User reviews

I have never watched Russian TV series before as I expected them to be stupid and boring. But 'Brigada' was so extremely popular among my friends and so much talked about in the newspapers and magazines, so I decided not to miss it. And I wasn't disappointed at all. Many people said that 'Brigada' makes youngsters like criminals and gangsters and fight against the militia. They said that in this series militia men look much more criminal than the criminals themselves! But unfortunately it is the regrettable truth of Russian life nowadays. That's why audience didn't judge the guys – Sasha, Phyl, Kosmos and Pchela – too harshly. They were the victims of the circumstances. About the movie itself. I liked the soundtrack very much. ('Brigada' ringtone was extremely popular among the people of all ages.) The actors' performance was great, sometimes brilliant. I especially liked Sergey Bezrukov and Vladimir Vdovichenkov. Dmitry Dyuzhev was excellent, but on my opinion he's doing his best job acting in 'Twelfth Night' – the play by Shakespeare staged in Pushkin's theatre. His performance is so funny and wonderful that everybody can't help laughing. Katya Guseva is the most beautiful woman on the screen. Andrey Panin is a splendid villain! His character is so disgusting that I wanted to throw something heavy at his head every time I saw him. To sum up, the movie is well-written, well-directed and well-played. I'm very surprised (and pleased) that not only in Russia people watch and like it. Hope some new great movies and TV-series will come soon. For instance, 'Zvezdochet' (Astrologer) starring the same Vdovichenkov and handsome Strahov. Looking forward to watching it! 9 out of 10 – and my applause - to 'Brigada'.

Excellent script and great acting. The plot is very catching and humane. One sees this and can understand that youths in Russia are just the same as any youth anywhere else. Mafia stories like this are very catching because they show how normal people in extreme circumstances becoming part of a power struggle where some come to be criminals, whereas others that act in the same sense and do the same or worse evils do so from within the system, being part of government or state... When the system is in turmoil, anything goes and its almost a gamble to come at any end of the struggle. Then criminal or not, they all go into politics because they have been part of what has been going on, maybe not being very aware of it. In this sense the plot is Shakespearian. At the end everyone is plainly human, making mistakes and acting on revenge, ambition, passion obsession and hate or mere convenience, but also on deep love and unconditional friendship, all at the same time, be it fate or will, or a mixture of both, as life usually is.

This minie series could be a big hit in Canada, if "total dvd", would have done better job of the english subtitles. Well I was glad that there were english subtitles at all, because I love russian cinema. Just to say, that I'm grateful for subtitles in english or german. Because that is the only way I can truly enjoy most russian movies nowada ys. It seems that a lot of the new russian productions don't want to pay the extra "chum - change" for english subtitles. But I can assure them, that there is a growing community of english speaking canadian fans, that in fact relly enjoy russian movies. And that they would get their money back if they do so. Because most canadian distributers (like VIDEO ONE) ) do not market the wide range of russian movies, I often have to order my russian movies directly from russia or from New York. There only a fraction of the titles offer english subtitles. The other problem is, that the russian websides have very little english navigation. They should become more user friendly ! DON'T THEY WANT TO MAKE ANY MONEY ? The russian companies should also make a better effort, to link their movies for sale to the IDMB database. The sales would go up ! Russia has an enourmous archive of great movies, and a resurging movie industrie, with a potential to give hollywood "a run for it's money" The magic words are : MARKETING, MARKETING AND MARKETING ! The americans sell a lot of movie garbage like that. Russia's movie industrie has a talent for doing excellent historical masterpieces and modern crime dramas. Please proceed in this fashion , but with better marketing. I believe that is all what it takes. Now back to the movie: The acting was very good, I'm becoming a fan of Ekaterina Guseva. She's radiant and refreshing. The story was very suspensefull right after the conflict with the orientals. Than the story was a little stale. The sequence, where the gang decided to go into politics, a little too long. But the anti climactic end of the movie did justify, going through this slacking part. I also was a little disturbed about the directors "gloryfying crime" scenes. I believe criminals should be portrayed without it. There is simply no glory in crime ! What about the victims of their crimes ? Too little was seen about them,in this movie. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed this movie. I rated it a 7 out of 10.

Although another member of IMDb commented on how the English subtitles in this movie were poorly done (which I agree with) the movie in its essence was brilliant. I was born in Russia and speak the language fluently which has to be the reason I understood and enjoyed the movie so much. Despite all that, I've had many non-Russian speaking friends who understood the concept and meaning of the movie fully. Sidorov captured the lifestyle of the Russian mafia very accurately. The movie spans the life of 4 friends over a period of 10 years, going from innocent young men who wanted to be tough guys to being big time crime leaders after being left with no choice of other lifestyles. The best part about everything was how Sidorov showed his audience the changing mentalities in the 4 characters before and after the Soviet Union broke up. He made it very clear that many crime bosses came into power and became politicians and people who influence Russia with an iron fist. The movie also shows a lot of dedication. After watching the special features DVD and looking at all the behind the scenes footage, I realized the actors poured their hearts and souls into portraying these 4 characters properly. For one, they spent 2 years of their lives (while production was running), having their friends and family call them by their character names. Some of the actors (like Sergei Bezrukov) had to adjust their acting style. He went from being Russia's Golden Boy who played innocent boyish roles to proving to the Russian community that he has a wide range in his acting skills. I give this movie my full 5 stars and recommend it to everyone.

Hi everyone, My brother has been telling me about Brigada movie for months. I was able to find it ate the library and I finally watched it. Let me tell you, I was so hooked, I hardly did anything around the house. What a fantastic work. ABSOLUTELY should be shown in America. I am surprised it didn't get any foreign film award.I agree, the subtitles weren't that great. Some expressions came out wrong based on cultural differences and word meanings and if they fix all that, they should show this on the American screens. The actors are fantastic. You can feel that they put their hearts and souls in the roles. I loved Sasha, especially I loved Phil. He is my favorite, oh... I don't know, I loved them all. Wonderful, wonderful!!!

The movie is extremely realistic of what happened in Russia in 1989 - 2000 - actually it just shows the top of the iceberg, but it shows enough to imagine what is beneath. "Brigada" is a great story about 4 friends that remains friends in spite of all that happened. May be you can named it the Russian 'Godfather' movie. It is exactly so great. Actors are great performers. Sounds are great. Surroundings and details till the time span shown - 11 years - are true and absolutely realistic. I couldn't find any weak point in all movie. There is a lot of persons in the movie with their own destiny shown but not in a helter-skelter way or heaviness - rather you can feel with all your being the atmosphere in Russia in these years of changes and the Russian's feelings and spirit.

And in the end - the movie is so well done that on many occasions you just wonder - to cry or to laugh. It is for sure one of the best movies I saw in the last years.

How much do you know, have seen or have heard about life in Russia in the 90's? I guess if you aren't Russian, don't pretend to be a smartass... you know nothing.

Brigade describes the last decade of the 20th century Moscow with incredible exactness: difficult life of the "mortals", rise of the oligarchs, power of corruption and lack of moral principles. All political events are absolutely accurate and should be revealing to any person who didn't experience "perestroika".

But apart from that it is a story about endless friendship, about four simple boys building the most powerful organizations in the world's biggest country. This movie is filled with personalities, complicated relationships and describes perfectly the indirect meaning of the word "brat" (brother) in Russia.

Great action scenes and fantastic actors! One of the greatest movies ever!

You know, I remember the time when all the kids were trying to look and act like Sasha Bely and his fellows. There were different bands in the streets, who called themselves "Brigada" and they thought that they were cool. It was hysteria and obsession. But it proves the great influence this movie can have on you.

Actually, it happened for real. All this Russian mafia, brutality, numerous crimes really took place when the era of Soviet Union was coming to its final. The only drawback of the movie that Sasha Bely and his band seem to be heroes, but in fact they were just criminals. Though it's a film, isn't it?

Those who do not like criminal dramas can find there a wonderful story of friendship and love, and excellent playing. Actors have done a wonderful job. So enjoy the movie!

I think"Brigada" is one of the best shows I have seen on TV in last few years.I have watched it twice,the crew,music,idea everything I like when it comes to mafia stories.Also I can understand how can bad subtitles spoil a good story,but that wasn't my problem and my friends(Russian is very similar to Serbian).My only hope is that there will be more shows like"Brigada"to come from Russia(Hollywood is having problem with stories that have already been told)I love the passion and dedication of actors,which you can not see in Hollywood production.

PS(I have told everyone I know about how excellent"Brigada"is and now all my friend are fascinated with Sergei Bezrukov)

This movie is similar to the reality in Russia in the past and what is at present in my country - Bulgaria... It's about an enormous Russian mafia-empire built with the common effort of a young Russian mafioso called Sasha Belov and his BRIGADA (which means Brigade from Russian). The film is based on true story of a real criminal group and the film shows the whole history of 4 old friends helping each other from bad interests.

I think that most of the English-speaking viewers can't really understand some things, which are happening in the movie, but for me as a Bulgarian (my culture and the Russian culture are almost one and the same) everything from the mafia-thing in Russia is clear to me. There was a user of IMDb who said, that the subs were not very good. It's because there are jokes and phrases that aren't understandable to others except east-European countries. It's better to read something about the Russian mafia, before you watch the series , that will help you understand thе film better. For me this film is a blockbuster, in fact the nowadays American rubbish that we watch is 0 in compare to this unbelievable true story of Sasha Belov and his BRIGADA.

10 out of 10

Well, what can I say? I started watching the series because of the IMDb rating of 8.6. I almost quit because of the quality of the movie, it lacks it: actors overact and dialogs are simplistic. But I kept watching it for the story, it is relatively engaging. If you can read Russian read this review: http://www.valeryshiryaev.ru/short/published/various/54.html?p=1. It's the best review I could find on the internet. Don't believe the hype about this movie, it's just a movie about 4 guys who become bandits, engage in racketeering, kill people left and right, traffic drugs, traffic guns and so on and so forth. Main characters are supposed to be these charismatic honorable men who were just forced to become bandits. In reality, what you get are 4 simpletons that constantly get drunk, get stoned, cheat on their wives, and kill (supposedly bad) people. To be fair there are some nice detective sub-plots that can intrigue a viewer. Just remember: it's far from being a masterpiece!

This is truly the greatest modern film about mafia! It is so realistic! Anybody who lived in Russia in the 1990s will tell you that this movie brilliantly reflects the social reality of that time period. At the same time the movie has an exciting and gripping plot that literally glues you to the television in a way few movies ever do. You are literally sitting at the edge of of your seat throughout the entire film. Personally, I think this movie is even better than the Godfather series.

All the negative comments speak about how this movie is "immoral" and give that as THE reason for giving the movie a low score. But this is simply not true! Yes, the protagonists of the movie are mafiosos. But they are no more romanticized then the protagonists of Godfather were. No one gives the Godfather series a low rating just on those grounds? I think it's just that because this movie was so popular in Russia and a lot of kids/teenagers watched it and started fantasizing about becoming mafia gangsters. And some parents got very upset about it. That is the only reason for giving a lower rating to this movie! Those parents just needed to keep the children away from the TV. This movie is not for kids anyway.

Great. I'm satisfied. It wasn't anything super perfect for me, but I thought it was good and I especially liked it because I'm a crime fan. It did have moments of good revelations. The first few episodes were slower, but from about halfway through it started to get pretty good and by the end it was pretty much suspenseful and I enjoyed it. A fun series that I will remember as a fine crime show. I enjoyed it. It wasn't particularly long. In fact, I'd even be happy for some more episodes. I missed it. I liked the main four. Good crime drama. If you downright eat that genre up and enjoy watching mobsters, that's the only time I'd recommend it, otherwise I'd rather not because you can find better bits in my opinion, but I love the genre so much I seek out more or less anything mafia/gangster and I thought it was good.

Perhaps there is a new mafia in the translation business. It's incredible that in this day and age release after release of a Russian subtitled DVD is done by illiterate fools. This one is no exception and is a total disgrace. It actually is about as bad as it gets. Actually I have not seen a good translation of anything from Russian, may be a few older classic Soviet movies, that's about it. Even the best productions like Bortko's 'Idiot' have the subtitles that leave very much to be desired, at best they make the dialogue several times more primitive and incomplete. At worst - well, it gets completely incomprehensible for the English speaker.

Why this is going on? The answer is perhaps very simple. The country is extraordinarily corrupt. Protectionism, professional incompetence flourish. May be it's somebody's important son/daughter company that is getting the translation contracts and they cannot distinguish their heads from their behinds. That's my most likely explanation. I'll make some inquiries around the industry in Moscow, the situation is curious indeed.

The series are interesting, that is if you speak Russian. Subtitles are no help. For that my vote is one, simply based on a quality of viewing for international audience. Shame.

Thise series couldn't be any better! Its not a movie, its a real life story! It how it was in real in Russia.

I have read all the comments, and I want to comment that first. Please read my remark, watch movie again, and maybe you will see it totally different.

For those who didn't like wife to Belyi, who mean she didn't open character enough and you didn't really got know her. Well, wife to mafia is kind of unknown, they supposed to be on the background, without being noticed too much. However, I did understood what kind of person she was, from early in the series. Rewatch first 2-3 episodes, and maybe you will understand it as well.

For those who didn't like other characters, and mean they underplayed or overplayed. Totally rubbish! IMO they did perfect. As I said, this movie is "tru life story". They wasn't supposed to "play" someone, they was supposed to create 4 characters by they own, and give their hearts and souls to them, what they successfully did.

I can see that many of our English friend can understand that. In this story they wasn't supposed to play some one special, they was supposed to show story, that happened to thousands of young guys. They did it 100%!

And at the end, I feel some of you had problems to understands part of the film. You say this movie about how great mafia are, they are heroes, who selling narcotics and weapon? Watch this movie again! Sacha didn't wanted to join mafia, he was forced to it, by police. Same with selling narcotics. He was forced to open those canals for transport. Same with weapon to Tjetjenia. Government gave him ultimatum. Do it, or die. And from the day he got son, he tried to quit his band, and star legal, but it was impossible.

I want to say it again. Its not a movie that people in USA and Europe are used to, where you just fantasies a plot, and actors play their characters. Thise one is real story, from mother watching news about soldier been killed in Afghanistan, and crying cause her boy got back in life. Till how people try to come back on right way, but its impossible, and it don't matter that you have millions of dollars to to so.

But most of all, this movie is about friendship. I have lived in 5 different countries so far, both soviet and Western, and never seen this kind of friendship in western culture. But it how its is in Russia. You give everything for your best friends, even your life if its needed. You have something to learn here... (no offense)

The plot is great but I dont think that a non russian mentality would understand all the aspects of the story. Personally I think it's a great mix of crime, friendship and how the surcumstances can change people, weather they want to change or not. It's really a more fun way of displaying criminals. The show has a very good style/atmosphere to it. Great acting, all the actors are very diffirent, they look diffirent and they act diffirantly, but everyone did a great job. I love the music. Also a great thing is that it doesnt matter weather you have seen all the spidoes or not, basically you can start watching at any time and still get whats going on.

I would deffinatly recomend it.

Brigada is an awesome serial, because it shows the reality of Russia 90's when mafia and gangs ruled the city. All conflicts were solved by force and guns and even government was corrupted. Also it shows who are true friends and what friend you should be. Every human is responsible for his own life and he always must to seek more. Don't need to forget that your enemies always try to sink you so you have to be very careful and don't trust anyone too quickly.

Moreover, Brigada shows how people respect you and what you can do when you have a lot of money. You can buy anything: houses, guns, cars, government, but you will never buy true love and family.

In my opinion the storyline is made perfect and actors are very talented. The serial is exciting, thrilling and involving you into situation. Sadly that this serial only has 15 series, but I think it keeps interest and doesn't get boring.

There should be more detail on the movie in IMDB. For now, I assume it is the multipart series that we have on DVD. It is an excellent movie and my wife loves it. Unfortunately, I speak very little Russian. I think it would have an much better audience in the US if the subtitles were redone. In fact, my only dislike for the movie so far is related to subtitles.

They are very incomplete. Some of them are even in Russian. Not only that, but the names of the characters should not be translated. If someone is saying "Belov", I don't think it should be translated as "White". The same with "Bee", and the others. One subtitle even said "Michael Gorbachev". There were several instances of the word "dump" showing up instead of "dumb". A police complaint was referred to as an "application" and another similar word to application that would not be understood as "complaint". In my mind, the person who wrote the subtitles should find another job.

So, Avatar.. Fix the subtitles and you may have a hit in the English speaking world.

I've watched recently, story about 4 guys, who became gangsters. Love, Betrayal, Danger, Losing of relatives, Lie etc, They all went through it, and they were together until the end. Cast is amazing and setting too. 10/10

This movie was fantastic. It was a really good hit. The actors were very well in their roles, especially the cute Sergei Bezrukov. He just nailed his role! I saw this movie and realized how good Russian movies can be. It was amazing and made me want to watch more and more of it. Wow thumbs up for the Russian actors and directors that worked with this movie...GOOD JOB! i recommend this movie to everyone. IT shows us reality and how life can be. Sergei Bezrukov is probably one of the best. And Cosmos in the movie was hilarious! IT has a very interesting twist at the end that will keep you wanting to watch more and more of it.

I'm sorry if my English is not so good:)

You MUST watching BRIGADA-this is a story about childhood friendship,about 4 men who knows what they must to be to survive in a world of big change.This is the new world of the old well-known evil-the money,the freedom to do everything you need to reach your own purpose...But it's coming a time when the man must make his choice-to save himself,to save his money and precious life or... just get right-to take vengeance for his childhood friends dead and destroy their killer!

You CAN learn a lot what life can make for you and on the other side-what you can make for your life to be just more harmonious and nice. "Brigada" is a film which show and remind to us the meanings of words like 'friendship','love','courage','trust','security' and 'duty'.Words-matrix of our life.But "Brigada" is not just romantic and action film in Hollywood West style-this is the real life and we must understand how to use it right."Brigada" is the East with its own tragedy and dark history...BIG BRAVO for the star of the film-Sergei Bezrukov and all his full of talent colleagues-BRAVO.Well done job.The undertaking was very difficult,hard-but you won guys...you won and create the most real film story I've ever seen!!This is THE Film-2 thumbs up!!!1000000000000 stars for you:))!!!Sergei you are THE BEST!!!

Excellent mini-series. Incredible acting, all actors are truly talented professionals (not your typical bodybuilder or a model who decided to turn actor/actress). I went through all 15 hours of the movie in one weekend.

In short, the story is about four guys growing up together in Moscow and making it big in the post-Soviet turmoil times of the 90es. Friendship, love, drama, it is all there, very well served. If the story sounds kind of familiar, you are not mistaken. The fans of "Once Upon a Time in America" by Sergio Leone will find this mini-series built upon a similar line.

Highly recommended.

"Brigada" was a breakthrough in Russian cinematography. It was also (and still is) one of the most controversial movies up to this day.

Young man, Sasha Belov, returns home from the army. His friends are happy to see him but his girl turned prostitute and he fights her pimp - "Muha" ("Fly"). After beating him up, he tries to live a normal life rejecting his friends' Cosmos and Pchyola offer of joining them in extortion gang shaking down small businesses and entrepreneurs.

But due to the chain of events, he is later accused in the murder of "Muha" and has to go into hiding. Again, the fate turns so that he leaves his desire to live a normal life and becomes a criminal, eventually growing to become one of the the top mafia leaders in Moscow with all the perks and, of course, consequences...

"Brigada" is loved by some people and hated by others. Some say "it romanticizes the criminals" (perhaps...), others respond "it showed the truth" (may be so...).

In any case, the movie is done in an absolutely brilliant fashion (it took two years to film): amazing casting (especially, Bezrukov, Duzhev, Guseva and Panin), incredible (beyond any words!) soundtrack whose melodies went to almost every Russian cell phone, and last, but not least, a completed scenario, with a rather "hollywodized" ending, but still very impressive, ending.

I would highly recommend this movie but in my opinion, it would be hard to understand for a foreigner who did not live in the 80-s and 90-s in Russia and can't really relate to the events depicted on the screen. Those people that have lived through that time, myself included, can feel anything from nostalgia to anger, those that haven't, can enjoy the plot, effects and romantic story (there aren't too many love scenes but the sexual energy of Guseva and their alliance with Bezrukov just flows from the screen and completely blows you away)

p.s. The most I liked in the movie was how it showed friendship between four men. Four ordinary guys that never quit on each other no matter what. This is probably the central theme of the movie hence came the name.

I was ignoring Brigada for almost three years because I'm sick of 5 Russian soap operas on each channel each night. But thanks to insomnia, I stumbled across the re-run and my God, nobody expected technical perfection, but I started to wonder if creators of the movie contacted real "bratva" to add realism. I'm recognizing gestures, sayings, places, manner to act, altitudes, everything. I know nothing about "lawless" part of life, but "law" part of life is reflected with frightening accuracy. Because "I-know-the-person-who-would-say-exactly-the-same" feeling doesn't come often to me. And Kos... Kos is just Kos the way he is. lol

I don't like Al Pacino and Italian movies parallels though. It's like comparing hamburger and old good sandwich with Moskovskaya salami. It has the same purpose -- to feed -- but then similarities end and national specifics come into play. Watch the way it happens here as we know it in other words.