Russian Film 'Battle of the Engines' Dramatizes Early Car Race from St. Petersburg to Monte Carlo
The adventure drama 'Bitva motorov' ('Battle of the Engines'), loosely based on real events about the first Russian-built car, the Russo-Balt, is now showing in Russian cinemas. Critic Eduard Zhuravlev calls it entertaining but tinged with patriotism.
An adventure film titled "Bitva motorov" ("Battle of the Engines"), directed by actor Ilya Malanin, is now playing in Russian cinemas. The story draws on real events from the early 20th century, when the Russo-Balt, a car built in the Russian Empire, entered the Monte Carlo Rally. Film critic Eduard Zhuravlev reviewed it, describing the picture as entertaining but unable to avoid patriotic undertones.
Plot
Andrey Nagel, played by Ivan Yankovsky, is a lawyer, racing driver, entrepreneur and publisher of Avtomobil magazine. He resolves to start making the Russian Empire's first homegrown car, but neither private investors nor the Ministry of Railways believe in the idea. Nagel finds allies at the Russian-Baltic Wagon Works in Riga, where he builds the Russo-Balt with engineer Dmitry Bondarev (Yura Borisov). Having spent nearly his whole fortune, he decides to prove the car's quality at the Monte Carlo Rally and sets off from wintry St. Petersburg with Bondarev, hoping to win a government order from Emperor Nicholas II.
Production
Malanin also directed the dramedy "Nenormalny" and the Netflix series "Nichego osobennogo," which the streamer shelved because of the war. The film was produced by Gazprom-Media, TNT, Pyotr Anurov's Kinoslovo and Nikita Mikhalkov's TriTe studio. Much of the crew carried over from "Prorok," a musical about Pushkin. The production found or built about 50 period-appropriate cars, and the closing drive to Monaco, which takes up a third of the running time, was filmed in Montenegro.
Departures from history
The reviewer notes that the real Gustav List did not compete in the rally, as he was nearly 80, and that Bondarev oversaw Russo-Balt production but did not travel to Monaco. Vadim Mikhailov, who did take part, is never mentioned. In the film, the Russians reach Monte Carlo first but finish ninth on points. The closing titles omit that Nagel later moved to Paris, the factory was repurposed for military production, and Bondarev was executed in 1937.
