Overview
A chilling investigation unfolds as a police captain delves into the dark underbelly of a crumbling society.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- harrowing
- oppressive
- nihilistic
- serious arthouse viewing
- historical cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a superbly directed, finely acted, relentlessly tense, and unflinching portrait of Soviet social vileness.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The investigation and concurrent crimes become an unflinching portrait of Soviet Russia in 1984 and its spiritual decay.
Critics describe the film as a grimmest cinematic ghost-ride and a vision of hell, matching its sustained atmosphere of sadism and degradation.
Captain Zhurov investigates a missing young woman while a brutal murder unfolds in a separate house on the same night.
The story is explicitly set in the Soviet Union in 1984 during the decline of the Soviet era.
Films like Cargo 200, and why
The Krays
shared bleak crime drama, institutional corruption, and morally corrosive social atmosphere
Lilya 4-Ever
shared oppressive period setting, brutal criminality, and unflinching social critique
The Night of the Hunter
shared psychologically harrowing crime narrative and bleak examination of social collapse
Movie Details
- Director
- Aleksei Balabanov
- Release Date
- 2007-06-14
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (239)
Cast
- Agniya Kuznetsova
- Aleksey Poluyan
- Leonid Gromov
- Aleksey Serebryakov
- Leonid Bichevin
- Natalya Akimova
- Mikhail Skryabin
- Dmitriy Kubasov
- Yuri Stepanov
- Aleksandr Bashirov
Common questions
- What is Cargo 200 about?
- A merciless Soviet crime thriller where a missing young woman and a grotesque murder reveal a society rotting from within.
- What is Cargo 200 like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Cargo 200 as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Cargo 200 violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Cargo 200 as graphic.
- What did critics think of Cargo 200?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a superbly directed, finely acted, relentlessly tense, and unflinching portrait of Soviet social vileness.
- Which films are like Cargo 200?
- Films with a similar feel include The Krays, Lilya 4-Ever, and The Night of the Hunter.
- How long is Cargo 200?
- Cargo 200 runs 89 minutes.
