The Green Van (1983)
It is 1920. After three years of the Russian Civil War, communist government is finally established in Odessa. Young Alyosha Patrikeyv, who dreams of being a detective like Sherlock Holmes, joins the newly forming Odessa Criminal Police. He is assigned to fight illegal booz production in a small village of Severinovka. When he goes on a chase after a horse thief Krasavchik, Alyosha finds himself up against Cherven - the most dangerous criminal in Odessa.
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Charming and brutal
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
A glimpse into Odessa just after the Civil War(1920) At the end of the Civil War, Odessa was in a unique situation. Just before the Soviet power became established in Odessa it changed hands more than TEN times. At one point there were "rope borders" strung up all over the city. Blocks were under control of different armies of many countries. 1)To extricate Russia from WWI, half of Ukraine was (temporarily) ceded to Germany and Austria; 2)Different (not united together) Ukrainian Nationalist forces free from the extinct Tsarist Empire; 3 Allies (each with their zone)--France, Britain, USA, etc.---that came as part of the anti-Bolshevik Intervention and many more "characters". The citizens would trip and break "borders" all day long. But fortunately this situation did not last long. ***ANOTHER ANACHRONISM: A witness is asked to identify a foreign agent as seen on a photograph. The photograph is of a man at the handlebars of a motorcycle. Even though one can only see handlebars for a few seconds, they are out of place in 1920. It is a 1942(!) Harley-Davidson WLA-45. How do I know this? It is my fathers motorcycle.(I was 6 years old then) BUT, I forgive a lot of the Soviet films that don't always have the correct historical props. Why? Because it is not always important. What's a lot more important is PLOT, DEEP HILOSOPHICAL MEANING, ACTING, ARTWORK. Also, this film gives a tiny glimpse into the peaceful years before WWI: youth, love, football(soccer). (It's not really a spoiler to mention that) the young militia officer and the criminal used to play on the same football(soccer) team before WWI.