I want to say upfront that I found it weird that Polsky repeatedly made reference to Walt Disney's Michael Eisner denying any involvement with the Russian Penguins whatsoever. It's not weird that he mentioned it, but it was weird that Eisner has denied this over and over again despite there being mountains of evidence indicating that every word of it is true. While the Disney tie-in is important for the story that Polsky tells, it just struck me that Eisner's constant denials came across as petty when one considers the story of the Russian Penguins as a whole.
In any case, Red Penguins is an enjoyable look at this rather crazy period of time when Russia's communist regime had fallen, US capitalism viewed that fall of communism as an opportunity, and the overall corruption of a political system that bled into sports in a big way thanks to the ties the spots clubs had with the government for so long.
A handful of names in Red Penguins are somewhat recognizable - Howard Baldwin and Viktor Tikhonov, most notably - but the documentary really highlights the people we may never heard of in marketing whiz Steven Warshaw, Russian Penguins general manager Valery Gushin, and Russian businessman Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov who may or may not have ties to organized crime. Through these men, we hear the tales of Russian Penguins and their ups and downs when it came to on-ice and off-ice ideas and business from 1993 through to 1996.
It was Warshaw who was handed the task of making this bankrupt Russian hockey team into an entertainment mecca once more, and he went all-in to attract fans back to a mostly-empty rink. From strippers on the ice to circus bears to free beer nights to listening to a pitch involving the team in a potential Mighty Ducks 5 movie, it's hard to believe that an NHL club would partner with this Russian club that allowed Warshaw to run some of the most insane promotions ever. But he did, and the results were that the Penguins would eventually sell out their arena on a regular basis thanks to efforts by Steve Warshaw.
Where things start unraveling is when Baldwin and his partners began examining the finances for this team, and they noticed a lot of "discretionary spending" that essentially were the Russian executives skimming off the top for themselves. While the intentions of Baldwin and his partners were positive, the free democracy that Russia had instilled upon itself was collapsing inward thanks to its own corruption and greed as the mafia grew increasingly stronger while Vladimir Putin's militaristic control restored a sense of order in the country. In the end, the idealism of this American-run Russian pipeline for players to come to North America was abandoned after executives, politicians, and players began turning up dead with no explanation and no investigation.
Red Penguins would be one of those hockey movies where you'd expect to see it running late at night on some channel as filler, but the fact that it's a real story makes it more like The Blair Witch Project in that you keep watching and suspending disbelief knowing that something crazier is on the horizon. Honestly, Gabe Polsky does a good job in pulling back the curtains on this short era of insane hockey and politics that intertwined, but the 80-minute runtime feels too short when it comes to really looking into some of the bigger details revealed in the film.
If you want some crazy hockey history or have heard of this fabled Russian Penguins team, you'll want to watch Red Penguins to get a better idea of the craziness that surrounded this team. While the film is rated PG-13 for violent and/or bloody images, sexual material and/or nudity, some strong language, and drug references, this is one documentary that hockey history fans won't want to miss. I enjoyed Red Penguins for its look at the circus that surrounded this team, and I feel like I know a little more about this squad thanks to Gabe Polsky's film.
Teebz's Rating: ★★★★☆
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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