''Tins'' (Tins, ) is a 2007 film about a journalist who possesses information on uranium sales and is set up by his enemies and sent to prison. Initially the film was planned as a political thriller, but along the way it gained features of action with elements of mysticism and surrealism. The film is full of vivid pictures of spy and terrorist games in Moscow, modern Gulag in the Far North, gold mines, escape with elite spetsnaz in the pursuit, underground community of permanently high punks, and other quite unusual settings. The title, which literally translates as "Canned Food", has multiple meanings. One was introduced by

Varlam Shalamov Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov (; 18 June 1907 – 17 January 1982), baptized as Varlaam, was a Russian writer, journalist, poet and Gulag survivor. He spent much of the period from 1937 to 1951 imprisoned in forced-labor camps in the Arctic reg ...

in his tales about

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

, and it was called "calf" – a younger convict accepted to escape team for food, as a walking piece of meat. Another meaning is an interpretation of the film's idea: human beings are "sealed" structures that open only in extreme situations. The third meaning has to do with actual canned meat taken for escape: in the movie these cans play an important part because of their unexpected content. The film was shot in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, Ukraine, where director Egor Konchalovsky had found locations for shootings of Siberian taiga, Ural mines and Moscow streets. He had transformed Inkerman quarries into the Ural prison camp.

Marat Basharov Marat Alimzhanovich Basharov (, , born 22 August 1974) is a Soviet and Russian film actor and a TV host, of Volga Tatar origin. Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan (2012), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2002). He ...

, playing the journalist, had his head shaven for the role, and

Sergey Shakurov Sergey Kayumovich Shakurov (, ; born 1 January 1942) is a Soviet and Russian actor of theater. He has appeared in more than ninety films since 1967. Life and career Sergey Shakurov was born in Russian-Tatar family in Moscow. His father was Mis ...

, playing criminal boss or "thief in the law", had his body tattooed.

Plot

Igor Davidov, an international journalist, possesses dangerous information about high-ranking traitors, including an army general, a State Duma elected official and a well-known nuclear scientist who plan to sell weapons-grade uranium to a Middle East country. The traitors realise that someone has leaked their plans. They trace the leak to Igor. Events turn nasty. The villainous General Astrahantsev kidnaps the children of loyal Commander Usoltsev, a veteran of the Chechnya war; the nuclear scientist is murdered. The conspirators succeed in framing Usoltsev and Davidov on charges of murder and drug dealing. Both men, who had not previously met, soon find themselves in a remote prison camp. They try to discover the real reasons for their being in prison. Then with the help of criminals they escape from the camp to seek justice. They face many more tests; not everyone will live through the experience.

External links

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Movie Trailer
and Russian action films 2007 action films 2007 films 2000s Russian films 2000s Russian-language films Russian-language action films {{2000s-Russia-film-stub