The Russian Job (2017)

 

Set in the city of Tolyatti in Russia, the film documents the struggles of a once-glorious auto-plant built in the 1960s to showcase Soviet industrial might—now bleeding billions of rubles and stuck in a seemingly endless state of decline. 

Into this morass arrives Swedish industry veteran Bo Inge Andersson, hired to turn things around by applying capitalist methods and managerial rigor. He takes over the factory, hoping to be the first non-Russian to lead it, and sets about trying to reform, reorganise, and revive. 

But the more Andersson pursues his transformation mission, the more he uncovers the deep-seated inertia, informal practices, and cultural absurdities of the factory and its surroundings: huge sprawling buildings, workers with vague roles, traditions of non-transparency, and a sense that many in the factory simply want to carry on as they have always done. 

In effect, the film becomes a portrait of one man’s ambitions running head-on into the reality of an institution (and society) where “people want a revolution — but nothing should change.” 

Director: Petr Horký.

Star / Featured Cast:

• Bo Inge Andersson (the Swedish manager at the centre of the story) 

• Alexandr Kolesnikov 

• Petr Linhart 

         Katerina Matuškova