Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A documentary highlighting the Soviet Union's legendary and enigmatic hockey training culture and world-dominating team through the eyes of the team's Captain Slava Fetisov, following his shift from hockey star and celebrated national hero to political enemy.
Red Army is a sharply conceived sports documentary that transcends its genre by framing Soviet hockey as a lens for Cold War politics, ideology, and human dignity. Fetisov is a compelling and charismatic subject, and director Gabe Polsky extracts candid, often uncomfortable moments from his interviewees. The novelty is genuine — it treats hockey as high culture and political theater simultaneously, offering a perspective on Soviet life rarely seen in Western sports filmmaking. Cinematography is functional but not remarkable, blending archival footage with talking heads in a competent but conventional documentary style. The narrative arc is engaging but occasionally loses momentum, and the ending, while emotionally satisfying, does not fully resolve some of the film's deeper political threads.