Red Army Film Explores Hockey, The Cold War, and Sports as Propaganda

Filmmaker Gabe Polsky and Russian hockey star Slava Fetisov discuss the new documentary about the Soviet national hockey team.

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Red Army Film Explores Hockey, The Cold War, and Sports as Propaganda

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"The movie is about the Soviet Union and the greatest sports dynasty arguably in history, the Red Army hockey team, and the interrelationship between sports, politics, [and] society," says director Gabe Polsky, the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed documentary Red Army, which has just been released after a wildly successful festival run. The film is a gripping look at the rise and fall of the dominant Soviet hockey team through the eyes of one of the team's brightest stars, Slava Fetisov. 

"The rest of the world called us Red Machine or Red Army, but we were not a machine," Fetisov explained during a Reason TV interview. "We were not robots."

Fetisov's decision to fight the restrictive, and at times ruthless, policies of the Communist regime supplies the backbone to the film, culminating in the hockey star being given the first multiple-entry work Visa to the United States and opening the door for other Russian players to come to the West. 

So why did the Soviets pour so much energy into their sports teams, fighting to keep their best players inside the system for so long? According to Gabe Polksy, it all stems from a very clear agenda at the heart of the Cold War. 

"I think sports is an easy way to reach people. I think the Soviet Union knew that…They wanted to spread Soviet ideology everywhere and when you see your team winning all the time people are going to start turning their heads and saying 'What the hell is going on over there? Why are they so good?"

But the Soviet sports system collapsed for the same reasons the Communist government ultimately fell, because at the core of any top down system are individuals with their own goals and desires. 

"Nobody pushed myself four times a day because I like the Communist system and support the revolution and shit like that," says Fetisov. "I played because I love the game. I work four times a day because I want to be number one in the world. That is a different philosophy."

Approx. 3:45 minutes. 

Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg. Camera by Austin Bragg. Narrated by Nick Gillespie. 

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Comments

[Rufus J. Firefly]

A couple of thoughts.

-Fetisov was an outstanding player as were many of those players from that era from Makarov to Krutuv to Konstantinov and later on Kamensky and Fedorov to name a few. They were indeed an incredible specimen and one but can tip their hat to them.

-Soviet dominance was mostly in the amateur ranks - the Olympics in particular where they beat up on North American amateurs. They were a professional military side that played together all year round.

-The only way for Canada to play on a level field with the Soviets was to either create showdowns (1972 Summit Series where the politics of the Cold War was obvious), NHL versus Red Army (with the literal battle against the Flyers and what is regarded as greatest hockey game ever played between the Montreal Canadiends and CCCP) or a tournament (Canada Cup). And what we learned was head to head, Canada had the edge.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Canadiens.

[Ken Shultz]

There's something about the style of play you learn in the Canadian junior leagues that you just can't get anywhere else.

I think the Swedish and the Russians, today, tend to think of NHL hockey as being brutish.

The Swedish and Russian finesse style tends to work great during the regular season, but that just doesn't fly during the playoffs.

Winning after playing the same team, sometimes, seven games in a row, round after round, requires that physical style of play you only learn in the Canadian junior leagues.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't know if that's the case anymore Ken about that perception. Yes, they prefer a finesse game but the NHL has teams that play different styles - Wings and Habs always focused on finesse while Bruins and Flyers are committed to brawn. Finns, though, have adapted the best (perhaps willingly) to the North American game.

You're right about the CHL. It's tougher than the NCAA which tends to produce more finesse, fast skating players.

[Raven Nation]

Is that the one youtube lists as Dec 31, 1975?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Habs v Soviets? Yes.

[Ken Shultz]

I have a close associate who played on the U.S. Olympic team (in another sport) twice during the Cold War.

They played in tours all over Eastern Europe, behind the curtain, and he played against the Cubans, too.

One of his theories for why the communist teams were so good during the Cold War was that when he and his teammates were playing, they were playing because they enjoyed competing against the best athletes in the world, they wanted to represent their country, they got to travel a lot, there was a lot of comradery, and it was fun.

But if you were a Cuban on the Cuban Olympic team, and you won? Your life would go on a completely different trajectory. You'd get drafted to work in the Cuban Olympic training system, you'd get better food, better housing, better everything--for the rest of your life. Beating the Americans to them was like winning the lottery--and if you lost? You might spend the rest of your life in a shit hole and working in the sugar cane fields.

I think the communist teams during the Cold War used to play like their lives depended on it--because their lives often really did depend on the outcome of the games.

[Ken Shultz]

There's probably something like that going on with a lot of kids from lower income neighborhoods in professional sports in the U.S., too, which may do something to explain why so many people from that demographic end up in professional sports.

If I was never drafted by a college or the NFL, my prospects for having a fairly affluent life were still pretty good. Go check the neighborhoods of your average wide receiver drafted out of the SEC, and I bet whatever demographic he comes from, the prospects for affluence given Plan B maybe were probably never that great.

It's just different when you're competing against people whose quality of life totally depends on the outcome.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's not a theory. It's a fact. The motivations for Western athletes were different than from the Communist one.

Those poor amateurs fought hard tooth and nail for the jersey and country against the Soviets at the Olympics.

As Fetisov said first off, you had no choice.

[Almanian!]

I'd like to thank the Russians for giving us Red Wingers the "Russian Five". I enjoyed watching them play more than any other collection of Wings. I'm too young to have seen Howe, Abel, Lindsay et al (I saw Howe at the very end of his career), so I can't judge them.

But those Wings teams with Fetisov Konstantinov, Federov and the rest - just fucking epic. Really fun to watch as a fan.

Thanks, Russian hockey program!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They were epic. That PP!

[JeremyR]

Isn't its success pretty much due to it just being a huge country that had hockey as its major sport? The USSR had a population of almost 300 million when it collapsed. Canada had a population of what, maybe 30 million at that time (up to 35 now). So basically the USSR was 10x bigger than Canada. Of course the USSR should be better at hockey than Canada, they had a much larger talent base to draw from.

Meanwhile in the US, the best athletes either played football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and even volleyball. Are there even high school hockey teams? Mine didn't have one. Hockey is an afterthought.

[Migrant Log Picker]

Hockey is gaining participation at a huge rate, even in more southerly locales.The Minnesota high school hockey tourney was (outside of Texas football) the most attended in the country in the 70's.Hockey is not an afterthought, particularly in the northern tier of the country.

The best athletes here don't play soccer, it's not that big at the professional level.

I once had a discussion about that on a different board. He claimed soccer had the best athletes...maybe in Europe, had Adrian Peterson, for example, played soccer from an early age he would have been unstoppable on a soccer pitch athletically. Watching scrawny soccer players try to stop him would be hilarious.

As much money is in European football it would not be surprising if superior athetes like AP in the future end up going in that direction. We'll see.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Unless AP can actually control, dribble and kick a soccer ball his superior physical attributes would be useless. Also, in soccer you don't tackle. The art of defense is more subtle and sometimes hard. It's very 'easy' to slide tackle a player who doesn't know how to control a ball but who runs fast.

I know, I remember playing against a football player who also played soccer. Everyone was terrified of the guy. When the game started he realized it wasn't a high impact game and we had a very, very, very easy time containing him.

[Timon 19]

Adrian Peterson looks like a completely different person if he plays soccer from an early age. He would have developed very different skills, different muscle groups, and probably a completely different personality.

These musings about "what if x famous football/basketball player had played soccer" are pure mental masturbation and nothing else. Completely meaningless.

[Timon 19]

Also, while soccer doesn't pay nearly as absurdly as the other professional leagues here, MLS is going to be starting 2015 with 21 teams. There's a whole other tier below with a fair portion of full-time professional teams as well.

MLS average attendance for the 2014 season was just above 19000, which is 3rd highest in the US. Their 2012 attendance, which was 18,800-ish, was 8th highest soccer league in the entire world, and 2nd to Mexico in the Western Hemisphere.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Let's hope they build on this.

The Giovinco signing could be seen as a watershed moment in that a high-caliber player in his prime came over.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Soviets were not 'better' than Canada. Stylistically I guess but talent wise? Not so sure about that. Canada had Hull, Orr, Gretzky, Esposito, Lemieux etc. over the years and they match anything the Soviets threw out there.

As I mentioned at the top, Team Canada has won more titles with, as you say, a population of 25-35 million during that period.

But the Soviet sports program is pretty deep and diverse. They played more than just hockey.

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[vander Nike Blazer mandy]

red army will show about the Soviet Union and the greatest sports dynasty. do you like sports ? then looking forward to it and you wlii not disappiont

[Migrant Log Picker]

I watched a game at the Met Center in Minne circa 74 when the Russkis (red army) played a team of US college freshman. The Russki first line was Mikhailov, Kharlomov and one I can't recall (don't think it was Fetisov, old timers memory, but it may have been).

They slaughtered the kids, winning like 12 to 1 despite the college goalie making like 50 saves. Numerous 2 on 0 breakaways where the college kids had no chance.
ll
It was impressive...and don't try to sugarcoat it Rufus, they more than held their against the NHL All Star teams, in fact I recall they won a couple of those series.

No fan of the USSR, but they were playing a beautiful style of Hockey back then.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah. They were mysterious and when they started skating and playing that puck possession style it was something to see. We played dump, chase and bang hockey.

It was great to see them come and play in the NHL even if it was at the end of their careers. Like I mentioned we got the last generation of players led by Fedorov - who was a specimen onto himself.

Bowman knew how to use the 'mercurial' Russian player to his advantage with the Red Wings.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Where did I give the impression I was sugar coating it? I clearly stipulated they were incredible. My point was when Canada managed to get its pros together the Soviets didn't have their way.

As for the record against NHL team they had the edge:

http://www.internationalhockey.....cal-record

And I'm sure you recall the Habs outshooting them 38-13 in 1975!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'They' being Soviet teams.

Another angle, most players wanted to defect to North America.

[Lowdog]

Rufus,

The Russians played a style where they didn't necessarily generate a lot of shots, though. And the Habs grabbed much of the French Canadian talent through it's system back in those days, if I remember correctly.

I pretty much agree with you about your overall points, however, so no cross-checking.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Heh.

Good point about the shot thing. The Russians did tend to hold on to the puck to find the perfect play. Which is weird given how awesome they were at slapping and wristing it.

Actually, the territorial draft thing is a bit overblown with the Habs. The by no means grabbed all the best French-Canadian players - Perreault, Martin, Pilote, Ratelle and so on were actually picked up by other teams. In fact, the Bruins and Flyers have a long tradition of grabbing players our of Quebec. In some ways, they even out scout the Habs in their own back yard.

Although not sure how that plays into 1975 though. For the fun of it here's the Habs lineup for the 75-76 season.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/s.....51976.html

Also, the Soviets called Bob Gainey the 'most complete hockey player in the world' which showed how different the two systems were since Canada focused on players that play all parts of the ice whereas the Soviets had specific roles matching specific talents.

Also, coaching was always stronger in North America.

In the 1980s, the Soviets learned 'shooting on the fly' by watching the Edmonton Oilers and Mark Messier in particular.

Again, despite their dominance and brilliance, they were learning things from this side of the pond as well.

The only difference is the physical style of play that was absent from their game.

That came later. With Kasparitus!