My iz budushchego

I was a little skeptical about this film and believed it could have been something already told. I mean, future people go back and learn about themselves - its been done before (I am looking at you Marty McFly). What I found made me look at my own environment with different eyes. I was mislead by another reviewers comments about imagining present day men in black and though it to be about 'our present day occupied by an enemy'.

But the story strikes to the values that many seem to hold in a different regard. Today we have t-shirts, mugs and screen-savers paying homage to tyrants, maniacs and killers of years ago and the swastika is tattooed on quite a few arms. I can only imagine how our forefathers, having participated in major conflicts with some of these people would perceive our society which they fought and many died for.

The hero's of the story collect war trinkets for a quick sale at the local pawn shop, they play PC games depicting war scenes and yet it is only after their journey that they truly appreciate the horror of war, the sentiment behind the trinkets and the real human effort that goes into earning the war medals they retrieve from the ground.

That is not to say the film tries to make the present day ashamed of our activities, but engender a deeper appreciation for the gallant efforts of those before us for the love of country and friend. It should be shown in many schools, I do fear one day the US will find this film and try to make an 'English version', of which I am sure they will not do it justice.

This production started with a good concept: a group of young contemporary men who dig up World War II memorabilia for its cash and souvenir value -- one of whom is a skinhead with a swastika tattoo - - are magically transported back in time to the war itself.

While the realization looks very good and I don't have any problems with the script itself, its a long time between sections of dialogue, and it ends up seeming as if the characters and situations have never been fully developed -- which is a shame given such a potentially interesting situation. The period battles are very impressively recreated, but I couldn't help getting the feeling that the producers were so caught up with this aspect of the productions that some of the things that make a really satisfying movie were left out.

The love story that there is seems sketched -- the girl resists and then is suddenly completely in love with the hero. In the end, the protagonists feel the terror of battle over glorious-sounding music and return home humbled. Even this feels like it happened so quickly after they were so recently just trying to get themselves out of there, and it seems like sentimentalization of the "Great Patriotic War" as it is known in Russia.

In a film that is almost two hours long there is really no need for events to seem as rushed as they do, due to set pieces being given precedence at the expense of characters and scenes. Though it's certainly not a complete failure, given the premise it seems like a missed opportunity.