A film about fencing that doesn’t involve Napoleonic uniforms, buccaneers or earnest young aristocrats defending a lady’s honour – surely not? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but yes. We all know that the Russians have always taken their fencing very seriously (just ask Jim Fox and Boris Onischenko!) and they just love to watch films about it, some of which reach our Western small screens, usually on DVD or streaming.
In the past, we have had “The Fencer” in 2017 which was the subject of a Sword Review in that year. That was all about an Estonian foil coach falling foul of his past in the USSR and having to choose between his pupils and being imprisoned in the Gulags. Before that, there was “Pentathlon” with an East German pentathlete defecting to the US in 1988 but being pursued by his Russian mentors. So that covers foil and épée, so now we can complete the disciplines with a drama about the Russian Women’s sabre team; and what a team they are, with almost every one of them potential candidates for Love Island! But do not scoff too early.
The film is a startlingly good drama with wonderful high octane sabre fights, many of them depicted in and out of slow motion with the sound effects to go with them. The storyline is familiar – good rich girl versus bad poor girl – with the Russian Olympic champion, Aleksandra Pokrovskaya, wanting to go down in history by finally winning gold in her third Olympics but being challenged by a young nineteen year old kick-arse upstart from the provinces.
You can watch the film trailer here:
Young Kira Egovorova becomes an overnight sensation in the country, winning against all-comers and being feted by Moscow Society as she hunts down her older rival, mentally and physically – sabre in hand – so as to ensure she is chosen by the selectors for the chance to win Olympic gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016. However young Kira, now nicknamed by the media as the “Russian Panther”, has first to be accepted by the National coach – Gavrilov – and the remainder of the team. Suffice to say that she finally becomes the champion she has longed to be, with the help of some hard talking by her steelworker father (what else!) and the surprising friendship of her rival.
The final fight scenes at the Rio Olympics are fantastic – how did they get this footage? – with the fencing fast and furious. Product placements are littered all over the fight scenes which are amusing considering the lengths that SEMI went to in the 2012 Olympics. There is Allstar kit at every turn and all the main characters drive BMWs! There are dramatic sabre fights with steely stares, stern referees and hard-hearted coaches mixed in with great camera shots; although, I was not too sure about the slow motion cuts across the chest seeming to draw alarming blue electric sparks – I always thought that the épée was a much safer weapon!
But the final outcome is very satisfying all round and even a bit of a tear jerker, so get out there and watch this.
As a final truism, the last shots of the film are taken from the actual outcome of the Rio Women’s Individual final between – you guessed it – Yana Egorian and Sofiya Velikaya, both from the Russian Federation. That was hotly followed by scenes of the victorious Russian Federation winning Women’s sabre team receiving their gold medals after beating Ukraine in the final match. I will leave it up to you, dear reader, to work out which film character played whom in that final!
Russian Film with English subtitles. Released November 2020. Director and Writer Eduard Bordukov. Available through Amazon Prime Video. ⚔️
LAWRENCE BURR OBE