The documentary "Red Army" does not dissapoint

On Sunday morning, I was lucky enough to see Gabe Polsky's documentary Red Army as part of the Talk Cinema series at the Coolidge Corner theater. Here's the real short version: See this movie.

The movie follows the life and career of Viacheslav Fetisov, from playing as a kid and making it into the Red Army camp, to playing in Canada as a 16-year-old with the Red Army junior team, through the Miracle on Ice, his captaining CCCP to two olympic gold medals, and so on. Slava Fetisov, now Minister of Sport in Russia, is a great interview and has a lot of interesting things to say. Even when they show moments between interviews..

The movie is filled with delightful little Fetisov moments. Some of my favorites include when they cut together Fetisov's reactions in the present day with highlights of old tournaments. And that's why the documentary is great - not only do you get to see him sit there and look like he wants to die while the United States wins gold in 1980, but by the time you're hearing how happy Fetisov was to win gold in '84, you're right there with him cheering him on.

The movie then follows Fetisov to New Jersey, to Detroit, and to bringing the Stanley Cup to Moscow. It does a good job of making Fetisov out to be a hero of sorts. I don't want to spoil any more, I do want to say: go see this movie. Red Army is being released officially on January 22, 2015.

Here's the trailer: