| The 9th Company | |
|---|---|
Film poster |
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| Directed by | Fyodor Bondarchuk |
| Produced by | Alexander Rodnyansky Yelena Yatsura Sergey Melkumov |
| Written by | Yuri Korotkov |
| Starring | Fyodor Bondarchuk Aleksei Chadov Mikhail Evlanov |
| Music by | Dato Evgenidze |
| Cinematography | Maksim Osadchy |
| Editing by | Igor Litoninsky |
| Distributed by | Art Pictures Group |
| Release date(s) | 29 September 2005 |
| Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | Russia Ukraine Finland |
| Language | Russian |
| Budget | $9,500,000 |
| Box office | $25,555,809 |
The 9th Company (Russian: 9 Рота) is a 2005 Russian–Finnish–Ukrainian film directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk about the Soviet War in Afghanistan.
Contents |
The film follows a band of young recruits from a farewell ceremony with friends and family back home. They train in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley where they befriend a local woman who is more than happy to support the morale of the soldiers. On their arrival at Baghram air base they greet soldiers returning home who meet an unfortunate fate on their flight out. The story ends at a bloody battle on a mountain top in Afghanistan against the mujahideen.
The film is loosely based on a real-life battle that took place at Hill 3234 in early 1988, during the last large-scale Soviet military operation Magistral. Numerous Soviet armoured vehicles and aircraft appear in the film which are rarely seen or depicted in Western films.
In the film, only one soldier from the company survives unscathed and the company is said to have been "forgotten" by the military command because of the Soviet withdrawal. In reality, the 9th Company, 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment was pinned down under heavy fire on Hill 3234 between the 7th and 8th of January 1988. They managed to stop 3 attacks by an estimated 200-250 mujahideen. The company lost a total of 6 men. Another 28 out of the total 39 were wounded seriously. Four of the killed soldiers were posthumously awarded the golden star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. The unit was in constant communication with headquarters and got everything the regimental commander, Colonel Valery Vostrotin, could provide in terms of rations, ammunition, reinforcements, and helicopter evacuation of the wounded.[1]
The film received a mixed reaction from the veterans of that war, who pointed to a number of inaccuracies, but nevertheless, judging by ticket sales, was embraced by the general public, and even by Russian President Vladimir Putin.[2] Although first released in 2005, and broadcast on TV in several nations, it was not released in the US until 2010 as a DVD.
Release dates:[3]
The film was released in September 2005 and became a Russian box office hit, generating $7.7 million in its first five days of release alone, a new domestic record.[4]
In 2006, Russia selected the film as its candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film nomination. It was also given the Golden Eagle Award for Best Feature Film by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts.