movies and I love russian cinema.
If you run a videostore, then you should know better than to promote bootlegs.

[–] wiltvid 17 years ago

Hi Motley Moth
Thank you for clarifying the dealer situation. I had no idea.
I have about 500 russian titles in my store, how can I identify the legal copy
from the illegal ?
Is "Master And Marguerita " (3 DVD set edition from CP Digital with english subtitles a bootkleg too ? I also recived it from russiandvd.com , for about
$60.00. I want to promote the russian movie industry, not to hurt it.
Why is the russian movie industry not endorsing more of their great titles with english subtitles ? Is that sooo expensive ? And it would take the wind out of the bootleggers sails.