Cargo 200

Cargo 200 is a Russian neo-noir thriller film from 2007 by Aleksei Balabanov depicting the late Soviet society. The action is set during the culmination of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1984. The movie's title Cargo 200 refers to the zinc coffins in which dead Soviet soldiers were shipped home. The movie was said to be based on a true story. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Plot Artyom (Leonid Gromov), a professor of Scientific Atheism at the Leningrad State University, is visiting his brother in a small town of Leninsk. There he is introduced to his niece's boyfriend Valery (Leonid Bichevin). Valery and Artyom's niece go off to a party, while Artyom starts on his way back to Leningrad. On the outskirts of town Artyom's car breaks down, forcing him to go to an isolated farmhouse to try to get help. There he meets the farmhouse owner Alexey (Aleksei Serebryakov), Alexey's wife Antonina (Natalya Akimova), a Vietnamese worker who goes by the name "Sunka" (Mikhail Skryabin), and a stranger who is not explained at the time. Artyom and Alexey consume large quantities of moonshine alcohol while arguing about faith in God and retribution from sins, the professor defending the Soviet atheist worldview. Vietnamese worker Sunka, who seems to be practically a personal slave of Alexey's, fixes Artyom's car and the professor drives on. However, realizing how drunk he is, Artyom decides to go back to his brother's house. The movie switches to Valery. It turns out that Artyom's niece did not go to the party, so Valery went to a concert by himself. At the concert Valery hangs out with Angelika (Agniya Kuznetsova), another female student friend of his who is a daughter of a high-ranking Communist Party official. They get drunk together, and after the party is over Valery drives with her to a farm of moonshiners in search of more alcohol. The moonshiner turns out to be the same Alexey whom Artyom had encounter earlier. Valery tells Angelika to stay in the car while he gets the alcohol. However, instead of returning directly to the car, he gets drunk senseless with the moonshiner, Alexey. Angelika, waiting in the car, notices that she is being watched by a strange man. She gets scared, and tries to get help from the moonshiner's wife Antonina. Antonina hands the girl a shotgun and hides her in a barn. The stranger enters the barn, declares that he is a police officer Captain Zhurov (Aleksei Poluyan), and takes away the gun.