The Road Movie

The Road Movie (Doroga) (2016)

Runtime: 70 minutes

Directed by: Dmitrii Kalashnikov

Starring: This is a documentary only consisting of Russian dash cam footage... really.

From: Several companies

For years now I have enjoyed such things as the car chases you'd see on a variety of shows, both defunct and present (COPS, World's Wildest Police Videos, the Most Shocking show that was on CourtTV back before that channel was rebranded as TruTV and subsequently became utterly woeful) & crazy driver behavior that can be found in a plethora of YouTube videos; henceforth, I was intrigued when I discovered that a film was created-from Belarus, not Russia-where a little more than a hour's worth of dashcam footage from Russia was put together and as I understand insurance reasons created the situation where many citizens use dashcams, there is no shortage of footage to choose from.

There is no narration and instead this is like a YouTube video someone put together, albeit one where the Russian dialogue is translated, and I realized that not only did Russians utter foul language as if they were sailors on shore leave, but a few times they made grossly offensive comments I dare not repeat here. Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise, as many examples are shown which prove the new stereotype that Russians are insane. I mean, it's not just car crashes that are shown but there's also car chases, a guy yelling at a bear running on the road, people marveling over a meteorite blazing across the sky, fights between motorists, sausage thefts, and more.

I have no idea why Russians act this way; maybe it's the cold weather, perhaps it's something in the vodka, or... actually, I better not get political here. I will say that I wish some clips would have either been longer or shorter, and personally, narration would have been better; even if it was poppycock, hearing that someone somehow avoided death in a nasty wreck could assuage fears that people have over the gnarliest footage.


Even with the complaints I lodged, I can still say this is good overall. I laughed often at all the improbable moments that were presented, plus it was interesting for me to see all the footage of the Russian countryside and city... not to mention, getting to hear for the first time what I presume were the hottest pop hits of that country from a few years ago. If wind is blown up your skirt by what I described at the beginning, for certain this is worth a shot.