IMHO this isn't a documentary about the cold war. It's more of a biopic of someone most people in the US never heard of. Though some of the movie seems to be shot documentary style, some scenes are recreations and some scenes you can't tell which is which. It's also a very odd movie where the star of movie is actually the subject. I don't know of any other film shot like this. If you're looking for a kevin costner type picture, you'll be disappointed. It's also a bit difficult to follow because there's quite a lot of difference between russian and american culture; meaning stuff gets lost in translation. For example, there's a scene where petrov explains that he and he alone made the decision. None of his inferiors would ever question him and his superiors would rather avoid bad news than be faced with the same dilemma. In the end, instead of getting a medal for being correct he was criticized for minor offences. As far as I can remember of those days and russian culture this probably happened as filmed in the movie. You would never see this in an american film but it's a common theme in russian culture. Common man breaks with the soviet system and then gets punished for inexplicable reasons. But, regardless, like most period films of this type they throw in a lot of nuclear explosions to get your attention but really fail to make you understand what it was like living in those times. So whatever genre the movie falls in, it fails at recreating the 80s. Still though, it's a fascinating look at the russian perspective from that time and reminds us of the dangers we face so long as we have nuclear weapons. In the US, I think most people are aware of the cuban missile crisis since it's been covered many, many times by hollywood and the media but I don't think many people are aware just how close we came to war in the 80s just before the collapse of the soviet union. Partly this was because much of it was classified on both sides so the public was never aware until much later. If I had my way I would make every high school in the US require a course on nuclear armament and disarmament because it's one of the greatest dangers for the future. I'd require a list of films to be seen and this would definitely be included for the russian perspective and I'd definitely recommend the old air force minuteman training films.
So personally I found the film fascinating because in 1983 I was working for an aerospace company working on projects related to surveillance. I never heard of this incident and I can't recall when I first heard about it or when I first heard of K19 or the 'red star' submarine but it was probably at least 10 years later. I don't know of any american incidents like these but in 1983 I worked with many former intelligence and military personnel who told stories of the soviets testing american defenses. We probably did some of the same things but no one every talked about such things. For example, it was fairly common for the soviets to open all their silo doors to the missiles along the ICBM belt in russia to test american reaction and they would sometimes launch missiles to test our response. These were the years of ronald rayguns and his delusional star wars program. A lot of people still defend him though if put into full development the star wars program would have bankrupted the country and wouldn't have worked anyway. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the soviet system imploded. I can say from personal experience, space was an undeclared battlefield at that time. The US thought the russians had developed laser based weapons that they had used already on US satellites and the US was working on kinetic missiles that could attack russian satellites. As far as I know, to this day, neither side has launched missile platforms in space but each side has been working on such projects. Many people forget too that in the late 70s and early 80s there was a plan to build a giant underground racetrack system in nevada that would be invulnerable to attack in response to the soviets ss-20 missiles. The russians had a huge strategic advantage. They could put missiles anywhere they wanted. Though most of their missiles were in the ICBM belt, they could build a missile silo anywhere. Their only concern was the security vulnerability of the site. Put a silo in say kiev, which they did, and it's more likely to be discovered so they came up with the ss-20 that could be moved on the back of tractor trailers and launched from anywhere. It was very difficult to track these mobile missiles. The americans on the other hand couldn't put a missile just anywhere. Everyone wanted defense but no one wanted a missile in their backyard so submarines became and still are our primary line of defense. But the soviets had submarines of their own and so the 80s were a cat and mouse game between the US and the soviets under the oceans. Many people don't realize even today that a missile launced from a submarine off the east coast can hit all the major cities along the eastern seaboard in under 10 minutes. A lot of people in the US think we are protected by ABM systems and they use as evidence the first gulf war. The israelis used an american developed ABM system to defend their cities and settlements against old soviet developed scud missiles and the media during the war claimed they were highly successful but analysis later showed that many of these missiles just failed on their own and the 'patriot' missile defense wasn't nearly as successful as the media claimed. Today, who knows if we are protected or not but Putin has been railing against the US for years for going ahead with plans to put such systems in europe, stating that it would create an imbalance and promote an arms race, which it has. Now many of the nuclear agreements signed after the soviet collapse are being scraped and a new arms race has begun while the media in the US is concentrated on taylor swift's boyfriends. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and we can find a peaceful resolution.
So personally I found the film fascinating because in 1983 I was working for an aerospace company working on projects related to surveillance. I never heard of this incident and I can't recall when I first heard about it or when I first heard of K19 or the 'red star' submarine but it was probably at least 10 years later. I don't know of any american incidents like these but in 1983 I worked with many former intelligence and military personnel who told stories of the soviets testing american defenses. We probably did some of the same things but no one every talked about such things. For example, it was fairly common for the soviets to open all their silo doors to the missiles along the ICBM belt in russia to test american reaction and they would sometimes launch missiles to test our response. These were the years of ronald rayguns and his delusional star wars program. A lot of people still defend him though if put into full development the star wars program would have bankrupted the country and wouldn't have worked anyway. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the soviet system imploded. I can say from personal experience, space was an undeclared battlefield at that time. The US thought the russians had developed laser based weapons that they had used already on US satellites and the US was working on kinetic missiles that could attack russian satellites. As far as I know, to this day, neither side has launched missile platforms in space but each side has been working on such projects. Many people forget too that in the late 70s and early 80s there was a plan to build a giant underground racetrack system in nevada that would be invulnerable to attack in response to the soviets ss-20 missiles. The russians had a huge strategic advantage. They could put missiles anywhere they wanted. Though most of their missiles were in the ICBM belt, they could build a missile silo anywhere. Their only concern was the security vulnerability of the site. Put a silo in say kiev, which they did, and it's more likely to be discovered so they came up with the ss-20 that could be moved on the back of tractor trailers and launched from anywhere. It was very difficult to track these mobile missiles. The americans on the other hand couldn't put a missile just anywhere. Everyone wanted defense but no one wanted a missile in their backyard so submarines became and still are our primary line of defense. But the soviets had submarines of their own and so the 80s were a cat and mouse game between the US and the soviets under the oceans. Many people don't realize even today that a missile launced from a submarine off the east coast can hit all the major cities along the eastern seaboard in under 10 minutes. A lot of people in the US think we are protected by ABM systems and they use as evidence the first gulf war. The israelis used an american developed ABM system to defend their cities and settlements against old soviet developed scud missiles and the media during the war claimed they were highly successful but analysis later showed that many of these missiles just failed on their own and the 'patriot' missile defense wasn't nearly as successful as the media claimed. Today, who knows if we are protected or not but Putin has been railing against the US for years for going ahead with plans to put such systems in europe, stating that it would create an imbalance and promote an arms race, which it has. Now many of the nuclear agreements signed after the soviet collapse are being scraped and a new arms race has begun while the media in the US is concentrated on taylor swift's boyfriends. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and we can find a peaceful resolution.