So, if I understand correctly, following his wife's death during their child's delivery, Sasha, a prominent hockey player, finds himself in a complete vacuum taking care of his newborn daughter all by himself. No parents on either side to help? Ok, let's say the have all passed away. No sisters, brothers, friends, nobody close in the social circle? Well, let's say they are all busy. Not even neighbours? Wow, this couple must have been real sweethearts.
But when the coach shows up after the team's loss in the finals and blames Sasha for their loss I couldn't help but think how could that be possible that the whole team, the hockey brotherhood, the coaches, team doctors and psychologists, they all couldn't figure out how to get their best player so much needed help, baby sitting, nurses, you name it... Really? And Sasha, the best player on his team, surely couldn't afford professional babysitting, nurses, medical care for his newborn daughter. Well, KHL must have been shaking their heads watching this movie.
Well, if I were a stranger to the Russian culture, a foreigner, I could think that these Russian people and their country are a very screwed up bunch. But as a Russian I surely knew the situation shown wasn't just surreal, it was impossible and absurd. The very idea of coming up with such a scenario was rather stupid, no offence to the screenplay writer Mr. Zolotarev.
If it wasn't for the quality of the actors and their ability to convey the feelings of their characters, despite the absurdity of the situations, this movies would be a total disaster. Of course the storyline of the tragic mother's death, the daughter growing up and trying to follow her mother's passion for ice skating, could be a great screenplay. But when the modern screenplay writers completely disregard the plausibility of their scenarios it's an insult to the movie viewers.
