This week, we had to watch a show with English subtitles and explore the different cultural aspects as well as similarities in our culture. I watched episode 1 of a war drama called FRONT which takes place during World War II. It was created by Epic Media English, one of the largest Russian production companies.

This episode is about how the Soviet secret intelligence has discovered that Nazi Germany is about to create a uranium machine.

Here is the link to the episode I watched.

In the first five minutes of the show, a fabric trader named Vlad Volni has to pass a checkpoint surrounded by guards. He was recruited by the Soviet secret service but lives in Germany. It is a war zone and he is using fabrics like cotton, wool and silk to transport parts of bombs for the Germans. The setting is dark and gloomy, but the character Vlad is charming and clever and uses his witty personality to flirt with the only female patrol officer and convinces her to let him pass if she gets to keep the very expensive silk fabrics.

Following that scene, the Soviets are gathered in a room. It is interesting to see how male dominated the movie is thus far. The Soviets are discussing how they can get their hands on the uranium, how strong it is and if the Germans have their hands on it. They are sitting in an old room with rusted chairs and the general is sitting in a throne looking chair. He is the only one drinking tea, and the only one allowed to speak. The rest of his army sits there in silence and is only allowed to speak if called upon.

The Germans are trying to ambush the Russians in the next scene and one of the Captains brought three amateur officers with him. The Germans do not nearly have as much protection and materials that Americans do when we are at war. They had floppy camouflage hoods and one rifle each, where in America our men have protective helmets, backup ammunition, radios to report back to their Sergeants. They do not seem as prepared as we would be if the ambush were to go south. The Russian general who was supposed to be ambushed has a woman in the car that he is clearly trying to make a move on and she is trying politely to move away from him but he is persistent and gets aggressive.

The settings are always dark and gloomy, the sun doesn’t shine because they are trying to show that war is not a bright and cheerful place. Vlad is supposed to be gathering information for the Soviets about the development of the nuclear machine.

Vlad meets a beautiful young woman named Katerina who was a prisoner in a German concentration camp. She is a physicist and Vlad is trying to get close to her to see what she knows.

One of the Russian Generals takes a woman to lunch, she is dressed very formally in a red long coat with a red bonnet and red lipstick with pearls and nice rings on. They are sitting at the table starting off with a salad and drinking shots of liquor. This is similar to our culture because as a starter usually a salad is ordered.

The village Vlad lives in Germany is run down, the walls of the buildings are old and crumbling. Katerina dresses very plain, you can tell she does not have money like the other woman at lunch with the General. Katerina seems very brilliant and has her guard up with Vlad because she has just been through a lot in the concentration camp. Vlad is starting to feel pressure from the Soviets because he is not getting any information from her, he is actually starting to gain feelings for her.

A lot happened in this first episode! Katerina is captured because the Germans think she gave the Soviets information about the bomb. She is treated very poorly, they are screaming at her and slapping her around. Woman are not respected like men are in this country and it is made very clear in this first episode.

Thanks for checking out my blog post on the FRONT!

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