Brat 2: What is the Russian Idea?
“Brat 2” is a Russian criminal drama directed by Alexei Balabanov, which was released in 2000 as a sequel to “Brat” filmed in 1997. “Brat 2” was awarded “Zolotaya Roza” and this film’s website won the National Award in the nomination of “Representation of Cultural Event” (Wikipedia 2019). The film starts with the episode where Danila Bagrov and his two friends, Gromov and Setevoy, are the guests on Ivan Demidov’s TV show. Later, Danila found that Gromov was killed, and the reason for that was his will to help his brother in solving financial issues that he had with American criminal businessman, Mannis. In order to finish Gromov’s will and have revenge for his friend’s death, Danila decides to fly to the United States and deal with Mannis.“Brat 2” is the film that represents the Russian culture after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The popular myths about the period of the 90s are majorly associated with the crisis, issues with unemployment, racketeers, and others. After a period of strict control, people were trying to enjoy freedom as much as it is possible, which consequently has led to the chaos in the country. The film illustrates that the reality is similar to the myths, and demonstrates it through the shootings when Danila and Setevoy can easily buy weapons from someone in the basement; when Gromov was killed and no one was punished, and other similar situations. In this case, the film justifies the myth about the 90s by illustrating Danila’s and his surroundings’ life and actions.During the era of chaos and mess, one of the most discussable topics in the country was the Russian idea. “Brat 2” considers the Russian idea through the lens of the main character, Danila Bagrov. It could be mentioned that an important question of the film was: “What is the power, brother?". Danila himself answers: “Is it the money? My brother also says that in money. You have a lot of money, and what? I think that power is in truth; the one who has the truth is stronger!”, and this Danila’s seek for the truth represents one main part of the Russian idea. Another component of Russian idea is illustrated through his phrase “Russians do not leave Russians in war”, which is described in the episode with Dasha. This form of patriotism and love to their compatriots is another part of Russian idea represented through Danila’s character. This shows that in “Brat 2”, the Russian idea is about truth and patriotism, where Danila attempts to value these two more than anything else.Apart from “Brat 2”, the Russian idea had also been discussed in the book “Generation P”, published by Victor Pelevin in 1999. In the book, the main character Vavilen Tatarskii and others were searching for the Russian idea, and were attempting to create it through the media. Interestingly, this Russian idea was present in “Brat 2” which was released in 2000. The New York taxi driver said: “the Russian idea, Patriot, Dostoevskii, and Power”, and these topics were also mentioned in Pelevin’s “Generation P”, which describes the Russian idea in three words. Another similarity that is present between these two works is the relation of two countries, the United States and Russia. In Pelevin’s “Generation P”, they were implementing the products from western countries and it was assumed that everything that comes from the US is evil. In “Brat 2”, the abovementioned taxi driver said: “Where is your homeland, son? Gorbachev sold your homeland to the Americans to get a beautiful life. Today, the homeland is where the ass is warm, and you know it better than me.” Additionally, the director of the film demonstrates the contrast between Russians who live in Russia and those who migrated to the United States through the image of Dasha, who was working as a prostitute. She was working in terrible conditions until Danila helped and saved her from American gangsters. Balabanov demonstrates that in a foreign state nobody will help Russians apart from compatriots. From this context, it could be seen that both, Pelevin and Balabanov, illustrate the United States as a source of evil that harms Russia and its citizens.When I was watching the film, I felt that “Brat 2” is like an American gangster film, where Danila’s character is similar to “nigga gangster from Ghetto”, but “covered” with the Russian idea. In particular, Danila was able to do various types of weapons and was killing people with no compassion. It was illustrated in the episodes in America, where he entered the building and was able to kill several people in a row. It seems like in these episodes, screenwriter includes the components of the unrealistic thriller. Danila is a gangster that was “covered” with the Russian idea because his actions are illustrated to be done for sake of truth and patriotism. One of the disputable issues that remains here is whether his character is positive or negative.Generally, “Brat-2” is a film that impressed me a lot and helped to visually understand everything that I have heard about the 90s. I think that this film helped to fulfill the image of the 90s in the eyes of a post-90s generation. The quality of the film is the highest for that period. Compared to “Brat”, the first part of the film, the images in “Brat 2” look brighter, and significant improvement in the shootings and montage could be observed. However, the idea of a criminal atmosphere is still kept. This could be seen from the close-up and long shots in the film, which focuses on how Danila worked with gunpowder and weapons; how he uses these guns and how did he kill people in details. Also, these shots are accompanied by soundtracks as “Posledniaia pesnya” by Butusov, “Are you gangsters” by “S.P.O.R.T.” and others (Wikipedia 2019). I think that these moments assist to feel the stressful atmosphere of the film and assist to realize the trueness of the myths from the 90s.
