War

War (Voyna, 2002) is Aleksei Balabanov's brutal Chechen-war drama, free to watch online on iFILM. Rebel commander Aslan lets two captives go — British actor John and a Russian conscript named Ivan — but keeps John's fiancée and a Russian captain, demanding two million pounds in ransom.

John can't raise the money. London shrugs, so he travels to the Siberian town of Tobolsk to find Ivan, the one man willing to walk back into the war zone with him. Aleksei Chadov plays the young sergeant; Sergei Bodrov Jr., in one of his final roles, plays the hardened guide who takes them into the mountains. What follows is a rescue paid for in blood, with no clean victories.

Balabanov strips the conflict of any heroic gloss. War here is filthy, transactional work — men bargain, betray and price human lives by the kilo. Shot with Ingeborga Dapkunaite and Yuri Stepanov, it argues with the viewer instead of comforting him, and remains one of the most uncomfortable, clear-eyed films Russian cinema has produced. Stream War (2002) online on iFILM.