Award-winning hockey documentary ‘The Russian Five’ set for Israel premiere

Next week, Israeli audiences will have the opportunity to attend two screenings of “The Russian Five,” the documentary covering the first all-Russian group to play in the NHL. The film, originally released in 2018, traces the journey of five Russian hockey players who helped transform the Detroit Red Wings into Stanley Cup champions in 1997 and 1998, and another in 2002 with two of them still on the NHL club's roster. The Russian five consisted of Sergei Fedorov, Slava Fetisov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Igor Larionov and Vladimir Konstantinov. On Sunday, December 1, the film will have its Holy Land premiere at the Tel Aviv Museum, with an additional showing the following night at the Hadar Matnas in Haifa. This is not a Detroit movie about hockey. This film is about hopes and dreams and covert missions, and taking chances. It's about struggling to fit in when you don't speak English. It's about learning the Soviet way of hockey, particularly playing in five-man units and emphasizing puck control and finesse over toughness and body-checking. And in the end, it's about success against all odds. The most touching part of the documentary involves the tragic story of Konstantinov, whose career was cut short in a limousine crash just six days after the Wings' 1997 Stanley Cup victory. Konstantinov spent several weeks in a coma before finally pulling through. After Detroit recaptured the Stanley Cup in 1998, Konstantinov was wheeled onto the ice to celebrate the victory with his teammates. Detroit's general manager, Jimmy Devellano, concocted the idea of drafting Russian players and then getting them to defect. He drafted Fedorov, Konstantinov and Kozlov, while the other two were drafted elsewhere before making their way to Detroit. “I knew there were good players in Russia,” Devellano recalls in the film. “The problem was that there was an Iron Curtain.” Fedorov's defection was followed by Konstantinov. Kozlov came over as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Larionov and Fetisov won their official release in 1989 from the Soviet Red Army. The documentary grossed six figures in US box offices since hitting select theaters in March. NBC Sports acquired the rights to the film and there are screening scheduled throughout the world. So far, it has captured awards at film festivals in Seattle, Detroit and Montreal, among others, and has garnered rave reviews. “One of the most dramatic and emotional of sports stories get the expert film it deserves,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. “A documentary that is moving in ways you don't see coming.” Two of the players featured in the film, Fetisov and his Red Wings teammate Darren McCarty, will be in Israel as special guests at the Holy Land screenings. The man responsible for bringing the film to Israel is hockey commentator Lev Genin. To purchase tickets to the Israel screenings, please visit www.bravo.org.il

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