K-19, the movie...

[Boroda]

Anyone seen it yet?

People on Russian forums say it is the first movie where Hollywood pictures Soviet servicemen with real respect...

I have heard that Western people say it's very good, but doesn't have commercial success. Is it really so?

I wonder, if it will be unsuccessfull in the West - will our movie theaters owners bother to buy it?... Now the super-hit is MIB-2, replacing Attack of the Clones. "Zvezda" (Star), a biggest WWII movie since Soviet times lasted in the theateres for 2 weeks, no place in Moscow shows it now

[Sikboy]

K-19 was a very kind look at the Soviet Navy, coming from the eyes of an American Squid.  In my opinion, the filmmakers treated the subject with the same care they would have treated the Story of the Scorpion or the Thresher. The Individual Sailors were made out to be heros (as they were) and the problems often associated with Sea life (getting blitzed on radiator booze fermented in a shampoo bottle for example) are kept to a minimum.

However, as a Russian, I don't know how you will react to the indictment of the Soviet system, and the problems of construction and engineering within that system.  

To sum up:
Soviet Sailors=Heros
Soviet Command Economy=Villian

-Sikboy

PS: It's my favorite movie of the summer, with much more intensity and drama than most of the other blockbusters. It should make 100 million, but I don't think it will go much over that until it goes overseas.

[Udie]

Originally posted by Boroda
Anyone seen it yet?

People on Russian forums say it is the first movie where Hollywood pictures Soviet servicemen with real respect...

I have heard that Western people say it's very good, but doesn't have commercial success. Is it really so?

I wonder, if it will be unsuccessfull in the West - will our movie theaters owners bother to buy it?... Now the super-hit is MIB-2, replacing Attack of the Clones. "Zvezda" (Star), a biggest WWII movie since Soviet times lasted in the theateres for 2 weeks, no place in Moscow shows it now

 I want to see it, but I'll probably wait for it to hit the DVD shelves.  Oh and please don't judge us by what movies are popular  EEEEK that could give somebody a bad impression of the USA

 So the guys over there are saying it's accurate?   It just started last week I think.  If it's historicly accurate though maybe I'll go see it in the theaters.

[wit] Gee imagine that,  Hollywood can get Soviet history right, but not USA history movie [/wit]  

[Skuzzy]

I went and saw it.  I have to say that I think any ex-military types would enjoy the movie.  It runs more like a docu-drama than a typical Hollywood movie.

I think it really did a decent job of reflecting the time period and the technical details were really well done.

There was some typical Hollywood crap thrown in, but in small enough measures it really did not take away from the overall feeling.

I humbly the crew of K19 for a job well done.

Anyone wanting to know how close to a nuclear war we were should go see it.  Historically, it is one of those pivotal points and one we knew so little about.


EDIT:  Yep Borada, it treats the crew very well.  I think it will bomb here in the U.S.....nevermind how well done the movie is.  It lacks big-budget special effects.  Instead, they focused on the reality of being a submariner during very polictically driven times.  And they did a very good job of reconstructing K19.  I understand the director wanted the interior to be as accurate as possible.
Man,..the quarters were incredibly tight.
I was not prepared for what happened to the crew.  Sounds like something that would have happened in the U.S., not Russia.

I know there are still crew members alive from K19, as they were there for the filiming of it.  Borada, any chance on finding out the addresses of these fine men?  I would like to send them a thanks.

[miko2d]

Am I correct that "Widowmaker" is the name of the submarine depicted in the movie and that it was a real-life sub?
 I cannot imagine what it is translated from. Can anyone spell the russian name please?

 miko

[Krusher]

They had a great History channel special about the Soviet Union's first ballistic missile submarine, the K-19. It went in to great detail describing the heroism of the crew. The also mentioned the movie and how the real crew was not very happy with hollywood doing the movie. I hope if they get to see it they are pleasntly surprised.

BTW they mentioned that the soviet sub was far superior to our subs of the time in every aspect except construction and saftey. This particular sub had a dismal accident history that cost the lives of 24 brave men on the first trip and several others in a fire later in its career.

[Skuzzy]

miko2d,..yes K19 was real.  The story is true, with a bit of Hollywood thrown in.  Only the surviving crew of K19 could accurately assess the movie.

Widowmaker is a general term used in the military for various craft/missions where there is a good chance you will die.

We called the original C-5 cargo plane a Widowmaker, due to the propensity for the rear doors to blow out at high alts, which would usually kill anyone inside or cause the plane to crash.

[Sikboy]

Originally posted by miko2d
Am I correct that "Widowmaker" is the name of the submarine depicted in the movie and that it was a real-life sub?
 I cannot imagine what it is translated from. Can anyone spell the russian name please?

 miko

The Russian name was spelled "K-1-9"

Seriously, the "Widowmaker" was a bit of hollywood as far as I know. According to the History channel interviews with former crew, it was actually nicknamed "Hiroshima."!

-Sikboy

[miko2d]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
miko2d,..yes K19 was real.  The story is true, with a bit of Hollywood thrown in.  Only the surviving crew of K19 could accurately assess the movie.
Widowmaker is a general term used in the military for various craft/missions where there is a good chance you will die.

 Right. But all ships in Soviet Union carried proper names along with numeric designations - names of the cities, heroes, patriotic and inspirational names, etc. - like the infamous "Kursk" or fictional "Red October".

 I have gone through dozens of web pages and have not found the name yet for that one.

 miko

[Sikboy]

Originally posted by miko2d

 Right. But all ships in Soviet Union carried proper names along with numeric designations

I don't think that this was true. Many Soviet submarines and support ships didn not have proper names.  They may have had unofficial nicknames, but many lacked official ones.

-Sikboy

[Hangtime]

The Rooski sailors called the k-19 'Hiroshima', not 'widowmaker'.

If half of what we in the west know about the k19 and her sisters, then indeed, there are a lot of Russian Hero's out there.

[miko2d]

That was the first russian nuclear sub. It's hard for me to believe it did not have some cool name.
 "Hiroshima" is a nickname - I bet that sailors did not dare to call her that in senior officer's hearing...

 miko

[Sikboy]

True story:

When I was training at the Defense Language Institute, back in 1992, I walked into class one day with a big SEG on my face, and my Teacher, Alla Vishnapolskaya, asked me "Alesha, what is happening, why are you so bright today?" And I said, "I just got my orders, I've got Submarine Duty!" Alla's face went white. She became VERY concerned and told me in a grave tone that "duty on a submarine was very dangerous"

I was puzzled, until my friend Sasha and I were talking about it and we thought about all the reactor accidents and general mayhem that we as Americans associated with the Russian Nuclear Submarine Program, and we realised that Alla had good cause to be alarmed!

-Sikboy

[Sikboy]

Originally posted by miko2d
That was the first russian nuclear sub.  

Actually Miko, I think that What NATO calls "November" were the First Soviet Nuclear Submarines.  K-19 and the like (as we call "Hotel") came out later, but were the first to carry SSBNs.

I know, I'm picking nits, sorry

-Sikboy

[Bluefish]

I thought it was an very well-done movie, if EXTREMELY grim for summertime viewing (which may cut down on the potential audience).  

Those Russian sailors displayed almost superhuman courage going into the reactor room (especially after they saw the first team come out); it reminded me of the stories I'd heard about Russian helicopter pilots who flew suicide missions over the Chernobyl reactor to dump concrete on it during the meltdown.

Heroes wear many uniforms; to them all.