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.

There is little about THE EDGE that is not extremely well done. The setting and props are authentic and make you want to pull up a blanket to keep Siberia out. The photography and editing are topnotch; e.g., no lazy cameras, obnoxious close-ups, etc. All characters act according to their described circumstances. I'd bet the script is great but of course I was limited to subtitles. But the most intriguing item about THE EDGE is the plot; i.e., the storyline. Arguably the tale twists but whatever such may be the two lead characters are single-minded and riveted to their goals. The IMDb (and I assume the film's) poster picture is misleading as it suggests some superhero-like character with a Transformer-sized train. Such is decidedly NOT the case. However, the actual train devise becomes even more thrilling because of a plot predicament I won't give away. If I haven't already said so the male and female leads give awesome performances. I rarely gush so much about a movie but how THE EDGE slipped under the critics radar baffles me. Doctor Zhivago has nothing on this film. I predict great things for Anjorka Strechel.

This movie was rather unusual but luckily in an original kind of way. A Russian movie, set right after WW II, in which trains play a very central role. This doesn't really sound like your typical and average movie! So yes, the movie and its story in general are quite unusual and original but this still would had all meant very little if the movie wasn't a good or interesting one to watch. And luckily the movie is really an interesting watch. It actually features a very simplistic and straight-forward story in it but things get developed and handled well and add to this the fact that the movie features some great characters in it.It really isn't a very exciting movie story- or action-wise but yet the movie still feels that way. It's because the movie has a good pace, which is probably because it's a movie in with the main character is always on the move, with or without his locomotive.Yes, it's quite amazing, the central role that trains play in this movie. They form an important aspect of the story and sort of become characters themselves in the movie. I know there are probably plenty of train lovers out there, who will get a blast out of seeing this movie, with all types of old Soviet locomotives in it.But also otherwise this movie has plenty to offer. It's a nice 'little' type of movie, with humane characters and realistic events and emotions, while the movie still manages to go over-the-top with things and becomes an entertaining one to watch as well. It's hard to label this movie because it's doing so much and it's doing about everything in its own way.One thing that the movie also has really going for it is its look. It has a great and grand sort of look over it, that makes this movie feel authentic as well as slightly epic. I liked the visual style and the fact that for a change it didn't just portrayed the Siberian hinterland as a cold, white and gray, depressing sort of place. The movie is actually quite colorful, without using that much colors really, as strange as that might sound.A good and also original watch but I really wouldn't go as far as calling this movie a great one or a must-see. It's just a tad bit too simplistic and straight-forward for that.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

You have to give credit to the director and the team of stunt-men for incredible steam engine races but on the whole the plot is not believable. The most impossible thing of course is four- year survival of a German girl in the Siberian taiga. How she did it is a mystery which I can only explain by the director's plan to shoot a prequel next year.The list goes on - the main hero's girlfriend lives in a barrack with dozens of other exiled women who all sleep in bunks in one large room but she, miraculously, has a tiny bedroom all for herself and her lover. How she pulled this one off in the Gulag, I do not know.The main hero is such a hero, he makes steam engines fly over a pretty wide river, tender and all, when he realizes that a bridge he tried to repair is unsafe for crossing.There is a fair dose of what directors - Russian or foreign ones - think should be in a film about Russia. The most glaring example in "The Edge" is a bear walking the streets of a settlement and doing mischief among the inhabitants. There is plenty of moonshine and Stalin's portraits. There is a Russian steam bath filled with naked women whose bodies look remarkably appetizing for the inhabitants of the Gulag. I was surprised that there was nobody playing the harmonica under the branches of a cranberry tree.But like I said, if you are a fan of locomotives, go and watch this movie!