The Havighurst Center’s fall film series ends with Going Vertical
By Helen McHenry
The Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies ended its fall film series on Tuesday, September 25 with Going Vertical, a 2017 Russian film about the Soviet Union’s controversial defeat of the United States in basketball at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Similar in plot and themes to Legend No. 17 and Miracle, Going Vertical depicts how personal loyalty can transcend both ethnic divisions and the restrictions of the state.
The film begins in 1970, when the committee for the Soviet national basketball team decides to appoint Vladimir Garanzhin as head coach. Motivated by his hopes of surgery for his wheelchair-bound son, Shurka, Garanzhin boldly states at a press conference that his goal is to beat the United States in the Olympics. The board is livid, as the United States had not lost since Olympic Basketball began in 1936. Garanzhin’s reminder that “there are no eternal empires” falls on empty ears, and the underlying threat is clear: if Garanzhin does not turn this pipe dream into reality, Shurka will never receive his surgery.
Kirill Zaitsev and Vladimir Mashkov as Sergei Belov and Vladimir Garanzhin in Going Vertical. Picture courtesy of Амурская правда.
Director Anton Megerdichev adds additional tension through his portrayal of the players, who come from varying Soviet republics. The most notable of these is personified in Modestas Paulauskas, a Lithuanian who is very bitter about the hardships the Soviet Union has brought upon his nation. He speaks for Lithuania as a whole when he comments that he feels he is “suffocating” in the Soviet Union. Torn between working for Lithuanian independence and supporting his team, Paulauskas almost flees from the Soviet Union just before the final game. However, thinking of his teammates, he changes his mind at the last second, showing that ethnic conflicts can be resolved through personal relationships.
James Tratas as Modestas Paulauskas in Going Vertical. Picture courtesy of Live Journal.
Going Vertical also points out the stark differences in medical innovation between the Soviet Union and the United States. While the team is training in the United States, player Alexander Belov is diagnosed with a rare heart condition that could kill him within the year. Faced with the choice of sending him back to subpar treatment in the Soviet Union or paying for the proper treatment in America, Garanzhin uses the money he and his wife had saved up for their son’s surgery without hesitation. He continues his philanthropy with Belov’s teammate, Alzhan Zharmukhamedov, who suffers from poor eyesight. Garanzhin procures contact lenses for him under the table, a product not yet available in the Soviet Union.
The team’s hard work and personal sacrifices seem to be for naught just before the final game against the United States, when the Palestinian terrorist attack on Israel’s athletes causes the Soviet committee to decide to forfeit the game. Disappointed, the players sit solemnly back in their hotel as a similarly downtrodden Garanzhin leaves to announce the cancellation. However, player Sergei Belov rallies the team together, not out of a love for the sport or the state but out of loyalty to Garanzhin and each other. Racing to the press conference, they arrive just as assistant head coach Grigorii Moiseev announces that the game will continue.
Ethnic tensions and bureaucratic differences are set aside as the team unites to face the United States. The game begins with a flurry of Soviet action, outstripping the American team to score the first points and be ahead by five at the half. Here the American team fully takes on the mantle of antagonist, led by a brutal coach who not only allows but encourages dirty play. In contrast, Garanzhin only gives his players words of encouragement, inspiring them to play their best and to show the world what they can do. Although the American team comes back to beat the Soviets by a point, a technical glitch leads them to replay the last three seconds of the game. Alexander Belov scores, and the Soviet team emerges victorious. In an emotionally-charged ending, the team presents their winnings to Garanzhin to pay for Shurka’s surgery.
The 1972 Soviet National Basketball Team. Picture courtesy of Meduza.
Although Going Vertical tells a touching story of a team overcoming adversity through devotion to their coach and to each other, it leaves much to be desired in the realm of accuracy. Dr. Sheldon Anderson of Miami’s history department, who was in attendance, spoke from his own perspective as someone who lived through the 1972 game. Besides for portraying techniques that weren’t allowed then, such as dunking, the movie depicted the American team as underhanded and dirty, with a coach that was willing to do anything to win. Dr. Anderson commented that he believed the inaccuracies to be “offensive,” particularly when added on top of the film’s portrayal of Americans.
Americans throughout Going Vertical were stereotyped as crude and disrespectful. Two spectators of the final game summarized the Russian view of America perfectly – with their long, greasy hair hid under a cowboy hat and their jeans tucked into cowboy boots, these two men completed their “All-American” look with red, white, and blue face paint. As if this was not overdone enough, they spent the entirety of the game hurling insults at the Russian team. While other Americans seemed a bit more civilized, they were still ignorant, such as the game official tasked with reading the roster – “I never can pronounce these Russian names.”
Even though it is often inaccurate, Going Vertical is the highest-grossing domestic film in Russian history. Showing the triumph of an underdog over a dehumanized enemy, it is no wonder why the film is so wildly popular among Russian audiences. Specifically, its themes of teamwork that erases division and the power of the people over an overreaching state seem to speak well to the Russian populace today.
While the Havighurst Center’s film series has now concluded, its lecture series will continue with Mikhail Zygar of TV-Rain on October 26. He will be discussing truth and power in Putin’s Russia at 1:15pm in Harrison 204.
Helen McHenry is a sophomore majoring in International Studies and REEES.