I must admit, I wasn’t exactly aware of the Russian WW2 movie The Pilot: A Battle for Survival (2021) before being offered the opportunity to view it. Upon viewing the trailer then carrying out some brief research, I found out that it was inspired by the real life Russian hero Aleksey Maresyev who went on to become a war hero despite being a double amputee.
Due for release on the 1st March 2022 from the good people at Well Go USA, The Pilot is yet another great release from them, one that actually surpassed my expectations. What I thought was going to be another straightforward WW2 actioner became something much more compelling, mixing survivalist thriller with a great WW2 drama, with there still being enough action to satisfy War movie fans.
Opening in December of 1941, a German tank column is steadily moving toward Moscow. With that ace Russian pilot Nikolai Komlev (Pyotr Fyodorov) is sent on a mission to stop their advance. During his mission he and his co-pilot are shot down, crash landing in a wintery forest. While they survive they crash it isn’t long before Nikolai is alone. Now Nikolai will have to fight a battle of human endurance in order to make it to safety. But even if he makes it his battle might just be beginning.
Renat Davletyarov’s film perfectly shows the horrors of war throughout its running time, not just with its battle scenes, which are viscerally violent but in the aftermath of war and those who have to live with the scars, both physical and psychological. It is very much a film of two halves.
Written , produced and directed by Davletyarov, the first hour of his film is the more action heavy, where Nikolai is shot down behind enemy lines. Not only does he have to survive the likes of hypothermia, gangrene and hunger but he also has to deal with a pack of wolves while evading a team of Nazi soldiers who are hot on his tail.
Davletyarov doesn’t waste much time to get to the action, with us not getting a great time to get to know our main characters, however after the plane crash and Nikolai is on his own in the wilderness to we begin to be shown his life before and how his relationship began with Olga
This section of the film was heavily reminiscent of Harald Zwart’s The 12th Man (2017). Similar to that film, our hero has to survive the extreme environment as well as face off against Nazi soldiers. In each instance our hero doesn’t exactly leave with everything intact.
The first half of the film is when it is at its’ most intense, with Davletyarov ratcheting up the tension. On a number of occasions it looks as if Nikolai Is about to be caught only to survive by the skin of his teeth. Like the previously mentioned The 12th Man, one of the sole reasons for the lead's survival is down to the bravery of a select few people, willing to put their life on the line to save their fellow countryman. The most memorable of these characters is Pavel Osadchy’s Misha who puts his own life in insurmountable danger in order to get Nikolai to safety, and it is he in some way that inspires him to keep going in his battle to fly again.
The second half of the film quietens down for a while, with this section being based around Nikolai’s rehabilitation and his hope to fly again. It recalls the WW2 movie classic Reach for the Sky (1956) which told the tale of Douglas Bader. Like Bader, Nikolai Is also left disabled by war and told he will never fly again. In fact Bader is mentioned a number of times during the film and how he is a figure of inspiration for Nikolai.
While this section of the film is more drama heavy, it is no way less compelling with all the cast doing excellent work. Even with a more dramatic focus during these scenes, Davletyarov still builds to an action packed finale which finds Nikolai once again in the cockpit and facing off against enemy pilots.
The Arial action is first class, featuring a mixture of practical work and CGI. They are easily on par with anything to come out of Hollywood and equal to anything to come from Hollywood recently, most notably Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017).
When we are on the ground, Davletyarov doesn’t let up with the carnage. There are explosions, people being set on fire and soldiers losing limbs all while Nikolai is trying to make his way to safety. However some of the most painful looking parts of the film are when Nikolai is forced to inspect his feet, with the cold weather not doing them any favours.
What is especially impressive, not only by the action but the overall look of the film is that it was produced on what wouldn’t even cover the catering costs of a Hollywood production. Director of Photography Semyon Yakovlev gives everything a professional sheen that seriously belays its budget.
Pyotr Fyodorov is terrific as the stoic Nikolai with his sheer determination shining through. Out of all the cast members, Fydorov was the one I was most aware of, having seen him in The Duellist (2016 and sci-fi actioner Blackout (2019) before this. His performance is easily on par with those that I mentioned. In addition he also starred in director Renat Davletyarov’s previous war movie The Dawns Here Are Quiet…(2015) which I will definitely be seeking out based on his and the directors work here.
The main relationship Fyodorov’s Nikola has in the film is with Anna Peskova’s Olga, the only proper female character throughout the film. Peskova does well with her limited screen time and perfectly conveys the love she has for Fyodorov’s Nikolai.
The remainder of the roles are relatively small in screen time. There is the aforementioned Pavel Osadchy as well as Stefan Woelk who plays the villanous Nazi Major hot on Nikolai’s trail. The atrocities he commits during the course of the hunt makes him truly despicable and he is the type of character you will be hoping gets his comeuppance.
The Pilot is certainly a film not to be missed, especially amongst lovers of war movies. I have noted there are some people online complaining that the film is Russian propaganda due to the patriotic stance the film takes. While it is true that the film is guilty of being jingoistic, I don’t think this is to the detriment of the film. No matter the country of origin, most war films can be classified as jingoistic or patriotic.
Rating: 4/5
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