Purgatory
Director
Aleksandr Nevzorov
Scenario
Aleksandr Nevzorov
Producer
Aleksandr Nevzorov
Actors
Dmitriy Nagiev
Dukuz Israpilov
Sergey Rost
Tankist T-80
Viktor Stepanov
Captain Suvorov
Zed Korshoonoff
Chechen Rebel
Short description
This is a story about the battle for a hospital building in Grozny (Chechnya) in January 1995 between Russian Army forces and Chechen rebels supported by Arabian mujahideen and international mercenaries. Although the story is fictional, most of the characters are based on real-life prototypes and events are the compilation of true events during the Grozny Siege in the First Chechen War.
What's left behind the scenes
- The Russian Ministry of Defense denied Nevzorov's request for support during filming. According to Nevzorov, 'they sent me a bill for everything I asked for; I had to pay 5 or 6 thousand rubles for every single spent shell casing! But I needed millions of them, because combat zones are littered with spent casings. Apparently, the army read the script and was dissatisfied. Therefore, the internal troops provided us with assistance. Soldiers who had served in Chechnya appeared as extras.'
- In the scene where the killed tank crewman is taken down from the cross (1:50:03), after one of the soldiers says, "Carry him, carry him," the tank crewman can be clearly seen blinking.
- In reality, the 131st Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade fought not for the hospital complex, but for the railway station. The battles for the hospital complex, northeast of the Council of Ministers building, were fought from January 1–4 by the 1st Motorized Rifle Battalion of the 255th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division. On January 2, a reinforced battalion from the 74th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade arrived to assist the surrounded battalion.
- The film is based on true events. Alexander Nevzorov was actually in the hospital where the events of his film take place.
- The character played by Vyacheslav Burlachko (call sign 'Cobra') is voiced by Alexander Ort, an octavist of the St. Petersburg Capella and a man with one of the lowest voices in the world.
- The bandoliers across Israpilov's shoulder are loaded with 7.62×39 mm training rifle cartridges.
- In the film, a blank-firing adapter is visible on Nagiyev's assault rifle and other rifles, and especially on the machine guns (for example, on the RPK of the special forces operative "Gyurza").
- Filming took place near Saint Petersburg, in Sestroretsk. The working conditions for the actors were virtually identical to combat conditions. Firstly, there were so many ruins around that one might think the war had taken place not in Chechnya, but directly in Sestroretsk. Secondly, the weather literally tormented the filmmakers: filming began at -22 degrees and ended at +4—all within a single winter. Sometimes it snowed, sometimes it was slushy, and everyone—from the female prop assistants to the Black actors fighting on the Chechen side—huddled around the only stove, trying to keep warm. By the time filming was completed and the actors began dubbing the movie, it was already summer, and quite hot. The air conditioning could not be turned on so that the noise would not interfere with the work, and the temperature in the studio sometimes reached +50.
- The words the captain says to the Chechen commander Israpilov before his death are words from an interview Nevzorov conducted with a real soldier from the First Chechen Campaign.
- In the two or three days following the screening, as if by prior agreement, citizens in the metro and from their cars collectively and in large numbers began giving fairly large banknotes to armless and legless people in camouflage passing by in wheelchairs.
- Many candidates were considered for the role of Tukuz Israpilov, including the famous English actor Sean Bean. However, because the actor was 'too English,' it was decided to simplify the image of the Chechen commander.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
