The Green Elephant 1999

Set in an indeterminately bleak mid-1980s setting, two unnamed junior officers in the Soviet Army, Vladimir Yepifantsev as Epifantsev and Sergey Pakhomov as Pakhomov, arrive at a grim penal military prison. Their shared cell is a cramped, dimly lit space with a leaking sewer pipe and walls painted a toxic green. Pakhomov is loud, talkative, and friendly, earning him fans’ nicknames Bratishka (“Bro”) and Poyekhavshiy (“Nutcase”), while Epifantsev is initially amused by his companion’s stories but soon grows increasingly annoyed. The atmosphere is suffocating, and the tension between them begins to strain the fragile balance of their small world.

The guard, Aleksandr Maslaev, interrupts the routine and imposes punishment, forcing Epifantsev to clean the toilet with a fork, a stark example of the prison’s brutal discipline. This harsh dynamic sets the tone for a place where humanity frays under pressure and power is exercised with little mercy.

As the day accumulates into a harsh continuum of control and fear, the captain arrives. The captain is portrayed by Anatoly Osmolovsky (with the character’s voice provided by Oleg Mavromatti). He tests Pakhomov with questions about the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, Pearl Harbor, and the ships involved, growing angry at incorrect answers. A tense moment follows when the captain disparages the tea Maslaev brings, calling it undrinkable and pouring it over Maslaev’s head before ordering him back to his duties. The captain’s presence dominates the cell, and his control over the inmates intensifies the oppressive mood.

In the basement, the captain subjects Epifantsev and Pakhomov to a series of humiliating acts while a supervising guard looks on. The captain’s cruel temperament escalates, pressing them with taunts about food and authority, and he coercively subjects Epifantsev to acts of domination, a brutal display of power that leaves the men teetering on the edge of sanity. Epifantsev’s protests and pleas clash with the captain’s relentless cruelty, amplifying the sense that escape or relief is impossible within these walls.

Driven to the brink, Epifantsev unleashes a final act of violence that ends in the captain’s death, a moment that marks the collapse of the men’s already fragile world. Epifantsev then dies by suicide, leaving Pakhomov to cope with the aftermath of the carnage and the near-total collapse of any sense of order inside the prison.

Later, Maslaev reappears in a twist of cruel irony, arriving as a self-proclaimed colonel and inviting Pakhomov to join him for a celebration. The mood spirals as Maslaev ascends a chair and places a rope around his neck, only for Pakhomov to topple the chair in a desperate moment that ends Maslaev’s life. Pakhomov lingers with the bloodied corpse, muttering about memories with his mother, and then falls asleep among the dead, a stark image of a man left to shoulder an unimaginable burden.

Throughout the piece, there are several black-and-white interludes showing the guard moving through the hallways, drinking, and muttering about the prison’s impact on military prestige. In the final credits, the guard is heard shouting lines like “I am a colonel” and “I will be a colonel,” underscoring the film’s bleak meditation on power, loyalty, and the dehumanizing effects of war and confinement.

This film presents a stark, unflinching portrayal of abuse, fear, and the fragility of the human mind under coercive regimes, conveyed through a tightly controlled environment, stark visuals, and a narrative that remains relentlessly focused on the consequences of power without offering easy resolutions.