Tycoon: A New Russian is a 2002

2002 in film

The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...

 Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n movie directed by Pavel Loungine (or Lungin)

Pavel Lungin

Pavel Semyonovich Lungin is a Russian film director. He is sometimes credited as Pavel Loungine .Born July 12, 1949 in Moscow, Lungin is the son of a scriptwriter and philologist. He later attended Moscow State University from which he graduated in 1971...

.

Plot

During the Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...

 years, Platon Makovsky and four buddies of his are university students who jump on the private capitalism movement. Fast-forward 20 years, Platon finds himself the richest man in Russia. But as such, he and his friends are drawn more and more into relations with suspect organizations. They also have to face ever more brutal attempts to subjugate them by the Kremlin. Makovsty attempts to compete with this ever-present political power, by becoming as "creating a Kremlin" himself.

Background

The film is based on "Bolshaya Paika" ("The Big Slice") - a novel by Yuli Dubov, depicting the real biography of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and his partners. Dubov was Berezovsky's partner himself, and a president of his LogoVAZ company. The novel is claimed to be historically precise in many aspects. The names of the characters were changed from their real life counterparts, though keeping resemblance (e.g. Boris Berezovsky, who changed his name to Platon Elenin in exile in 2004, to Platon Makovsky, Badri Patarkatsishvili

Badri Patarkatsishvili

Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili was a wealthy Georgian businessman, who was also extensively involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came third with 7.1% of the votes...

 to Lari Teishvili, etc.)

In June 2009, Dubov and Berezovsky were convicted in absentia (they are both living in exile in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

) in a Russian court for the events that served as the basis for the book to 9 and 13 years of imprisonment respectively. The book served as one of the pieces of evidence against them.

Quotes

"Now I'll prove to you that a crocodile is more long than green. Because it's as long on the upper side, as it is from below, whereas it's green just on the upper side. And now I'll demonstrate that a crocodile is more green than wide. Because it's as green in length as it is in width, but it's wide just in width." (said by Platon to demonstrate that logic can prove anything)

"It will never be the way it should in this country. It is a country of ever-green tomatoes" (said by Mark to Platon)

"I drink the very same thing that the whole country is drinking, our native water [i.e. vodka]" (said by a tipsy Nina when she was criticizing the affluence of Platon's circle)

"You do not get born president. You BECOME a president." (Platon to Lary, when he decided to back one of the presidential candidates)