MovieChat Forums > Brat 2 (2000) Discussion > racist and full of plot holes

racist and full of plot holes


I simply cannot find much good to say about this movie besides its surface level entertainment value. Balabanov is clearly a racist, and if you read the fantastic article on the film's official website (in Russian) you will find statements that are simply not true about American race relations. At one point he claims that the word "watermellon" has become taboo here... I personally have never encountered a problem with the word "watermellon" and attach no race related meaning to it at all. He presumes to speak for Americans when he knows nothing. He is also woefully uninformed about the welfare system and affirmative action, obviously having read a handful of reactionary articles without doing any research into statistics. For example, half of Americans on welfare are white. The dialogue about how black people are closer to their natural instincts, and that's why they are so angry and powerful, is about on level with calling them animals. Maybe that's the Russian way of looking at it, but political correctness aside, that's racist. Issues of race aside, the movie was full of plot holes and loose ends. Danila kills a lot of henchmen, including shooting an innocent black man in the face because Danila doesn't want to pay for an illegal gun. But leaves the mob boss alive in the end, just as he seems to forget about justice for his murdered army buddy. In the latter case, he also lets the man responsible go, and never thinks about it again after he leaves for America. In between, you other posters are right, he doesn't sleep with any models. Instead he sleeps with television icons from Russian pop culture and the Chicago news. Why? Who knows, and furthermore, who cares. The most I got out of the film was, Russians are as clueless and ignorant about America as Americans are about Russia. If you feel like watching a Chechen war veteran wander the streets of Chicago killing nameless, faceless criminals usually without any real reason, and ultimately get to see him let all the bad men who are really responsible walk free, then please enjoy the film.

reply

I don't know what this dude is on babbling about, don't let his russophobia scare you off from watching something different.

reply

Racism is simply the "belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race" (Oxford dict.) which is why it's so ignorant of people to play the race card, as racism is merely a recognition of a basic biological fact that there are races. I didn't find the film particularly 'racist' or even racially discriminatory, which I suspect is the meaning you intended. It portrays almost all the characters as animals.

In fact you seem to be rather racially biased in your own review. Your comment "shooting an innocent black man in the face because Danila doesn't want to pay for an illegal gun" is full of holes. For a start, how can a black market arms dealer be innocent? And Danila didn't have the money to pay even if he wanted to. Why do you single out this incident in the film? Is it because the victim was black? Again, shame on you.

As for the rest of the film, Danila isn't the all-American hero. He's twisted, evil, immoral and dangerous. Were you expecting a Russian "Walker, Texas Ranger"?
Finally I wouldn't say this film was clueless about America at all, although of course it did focus on the US's seedy underbelly.

reply

I had previously watched the first part, and kinda liked it... but this sequel is totally WTF.

There are three ways I'm able to see the movie:

1) As propaganda to Russians that life isn't better in the west, and there's no point of immigrating to the US.

2) As a naive adolescent fantasy of how some Russians see themselves; "the righteous gangster", or the Robin Hood of the modern day. In this context the movie could even be seen as a satire of these ppl.

3) Just as an ignorant action movie.

And yes, there are so many plot holes, stereotypes and totally unrealistic events happening all the time. I agree that most American action movies also have plot holes, stereotypes, and unrealistic events... but this doesn't make this movie anymore realistic or truthful in any aspect!


powerman611 wrote:

"In a way he represents the [Danila] Russian heart. Alot of Russians emigrated to America in the 90's, so maybe Balabanov is trying to comment on that too.

Babalonov is not trying to promote racism or violence. It's just a backdrop. Danila is pretty much an anti-hero. In a way he reminds me of Forrest Gump, who was also compeltely oblivious to his surroundings.

So he [Danila] wasn't really motivated by revenge; he was on a quest of truth and honor."

I like his interpretation of powerman611, altho I don't have any sympathy (let alone respect) to the Danila character and his "quest of honor and truth", which just totally narsistic and morally depraved rampage of murder.

reply

[deleted]

Grow up. He is right about much more than you are. and just because it is politically incorrect to voice a lot of these things doesn't mean america is not racist. calling russians racist coming from an american is a joke. only 40 years ago there was segregation in this country.
As far as "innocent black man" paleaase.. the guy was pushing firearms on the black market....
as far as sleeping with a russian tv icon - what is so suprising? i suppose you expected something as fabricated as the crap from Coming to America. this is life and it's realistic. life is not full of black and white. it's grey and everybody has good and bad in them - that's what makes it more interesting.

reply

...but in American films, it's suddenly okay to portray Russians as hitmen, thugs, gangsters but you're saying having an "innocent" illegal gun-dealer black man is racist?

reply