It’s not a horror movie, but a number of scary movie tropes are utilized in this 2007 Russian satire. The horror angle is quite appropriate given the setting and time period: the Soviet Union in the 1980s. The director was the late Alexei Balabanov (1959-2013), whose previous films include the eccentric likes of BROTHER (1997), OF FREAKS AND MEN (1998) and THE STOKER (2010). CARGO 200 (GRUZ 200) was his most controversial film, having been rejected by the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals, and pissing off just as many critics as it enchanted.
It begins with Liza, the daughter of a high-ranking colonel. Her fiancée, the worthless Valera, heads off by himself to an underground dance club one night. There he meets the seemingly hot-to-trot Angelica, who is likewise the daughter of a powerful political figure.
Artyom, a college professor, is driving to his parents’ apartment when his car breaks down. He heads to a nearby farm and meets up with a creep named Alexei, who promises to help. First, though, they get into a lengthy discussion about atheism, which the professor is all for and Alexei isn’t. The atmosphere in the house quickly grows tense and oppressive, and the argument devolves into a shouting match.
Valera, meanwhile, drives off with Angelica but crashes his car. He heads off in search of help, and ends up in Alexei’s house. Valera and Alexei, we learn, are related, which is of no help to Angelica, who unwisely follows Valera to the house, much to her everlasting regret.
At the same time Liza’s father is attempting to deal with the masses of Russian corpses being shipped back from Afghanistan, referred to as cargo 200. All of these plot strands—Artyom visiting his parents, Valera attempting to score, Angelica getting in over her head with unsavory types and the cargo 200 shipments—eventually intersect (no fair revealing how).
The opening scenes are deliberately disjointed and uneventful, as the film thrives on the unexpected. Alexei Balabanov had a gift for controlled chaos, turning out a tightly controlled and gruesomely funny film (inspired, loosely, by William Faulkner’s SANCTUARY), that systematically leads its viewers astray in a succession of genuinely unpredictable, and often unpredictably perverse, twists.
The eighties vibe is well conveyed through fashions, hairstyles and décor (portable cassette players, etc.), and also the soundtrack, which is littered with Russian pop tunes from the era. Equally well conveyed is the appallingly casual violence committed by rural psychos and high ranking authorities, revealing a shockingly amoral world where seemingly everybody is bloodthirsty and corrupt. How accurate all this is I can’t say, but Balabanov’s skillfully achieved evocation of a very particular time and place is to be admired.
Vital Statistics
CARGO 2000 (GRUZ 200)
CTB Film Company
Director: Alexey Balabanov
Producers: Sergey Selyanov, Maksim Ukhanov
Screenplay: Alexey Balabanov
Cinematography: Alexander Simonov
Editing: Tatyana Kuzmichyova
Cast: Alexey Serebryakov, Leonid Gromov, Yuri Stepanov, Agniya Kuznetsova, Alexey Poluyan, Leonid Bichevin, Natalya Akimova, Yuriy Stepanov, Mikhail Skryabin