Effort

Here at Russian Boot Camp, there are several other boot camps running simultaneously. There is Georgian Boot Camp, Serbian Boot Camp, Yiddish Boot Camp, Czech Boot Camp, Uzbek Boot Camp, and more. Although Russian Boot Camp is by far the largest, the Russians here are benevolent and allow the smaller boot camps to have their own cultural activities. I'm not too keen on the lectures because they tend to be too basic for understandable reasons but I love the movie nights. I've had the opportunity to see Hungarian, Uzbek, and Turkmen movies that I probably would never have seen otherwise. The Russians have also chosen wisely. Instead of dragging out made-for-western-sensibilities crap like Burnt by the Sun, they've opted to show a slew of comedies that all Russians know but that won't be finding a place on the syllabi for Intro to Russian and Soviet Film. The ball, however, has been dropped. The inspiration is gone. The Czech movie is this week and the powers that be have decided to show Divided We Fall, which is a sentimental little turd along the lines of the much despised Kolja. This is a film that made the theatre rounds and is available at my neighborhood Blockbuster. Should anyone from the Boot Camp Program read this, I have a suggestion for you: Show something, anything by Saša Gedeon, who for my money is the best bloody living Czech director today. -Zh.