MOSCOW (Reuters) -- A Russian action film inspired by last year's Georgia war and shot in the same style as the Bourne trilogy will be broadcast soon on Russia's top television channel, a spokeswoman for the station has said.
The trailer for "Olympus Inferno," the latest Russian interpretation of last August's events, shows its two young heroes ducking gunfire, explosions, and a raging Georgian officer firing his pistol.
The film is set to highlight the debate between Moscow and Tbilisi about who started the five-day war over the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Diplomatic ties between the countries remain cut.
The film, which will be shown on March 29, is "something like the Bourne films," said a spokeswoman for Channel One, referring to the Hollywood action movies starring Matt Damon.
The fictional account tells of a U.S.-based entomologist and a female Russian journalist, who unintentionally capture evidence that Georgia started the conflict using a special camera night lens as they attempt to film rare night butterflies.
The two face obstacles as they try to get through the front lines of advancing Georgian forces and back to South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali, with proof of who started the war.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian rebel region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.
Russia responded with a counterstrike that drove the Georgian Army out of South Ossetia.
Moscow's troops pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks. The West condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions.
Shot in Abkhazia
The entire production was shot over the winter months in Georgia's second breakaway region of Abkhazia, because its temperate climate resembled South Ossetia in summertime.
Director Igor Voloshin said it should be seen simply as an action film about two young people, who get caught up in the war.
"Debates begin...'bad Russian or bad Georgians,' but it's just a film. You should look at it as a film, as a work of art, which is what I made," Voloshin told Reuters.
"People love buying films like 'Apocalypse Now,' masterpieces about war in Vietnam. Hollywood masterpieces and nobody remembers that the heroes of these films invaded Vietnam and burnt it with napalm -- for some reason that is forgotten."
But he said the historical record shows clearly who was to blame for last summer's war: "If you look at the facts of the conflict, about who started it, it was Georgia."
A trailer can be seen at http://www.1tv.ru/promovideo/6684
The trailer for "Olympus Inferno," the latest Russian interpretation of last August's events, shows its two young heroes ducking gunfire, explosions, and a raging Georgian officer firing his pistol.
The film is set to highlight the debate between Moscow and Tbilisi about who started the five-day war over the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Diplomatic ties between the countries remain cut.
The film, which will be shown on March 29, is "something like the Bourne films," said a spokeswoman for Channel One, referring to the Hollywood action movies starring Matt Damon.
The fictional account tells of a U.S.-based entomologist and a female Russian journalist, who unintentionally capture evidence that Georgia started the conflict using a special camera night lens as they attempt to film rare night butterflies.
The two face obstacles as they try to get through the front lines of advancing Georgian forces and back to South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali, with proof of who started the war.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian rebel region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.
Russia responded with a counterstrike that drove the Georgian Army out of South Ossetia.
Moscow's troops pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks. The West condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions.
Shot in Abkhazia
The entire production was shot over the winter months in Georgia's second breakaway region of Abkhazia, because its temperate climate resembled South Ossetia in summertime.
Director Igor Voloshin said it should be seen simply as an action film about two young people, who get caught up in the war.
"Debates begin...'bad Russian or bad Georgians,' but it's just a film. You should look at it as a film, as a work of art, which is what I made," Voloshin told Reuters.
"People love buying films like 'Apocalypse Now,' masterpieces about war in Vietnam. Hollywood masterpieces and nobody remembers that the heroes of these films invaded Vietnam and burnt it with napalm -- for some reason that is forgotten."
But he said the historical record shows clearly who was to blame for last summer's war: "If you look at the facts of the conflict, about who started it, it was Georgia."
A trailer can be seen at http://www.1tv.ru/promovideo/6684