Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

World War II has been one of the most common subjects in cinema for the past seven decades. Practically every country involved in that six-year conflict has made movies about it, including Russia. One example is Aleksey Uchitel's "Kray" ("The Edge" in English), Russia's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.Most of the movie is set in the aftermath of WWII, in a Siberian camp for Soviet troops who had been POWs in Germany, now sent to the camp for "re-education". One of the people there is war hero Ignat, who had wrecked a train. But when he ventures out on a hunch, Ignat finds what could be a new path in life...even if it angers the commissar.To me, the trains represent the struggles that the people in the Soviet Union had endured under Nazi occupation, but also the understanding that the way forward was not going to be an easy task. While the movie doesn't have the intellectual profundity of some Russian movies that I've seen, it does make clear that mere suspicion of collaboration with the Germans could have dire consequences. It's not a masterpiece, but I like how it develops the characters, especially Elsa.Other Russian movies about WWII that I recommend are "The Cranes Are Flying", "Cuckoo" and "Our Own".

Ignat is a Soviet veteran who arrives in a remote village to be responsible for the railway line. Treated as a war hero, it awakens the hatred and admiration of those who reside there, foreigners who have the "opportunity" to work for Mother Russia. Formerly a machinist, now he can not touch the locomotives because of his frequent convulsions. This fact is what awaken the first uncomfortable situation upon your arrival.Thus Ignat takes over the main locomotive, causing the silent fury of his former machinist - one of the strangers in the village. Motivated by this event, Elsa breaks with her boyfriend, the machinist, and seduces Ignat. When questioned, she responds that she needs a real man to take care of her and that Ignat has proved himself better in two situations about his former companion, which puts him as a stronger man.The climate in the village, more like a forced labor camp, gets worse. Ignat awakens fear as it imposes itself. By putting a locomotive in its maximum effort, it ends up damaging it and causing the locals to get injured - the fuse for Ignat to reach the end of the rails.These rails lead to a river and what was left of a bridge. Just as he finds an old abandoned powerful locomotive, because of the broken bridge. Ignat focuses on recovering the train and ends up meeting a savage savage who does not speak his language. The discovery of this girl causes discomfort in the village as Ignat tries to help her. Together they will face the challenge of trying to get the train to work, finding a way to reestablish the bridge and face the village's fury.The photography and the direction are okay, they fulfill their role and they hit on some good passages. The performances also follow this line, do not compromise and at one time or another crown with good performances. The script is original and approaches intelligently, it sins to be losing a bit in the middle of the story and almost recovers.Kray is a film that portrays a delicate moment in Russia, a time when locomotives were worth more than people and people were disposable or untouchable, without the middle ground. The war hero is put in check as a critique of exacerbated nationalism and the magic that surrounds Stalin's sympathizers. The Soviet lobotomy is cruel and imposing. Movie that ends up being interesting by its novelty, without sounding with strangeness.

This film clearly aims to present the immediate post-WWII Russian/Soviet landscape in a way that is not breathtakingly new, but satisfyingly authentic for middlebrow audiences, East and West. In this way, it reminds most of the Finno-Russian production, "The Cuckoo." The heroes are not larger than life, no better than they need to be (when the Russian heroine is asked why she prefers the newly arrived hero to her former lover, she answers, "because he has more of the devil in him"); the national prejudices create tension, project an atmosphere of cruelty, even brutality among characters who clearly have a stake in reaching mutual understanding. The cold is palpable, as is the primitive living conditions. No wonder the power and beauty of the locomotives provide romanticism and sense of adventure for all.A large part of the suspense comes from just trying to figure out the back story and the relationships among the characters. The political atmosphere is understated enough, I think, so thoughtful audiences have something to "read between the lines," and those who want an adrenaline rush will not be disappointed.

I saw this at the Toronto film festival on September 11, 2010, under the title, "The Edge". I walked in prepared for a heavy dose of Russian gloom. I like Russian literature, especially Chekhov, but I'm always reminded of these lines from a David Massengill song: "What's wrong with the Russians? Have you read their novels? They all die in brothels." In this case, there is nothing wrong with the Russians. This movie grabs you from the start and doesn't let go. Don't get me wrong, this is not a lighthearted movie; it has serious subject matter and complex issues that the characters must deal with . . . and there is plenty of gloom to go around.Here is the situation in Siberia: At the beginning of World War II, while Stalin and Hitler were still honoring their non-aggression pact, Germans and Russians were co-existing in a remote labor camp. Eventually, Stalin sends his thugs to oust the Germans and declare the Russian inhabitants to be collaborators. At this point the film opens with a young girl running for her life. Four years later, the fighting is over and a Soviet war hero has arrived to work on the town's steam engine. The only Germans left are the illegitimate child of one of the Russian women . . . and don't forget that running girl.I found myself missing some of the subtitles because I could not take my eyes of the compelling characters and the actors who play them. The standouts are Vladimir Mashkov as the hero and Anjorka Strechel and Yulia Peresild as the women who love/hate him. But his true passion is the steam engine, which he races through the snowy Siberian woods.The steam locomotive chase sequences are the best put on film since Buster Keaton spectacularly crashed a Union train into Oregon's Rock River in The General (1927). It's as though director Uchitel is rebuilding the train and the bridge Keaton destroyed eight decades ago and a half a world away.Unlike Keaton's masterpiece, which should have won an Oscar in 1927, this film is Russia's entry into the 2010 Best Foreign Film Oscar competition.