Was that supposed to be just a dream, a fantasy shooting or no?
I'm guessing it was supposed to be that Sanya accidentally shot (& killed?) the wrong person, but when i rolled back the DVD it WAS Tolyan....wasn't it?
And when Sanya checked for a tattoo (or was it a bullet wound?) at the end of the movie with the man who died in his arms, there wasn't any. Wasn't that supposed to be Tolyan?
Okay, now i'm really confused.
Anyone?
P.S.
Thanks!
I am pretty sure it was Tolyan he shot on the train...
The man at the end, was similar to Tolyan, and was there to show how the love/hate for Tolyan had gone on his whole life. It was not Tolyan at the end.
what was interesting was at the end, the tattoo Sanya had on his shoulder.. same as Tolyan.
Those were tough times...as demonstrated in the film...
and Sanya was always missing a father...he never really had...
and Tolyan was a poor excuse for one.. but did teach him some survival skills...
which helped make him a success in the military.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124207/alternateversions
Alternate Versions
The Russian release features an additional 14 minutes at the end which depict Sanya as an adult. After he shoots Tolyan, the film cuts directly to modern times where Sanya is a colonel of the Russian army. He explains that he has had to kill many times since that day and that his profession justifies it. In a war-torn village, he mistakes an old man for Tolyan. He embraces the old vagrant, who dies in his arms. Upon inspection of his back, he finds that there is no Panther tattoo. It is not Tolyan. As he leaves the village in his own personal staff car, he takes off his shirt. At this point Russian audiences see for the first time that Sanya has a Panther tattoo identical to Tolyan's on his back. (Some non-Russian versions finished the film with a shot of Sanya at 12 lying in his bunk with this tattoo. Russians did not see that scene.) The original Russian version ends with a flashback to Sanya at 6 peering out the window of the train and seeing his father waving to him on the back of a passing railcar. It is rumored that 'Pavel Chukhraj' cut the non-Russian versions for two reasons. First, he wanted to make it shorter and more attractive to foreign critics and film festivals. He also felt it might confuse and complicate the meaning of the film for viewers not familiar with modern Russia.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124207/alternateversions
Alternate Versions
The Russian release features an additional 14 minutes at the end which depict Sanya as an adult. After he shoots Tolyan, the film cuts directly to modern times where Sanya is a colonel of the Russian army. He explains that he has had to kill many times since that day and that his profession justifies it. In a war-torn village, he mistakes an old man for Tolyan. He embraces the old vagrant, who dies in his arms. Upon inspection of his back, he finds that there is no Panther tattoo. It is not Tolyan. As he leaves the village in his own personal staff car, he takes off his shirt. At this point Russian audiences see for the first time that Sanya has a Panther tattoo identical to Tolyan's on his back. (Some non-Russian versions finished the film with a shot of Sanya at 12 lying in his bunk with this tattoo. Russians did not see that scene.) The original Russian version ends with a flashback to Sanya at 6 peering out the window of the train and seeing his father waving to him on the back of a passing railcar. It is rumored that 'Pavel Chukhraj' cut the non-Russian versions for two reasons. First, he wanted to make it shorter and more attractive to foreign critics and film festivals. He also felt it might confuse and complicate the meaning of the film for viewers not familiar with modern Russia.