Automat Kalaschnikow

This German documentary is a double biography: one of the ubiquitous Ak-47 assault rifle, and one of its creator, Mikhael Kalashnikov. Unfortunately, the resulting film is unfocused, with footage jumping haphazardly from the Urals to Afghanistan to the streets of Los Angeles, with very little attempt to tie the threads together. At one point an Afghani fighter bearing a strong resemblance to Rashid Dostum is interviewed, but never identified, and much of the film's Afghani and Russian dialogue goes untranslated for the English speaking audience. Even more strangely, Kalashnikov himself is subtitled for certain segments, and dubbed in others. It all adds up to an interesting but frequently unsatisfying documentary.