| | |  | Ballets & Classics | Home » » » Bastards / Svolochi [NTSC] [English Subtitles] | | | | | | | Product Details: | | | Director:
| Aleksandr Atanesyan | | Format:
| NTSC, Color, Subtitled, DVD, Import | | Subtitle:
| English | | Studio:
| Vox Video | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 10 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| All | |
| $8.39 | New | | | $8.40 | New | | | $8.41 | New | | | $12.99 | Used
- Mint | |
| New | |
| $8.39 | New | | | $8.40 | New | | | $8.41 | New | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 10 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 44 found the following review helpful:
 Not a kids Drty Dozen!Jul 14, 2007
By Gregory W. Curry
FANTASTIC! I was expecting a sort of foreign kids Dirty Dozen with wooden acting. The kids were great, the adults were sympathetic, and the action was used only when necessary. This movie has SOUL. I highly recommend this to any WWII History class. The movie would appear to be one of those that could not have been made before the breakup of the Soviet Union because of the digs the movie makes at the failure of the socialist system to give aide to the outcasts of society, as well as the treatment of non-conformists within the adult community. At the same time, it maintains the Russian tradition seen in My Name is Ivan, of glorifying the individual soldier rather than well known heroes. The only drawback is at the end, the voice-overs from the kids were not subtititled. The DVD extras were not subtitiled either but it was interesting watching the boys acting like all boys do while in between shooting scenes.
The movie does not hit you over the head with sentimentality but I found myself crying at the end. Please give this movie a look. You can watch it in horror at the depressing conditions and situations or view it with appreciation at the love and commradary soldiers ultimatly share with one another.
23 of 26 found the following review helpful:
Plz buy a Region Free DVD player.Dec 07, 2007
By Stephen Thoemmes
"All sins are just efforts to fill voids."
Because if you don't you will miss out on great movies like this.
Being of Russian descent I was curious about this movie. I loved it. Even when the sub-titles were lacking, my poor Russian picked up so many nuances that just can't be translated. There are scenes that are upsetting, and the tone is of infinite sadness of the Russian soul. In spite of that, the movie does not sink into hopelessness. Of course, the ending is unexpected and superb.
This film rings true to all that I know of the Soviets and true to all that I've experienced of the Russian people.
17 of 20 found the following review helpful:
 It's not that bad, but...Mar 10, 2009
By Joe
"Joe"
The DVD cover is misleading, all the actors are fully clothed in heavy winter wear 97% of time. I know this sounds superficial and somewhat deranged; sorry I yam what I yam. Second the script is really lame, perhaps the sub titles lost a LOT in translation. I do not get the unexplained fondness the training guards developed for the cadets. They were like Santa Claus giving them extra care and affection. I thought it was going to be a rough ordeal.
The cinematography and acting were good. Storyline is nice but there is nothing original to the ending.
The DVD I got played just fine on my 8 year old Mintek DVD player and I live in the United States. Captioning the ' DVD extras' at the end of the movie would have been nice as they may have proved more entertaining than the movie.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
TouchingJul 31, 2008
By PJR
Why did I find this film to be so touching? Probably one needs to be Russian to find the words. There was some kind of tenderness in the very hard old and young hearts that was for me compelling without being over dramatized. There was a tone of sadness and resignation without asking for pity -- just offering understanding without being preachy.
The basic story has been outlined well by others. Under Stalin during the war street boys who robbed and murdered could be punished as adults and were to be executed. There was a plan to take groups of them and train them for special missions against the Germans. Why such kids? From the subtitles and only one watching I could not be sure, but apparently because they were good at sneaking around and breaking into secure places and were not shy about killing and did not frighten easily.
It was very interesting how things were worked out socially in the training camp among young and old.
The gangster that had been put in charge was a very interesting fellow -- practical? cold-hearted? warm-hearted? sentimental? unsentimental? Clearly a very feeling person, but disciplined at partitioning his feelings.
It was worth watching if only for the beautiful photography of the mountain settings -- again not overdone, but very rich.
Of course the story was remarkable in the sense that one wonders if juvenile criminals were really trained as special soldiers in WWII. That would be fascinating news to me and the possibility drew me to and into the film. I will try to do some research on this general issue, whether or not this particular event actually took place. I pulled some comments off another website that were good leads and will next share them here. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460012/plotsummary
"A "Hitlerjugend" kind of story, set in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, based on a fictitious story from the eponymous book by Vladimir Kunin. The Red Army has a gang of juveniles for a clandestine operation against the Nazis. The boys are trained by a dangerous crime lord at a top secret boot camp. They are doomed to die in the mission, or after it, just to keep it a secret. Written by Steve Shelokhonov"
"Based on a true story of teen criminals in the Soviet Union during World War 2. As alternative to prison they are trained in the mountains of Armenia for a mission in Nazi Germany to blow up an important installation. All but one boy dies. Most die during the rigorous training & some die in Germany. It is still unsure what is exactly true or not according to what faction one speaks with, but surely the fact that at the awards ceremony it was a heated moment amongst believers and non believers that the event ever took place. Written by William Scharf"
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Bastards: Who?Nov 22, 2010
By Michael Kerjman
This is a story of orphan kids-convicted criminals, barely reaching their teen age, surviving hardship of the WWII-devastated USSR/Russia, used to mortally-dangerous military projects by cruel Stalinist commanders, these teens affairs both mutual and with world surrounding.
Cynical, rude, explicitly-machos performance produced talentedly for understanding the original dialogues especially.
It is somehow alike Scum but much deeper.
See all 10 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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