Voroshilov Sharpshooter (film)
| The Voroshilov Shooter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Stanislav Govorukhin |
| Produced by | Yevgeni Golynsky |
| Written by |
Aleksandr Borodyanskiy Stanislav Govorukhin Yuri Polyakov Viktor Pronin |
| Starring |
Mikhail Ulyanov Anna Sinyakina Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov |
| Cinematography | Gennadi Engstrem |
| Edited by | Vera Kruglova |
Release date |
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The Voroshilov Sharpsooter (Russian: Ворошиловский стрелок, translit. Voroshilovskiy strelok, named after a badge for markmanship) is a 1999 Russian action and drama film directed by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the book Woman on Wednesdays (Russian: Женщина по средам translit. Zhenshchina po sredam) by Viktor Pronin. The concept loosely resembles the "rape and revenge" genre. The film became successful with numerous awards given for the film including the prestigious Russian Guild of Film Critics 1999 for best actor by Mikhail Ulyanov. It also has 1 win and 3 nominations for Nika Awards.
Plot
In the late 1990s, a World War II veteran, Ivan Afonin, lives with his granddaughter Katya. In a nearby flat, three bored unemployed youth, Vadim Pashutin, Boris Chukhanov and Igor Zvorygin, kill time by designating Wednesdays as a day of sexual gratification. They manage to lure Katya to their flat and rape her. Initially the offenders are arrested, however Vadim's father is a senior figure in the police and uses his influence to have the charges against his son and his friends dropped.
Frustrated at the offenders having escaped justice, Ivan sells his dacha and buys a silenced SVD sniper rifle from an illegal weapons trader. A neighbour has left him the keys to her flat directly in front of and overlooking the offenders’ flat, so that he can look after the parrot. From there he begins to administer vigilante justice. Taking care not to kill the offenders, he instead cripples them. First, he shoots Zvorygin's genitals (which diverges from the book, where he shot the student's leg). Secondly, he ignites Chukhanov's car by shooting the gas tank: although Chukhanov survives, the lower half of his body is severely burnt.
Vadim's father figures out that Ivan must be behind both accidents, ordering the search of Ivan's house and the second flat. However, police find nothing (Alexei, the local police watcher, had found and hid the rifle in his own house a day before that). Still, the father threatens Ivan, saying that should anything happen to his son, he will face severe consequences. Ivan interrupts him, saying that something has already happened (meaning that Vadim becoming a rapist clearly shows something has happened to him). The father, however, takes his words literally, and rushes home, shooting out the door lock to open it (not knowing paranoid Vadim has barricaded the door). Following the shot, Vadim shoots back through the door, wounding his father and, after days of fright, losing his sanity.
In the epilogue, Ivan finds Katya (not knowing anything of Vadim's fate) back at home, as she recovers completely. Alexei tells Ivan of the hidden rifle and unofficially confiscates it.
Cast
- Mikhail Ulyanov as Ivan Fyodorovich Afonin, pensioner
- Anna Sinyakina as Katya Afonina, Ivan Fyodorovich's granddaughter
- Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov as Nikolai Petrovich Pashutin, police colonel, Vadim's father'
- Vladislav Galkin as Aleksxei Podberezkin, local policeman
- Irina Rozanova as Olga Ivanovna Afonina, Katya's mother
- Ilya Drevnov as Vadim Pashutin
- Alexei Makarov as Boris Chukhanov
- Marat Basharov as Igor Zvorygin
- Sergei Garmash as police captain Koshaev
- Vladimir Semago as investigator
- Georgiy Martirosyan as prosecutor
Reactions
The film proved controversial, for its graphic and violent features with some film critics describing it as "a call to violence." [1]
Several subsequent real life cases have been compared to the film.[2][3]