Luna Park (1992)

“The scumbags are in power.”

In post-communist Russia, Andrei (Andrei Goutine) heads “The Cleaners”–a gang of young skinheads whose motto is “cleaning up Russia.” The gang hangs around a dilapidated amusement centre, Luna Park. The gang’s ramshackle headquarters–including an informal gym–is inside the park. The muscle-bound young men pump iron and broaden their biceps in between hate crimes and robberies directed against Jewish businesses.

Andrei believes that he’s a “pure Russian”-the son of a Soviet army hero. By accident, he learns that his father was not an Afghanistan war hero, but a Jewish musician. At first he rejects the idea, but then revenge and eventually curiosity get the better of Andrei, and he decides to seek out his long-lost father. In reality, Andrei’s father is an effete, cultured Jewish bohemian–everything Andrei’s gang loathes. Andrei approaches his father with hate, and his reaction to culture is amusing, sad and touching.

Andrei’s quest to discover the truth about his father becomes a search for self-knowledge, and Goutine delivers a tremendous performance as the young man who must face the truth about his heritage. Luna Park depicts Russia as a moral wasteland–with small pockets of culture struggling to exist in a brutish, destructive society. A great deal of the action centers around the abandoned amusement park. Luna Park opens with an explosive, bloody battle between two violent gangs, and while the film contains violent themes, it’s not overly gruesome. In Russian with English subtitles.