Sambo is something that Russia can rightfully be proud of. Not cranberry nesting dolls or vodka, which foreigners stereotypically associate with Russia, but an excellent sport and an effective martial art, which has proven itself well in MMA.
Yes, although the basis of sambo originates in Japanese martial arts, that is, we did not invent the wheel here, but there is nothing new under the sun. It’s just like notes - only seven, but a masterpiece can only be created by an outstanding talent like Vivaldi, and not every Vasya Pupkin. Despite the well-deserved world respect for sambo as a cool martial arts, in the cinema it is presented, frankly, thinly - not as it deserves. And if individual techniques or actors using them on the screen are not uncommon, then there are very few specific films about this martial art.
I've heard different opinions about the reasons why, in fact, this is so. The most important thing is that wrestling is simply not as spectacular and cinematic as striking techniques. It is difficult to remove, and a throw, and even more so a painful one on the ground, does not look as spectacular as a pathetic kick in a taekwondo jump. But let me... Donnie Yen back in the late 80s he showed that even the stalls can be made spectacular, and not a dull crawl on the canvas, and before him there was Bruce Lee, who wove similar techniques into his fight choreography. So, with current shooting technologies, you can make a super-candy out of virtually anything. Yes, perhaps a throw or painful hold is not perceived by the viewer as spectacularly as some kind of triple blow with the tailbone to the Adam's apple with a sub-vertex, but it has long been proven that wrestling can be filmed spectacularly. I heard about the release of a certain film about Anatoly Kharlampiev and oh, how I doubt the quality of the final result, however, in this regard, I would like to recall several films made specifically about sambo, fortunately there are none of them.
It doesn’t hurt a wrestler (dir. Nurbek Egen, 2010)
The first post-Soviet Russian film about this martial arts. It turned out... well, not great, but the film cannot be called bad either. In it, the authors relied not on the fighting, but rather on the educational aspect of sambo. As such, this martial art, unlike many, for example, Japanese, is devoid of any direct philosophical basis, so the task of instilling some moral or other qualities is assigned to a specific trainer. Oleg Taktarov he talked about something similar, they say, when he went to the sambo section: their coach took them to exhibitions and they read poetry, in short - there was work with young people, they say, but now there is almost nothing like that left. Something similar here: they say, sambo is not some kind of scuffle for cattle, but spiritual self-improvement in the first place.
To be honest, the film did not impress me much and was not particularly memorable except for this aspect, as well as the EXCELLENT acting Nikolai Dobrynin as a coach. Nikolai, of course, does not look very athletic, and certainly does not look like a cool sambo wrestler, but his image of such a good-natured, sincere man who wants to instill something good in his children suits him. The fights in the film are not memorable at all - they just exist.
Pure victory (dir. Georgy Shengelia, 2012)
“Pure middle peasant” - like the previous example. Plus or minus with a similar moral and message. I was even waiting for this film at one time. A big plus compared to "It doesn't hurt a fighter" - memorable fight scenes.
Here they did it like in Chinese films: sambo is a super style that rules everything, as a result of which they introduced several fights between GG’s coach (in the story - a cool sambo wrestler) with representatives of different schools, where he breaks all sorts of Thais, kickboxers, etc., using exclusively wrestling technique, in particular throws, but not strikes.
The main character deals one blow in one street brawl, but overall he copes with exactly the same wrestling techniques. The moral, as I already mentioned, is simple - live honestly, guys, don’t get involved with crime, and everything will be fine.
Invincible (dir. Yuri Boretsky, 1983)
The most famous film about sambo and my favorite, despite the fact that it is essentially myth-making. The film emphasizes the myth that sambo was created on the basis of all sorts of national martial arts from the republics of the former USSR, and the Japanese base is completely ignored. Of course, something was added, but in the film there is not a word about any judo or jiu-jitsu, as if all sambo is based almost entirely on kurash wrestling. Plus, the Georgian “chidaoba” and the Tajik “gushti” are mentioned as martial arts that influenced Khromov’s base (hero Andrey Rostotsky, prototype - Kharlampiev).
But this doesn’t make the film much worse because of its generally good message, which is that good STILL should be with fists, but at the same time humane. Despite the fact that I really dislike the screenwriter of the film Pavel Lungin, the movie is full of really cool dialogue and all sorts of wise sayings. I suspect that the author was very much inspired by some "Judo Genius" (1956) and tried to do something similar, but with a Central Asian flavor and a Russian hero.
My favorite: “And remember, Andrey: a person’s life is short, but knowledge is endless.” I had a translator friend who practices wushu with the same life credo - it’s not a big deal that it was her favorite film.
As for the staging of fights, by today’s standards everything is not so smooth. In the USSR, even in the eighties, they didn’t really know how to stage fights - sorry about that. Again, the controversial idea is being emphasized that the small one can fight back the big one due to cunning technique or techniques that the enemy does not know... That’s right, maybe so, but what if he KNOWS and masters it? Alas, then the widespread myth about a large and loudly falling cabinet will disappear like morning fog.
The final fight was disappointing. Rostotsky, himself a miniature, but strong and athletic comrade, throws everyone very well throughout the entire film, but in the finale he begins to rake away from the Basmach, defeating him in a very strange way. The idea was super - a pure fighter against a pure striker, but the implementation let us down. Despite this, the film is strictly recommended as a solid and good example of the Soviet school.
That's all for this. If anyone else knows films about sambo, recommend them.
Oleg MapintasBangis Chernenko
Especially for fight-films.info
I am waiting. I hope there will be something exciting.
I would like to mention Pasha as a person who has been an active participant in this project since…
Sad ending, albeit with a joke...
Added a video from the filming of "Twilight of the Warriors".