Reds! Official Fanfiction Thread (Part Two)

[Kammada]

The fact is that Orwell has always been a British patriot, and for him "Democratic Socialism" worked in a bunch of "British Power".

I'm just after reading the body of his non-fiction work, and I don't get exactly the same impression. He certainly had an Anglocentrist or at least Eurocentrist bias (it's seen in his naive idea of turning Africa into an equal part of that hypothetic proto-EU, or the notion that the UK can be an uninterested protector of India and Burma when they become free), but an apologist of the British imperial power he was not. He was observant enough to understand that the Empire has become untenable and that Britain is a spent power with no way to restore her former grandeur. He even realized (you took that passage unchanged) that once the colonial exploitation stops, the (relatively) comfortable life of the British working class will end, at least temporarily, but he still was sure that it was worth it anyway, out of common decency, even if was hard to sell to the voters. If he came to associate the hopes for democratic socialism with Britain, I think it was mostly because of his OTL experience that he probably thought to be uniquely British (like the Home Guard which he saw as the germ of the People's Army, the wartime economic measures, the Attlee nationalisations - all of this while not getting crushed like the Spanish Republic and keeping the rule of law and the personal freedoms, including freedom of opinion and expression largely intact). As for his accusations of the British (socialist) left, it was because he saw it more or less captured by the Soviet Union and serving to promote its goals abroad at the expense of everything else.

That much for OTL. But ITTL, things must be different. The UASR is an example of a democratic socialist government that actually works and is capable to defend itself, to expand into the capitalist world, and stand up to Stalinism, eventually stepping in and starting to reshape it in its own image. That has an effect on the European (and conversely British) socialists - they are not as unanimously pro-Soviet as Orwell saw it OTL. On the other hand, TTL's pre-war Britain is more overtly hostile to democratic socialism than it is OTL, even her entry into the WW2 is different because of that. Therefore, ITTL Orwell must have zero reasons to see the democratic socialism as something inherently British (and as something that has to rely on the British power), especially if you remember that he was a correspondent in America (and a war correspondent with the American Red Army in Russia) and saw it at work there. Even TTL's version of Nineteen Eighty-Four (published under its working title, The Last Man in Europe) reflects that: Winston manages to flee from Airstrip One to America and the last scene has him witnessing a genuine, free political debate. NOTE: it belongs to an earlier version of this TL, I'm not sure if it will reappear in the present one.

ITTL, if Orwell had been so much more of a British patriot than a democratic socialist, he would have been more likely to become hostile to both the UASR and the USSR, and eventually to part ways with socialism altogether - which would have included not contributing to magazines like Partisan Review. So far, there was nothing to indicate it in the cameos of his that we had.

 

[PNWKing]

I wonder what the attitudes towards Circumcision would be ITTL?

 

[WotanArgead]

I'm just after reading the body of his non-fiction work, and I don't get exactly the same impression. He certainly had an Anglocentrist or at least Eurocentrist bias (it's seen in his naive idea of turning Africa into an equal part of that hypothetic proto-EU, or the notion that the UK can be an uninterested protector of India and Burma when they become free), but an apologist of the British imperial power he was not. He was observant enough to understand that the Empire has become untenable and that Britain is a spent power with no way to restore her former grandeur. He even realized (you took that passage unchanged) that once the colonial exploitation stops, the (relatively) comfortable life of the British working class will end, at least temporarily, but he still was sure that it was worth it anyway, out of common decency, even if was hard to sell to the voters. If he came to associate the hopes for democratic socialism with Britain, I think it was mostly because of his OTL experience that he probably thought to be uniquely British (like the Home Guard which he saw as the germ of the People's Army, the wartime economic measures, the Attlee nationalisations - all of this while not getting crushed like the Spanish Republic and keeping the rule of law and the personal freedoms, including freedom of opinion and expression largely intact). As for his accusations of the British (socialist) left, it was because he saw it more or less captured by the Soviet Union and serving to promote its goals abroad at the expense of everything else.

Well, I read his "The Lion and the Unicorn", and I got the feeling that after all, his version of socialism has a pronounced patriotic color. Moreover - he actually denied internationalism - "Not a single true revolutionary was an internationalist." As for anti-intellectualism, it slips in both in 1984 and in his essays. In the same "Leo and Edinogore" he calls the intellectuals "the most useless part of the middle class" and castigates them for "ridicule of patriotism." The fact that they are criticized for being pro-Moscow is only part of that. And I do not think that the attitude of London socialists towards Moscow will somehow change - unless it will reduce the number of outright renegades, because here America simply represents a different version of socialism. I would say that if there were a man with Orwellian convictions during the First World War, he would support Britain's entry into the war and criticize the Bolsheviks for violating allied obligations.

ITTL, if Orwell had been so much more of a British patriot than a democratic socialist, he would have been more likely to become hostile to both the UASR and the USSR, and eventually to part ways with socialism altogether - which would have included not contributing to magazines like Partisan Review. So far, there was nothing to indicate it in the cameos of his that we had.

Of course - this is not my "fanon". This is rather a reason to pay attention to other aspects of Orwell. He is often referred to as a democratic socialist, but he is far from being exhausted by this.

 

[Bookmark1995]

A Redverse rewrite of Toward European Unity? That's a clever idea, but in this iteration of this TL the USSR is different. It's keeping (it has to!) its foreign policy more or less in accord with the UASR, and it's already, as of 1947 (assuming that Orwell has published this article at the same date as its OTL counterpart), far into de-Stalinization - probably nowhere near as democratic as the UASR, but not about to impose some kind of totalitarianism on the Central and Eastern Europe.

If the current situation is dark, it must be so because of the FBU turning more and more reactionary and slipping away from democracy rather than because of the Soviet menace. Whatever prejudices against the USSR Orwell might have kept ITTL, he wouldn't see it in its present state as an existential threat to democratic socialism.

Heck, the TTL USSR is more or less like Yugoslavia: an authoritarian state with strong elements of radical socialist policies.

Not the best place in the world, but not the murderous hellhole that was the OTL USSR.

 

[Miss Teri]

Heck, the TTL USSR is more or less like Yugoslavia: an authoritarian state with strong elements of radical socialist policies.

Not the best place in the world, but not the murderous hellhole that was the OTL USSR.

That's not really true, but that's diving into spoiler territory.

(Some of it is on SV now, though)

 

[Bookmark1995]

Recently, one of my hobbies has been watching the video and articles that have mercilessly taken the piss out of a certain actor who's career is....well....Half Past Dead.

It is only fair that the Red Americans should be able to tear this completely demented prima donna to shreds in the name of the workers' and peasants on Anti-Reaction Movie Night.


How Seagal Went From Being the Capitalist Action Star to the Living Example of Capitalist Decay


Miami University-Film Board

Roberto Hernandez

Steven Seagal, Salisbury Film Festival, March 10, 2010


March 12, 2012

In the present, Seagal is a figure of mockery among organizers of Anti-Reaction Movie Night. But in 1992 Seagal was, at least Cubamerican youth, practically synonymous awesomeness, coolness, and manhood. His films of the time, while not big hits, were enough to get people into a movie seats, and might be enjoyed by someone with nothing to do on a lazy weekend

As a more cynical revolutionary and defector, I have come to realize that all his films from this era, like the all the great action of films of that tropical pretension that calls itself the United States of America, were just an attempt to implicitly indoctrinate me into "American" values. The key word being "implicitly" because the propaganda has long evolved beyond the in-your-face rhetoric of the MacArthur days to something more wholesome yet even more sinister.

In Stand For Liberty, Seagal is a man who, well, stands for liberty. He is the supposed defender of a group of oppressed Nigerian migrant workers being exploited by a mafia run cartel.

Sounds like an ideal basis for a good Red American flick, right?

Well, when you watch the movie as a wizened revolutionary, you see the...somewhat troubling messages that the movie promotes.

The first one is the "White Savior" trope that persists. Steven Seagal's character, the Italian-American Vino Leone, is portrayed the only man who can rescue the migrant workers. The Nigerian (which the film expresses often) migrant workers never once are portrayed as anything but helpless beings who need the help of a nice white guy to save them. They never learn to resist oppression or even help out. Not one of the Nigerians even helps Seagal out during the climax. And the last scene with them is dripping with racial paternalism, with one of them, a man who happens to be the chief of his tribe blessing Seagal with an honorary membership.

The next one is the "good capitalist" trope. The film's villain is a crooked millionaire named Roberto Vito, a man who is made into an obvious villain by his copious consumption of cocaine, his indulgence of murdering his subordinates, and his love of cigars, which he blows into the face of Seagal's character when he has the later at his sadistic whims. But Seagal's ally is the "nice billionaire," a British man named Alistair Birmingham (the American equivalent would be Burt Detroit), who is always kind and generous to his employees (and the hero, of course). The film takes the idea of capitalism's flaws are the product of a few demented individuals, and not intrinsic to an ideology that puts currency above people. Which they are.

There is the attitude toward women. There is no bullhorn, yelling at woman that their only role in life is to wear aprons and be house slaves. But there is a lack of message about female empowerment. In the movie, the women are all damsels in distress who need big strong Steven to save their lives. Like with the Nigerian migrants, women rarely are shown saving themselves or working with others. No, Steven is the cowboy coming to save the helpless women from peril. A big irony when you look at the...rumors surrounding the man. But I'll get to that later.

Then there is the pig-headed pseudo-individualism. Red Americans will learn that whether one is at war or making cookies, everyone shares not only in responsibility, but should have a say in decision making. But Seagal's character is portrayed as always being in the right. He is the ruler, and everything he believes is the correct. His fellow soldiers aren't comrades, but subordinates who must obey his every word. In this macho behavior, we see how Cubamerican individualism is in practice deference to hierarchy.

Finally, and this is the biggest boon of contention, there is the movie ending with the very system that oppressed the Nigerians still standing strong. The movie takes the stance that the treatment of these workers is bad because it is, well, icky. But this movie treats such oppression not as the rule of capitalism, but the exception. There is no attempt to make the audience aware of the barbarity of the capitalism, or that they can make a difference in their lives. The Nigerians never learn to seize the means of production, but simply obey another "kinder" billionaire. A more informed individual would point out how only a system that put net worth above people would allow someone as monstrous as Vito to rise as high as he does, but the film takes the "one of a few bad apples" approach.

Underneath the admittedly awesome action scenes, the film leaves a lot to be desired, and its seeming edge covers up for a subtle worship of the status quo. Seagal, at first, would be like many members of the Cubamerican Media Machine: be willing to act in anything, amass a disgusting fortune built off of the corruption of a reactionary industry, and finally retire to some fancy villa in Brazil where he'll spend his golden years acting like a corrupt feudal lord.

But Seagal's career would take turns that were unexpected even for a capitalist action star.

Turns for the worst.


An Already Troubled Beginning

Seagal was born in 1952 in Havana, a second generation Cubamerican. His paternal grandfather was one of the few Jewish families to follow MacArthur to Cuba. Seagal would thus enjoy a petit bourgeois lifestyle, and be ignorant of blood and sweat it is built on.

Seagal would make numerous claims about his young adulthood: that he had been secretly a secret agent, a member of MI6, a spiritual advisor to Japan's exiled imperial family, the descendant of Rasputin, the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and that he had been an undercover mafia goon.

In 2009, a former co-worker of Seagal would reveal the sordid truth: that Seagal had been a Havana Police Officer from 1974-1982, and that he had been castigated and denied promotion for numerous reasons: insubordination, abuse of power, torturing suspects, and in one instance, he demolished a man's house using a police tank and even shot his dog in 1981. Due to qualified immunity, he not only avoided arrest for his actions, but had them swept under the rug.

He married a Japanese-Thai woman named Mikayo Fujitani in 1975. But that marriage ended in divorce, with Fujitani alledging Seagal had been guilty of domestic abuse. This would not be the last time those accusations would ever come up.

He did open an aikido dojo in the 1980s, one of the first in Havana, but even in these humble beginnings, Seagal's domineering behavior was apparent, with many students alleging they had been physically and verbally bullied by Seagal.

The Peak of His Career.

Seagal eventually found work as a stunt coordinator, and was discovered by Michael Ovitz, one of his former students and a talent agent with ties to Warner Bros. Using these connections, he starred in his first film, Acts of Defiance, in 1987. He plays a former cop who defies his superiors to bring a rogue intelligence officer to justice. Seagal's character defeats them with a combination of explosions and karate chops.

His next five films, while all successful, have the same premise: some law enforcement official who must take matters into his own hands to defeat the good guys.

Rogue and Ready (1988), Time for Death (1989), A Dead End (1990), Time to Kill (1991), and Stand for Liberty (1992) were all films filled with the same pseudo-chivalric values of capitalism. But, for the most part, they were fun to watch for my uninformed audience.

But after Stand for Liberty, Seagal would soon begin a downward spiral, followed by another one.

Seagal The Bully

Many former actors and employees have attested to Seagal being one of the most difficult people to work with.

He was a bully who frequently pushed others around on set. He was known to physically assault stuntmen, in one instance for not acknowledging his supposed greatness.

He was also late for work, held up production with insatiable demands, and even used cue cards in place of memorizing a script.

But on a darker level, Seagal was known for his complete lack of respect for women on set.

Several actresses have attested to being sexually assaulted by Seagal.

Actress Sharon Stone claimed she had been alone with Seagal when he claimed he needed "special care" before dropping his pants in front of her.

Eventually, his morbid behavior would begin to affect his career.

Seagal's first attempt at directing was a film called Defend The Earth. He plays a half-Jamaican man who must defend his land from an evil oil company. Aside from the fact that he is supposedly half-Jamaican, and his attempt to "defend the earth" involves destroying an oil rig, the film was driven into the ground by Seagal's erratic, authoritarian, and domineering directing, and it would up grossing only $26 million from a $47 million budget.

With that, Seagal's career slowly began withering away, with every one of his films becoming increasingly mediocre, while Seagal himself becoming increasingly unhinged and overweight.

The last film he ever made for mainstream distribution in Cubamerica, A Hero Will Rise, only grossed $2 million from a $10 million budget.

It appeared Seagal, like many movie stars, was headed for a quiet and bitter retirement.

But this would not happen.

Seagal the Rhodesian

In 2008, the world of movies was shocked when they saw Seagal appearing in a trailer for a Rhodesian film called The Rebel.

He plays a supposedly Rhodesian man named Cecil Smith, despite not even pretending to affect a Rhodesian accent. But what is notable is, despite being seen in about 55% percent of the trailer, he only appears for about 10% of the movie. He doesn't even actually pick up a rifle, and is always sitting down in his scenes, speaking with the exhausted hiss of a man who has gained too much weight. His role is ordering the other heroes of the story to "save the day" from the ferocious and evil "Reds."

Just months after the release, Seagal would declare he had received Rhodesian citizenship, and claimed Rhodesians were the only true defender against "Red Devils", his words for the seeming red tyranny that has always been out to get him and has, in his own words, infested the Cubamerican people.

Not coincidentally, the Cubamerican state had charged him with tax evasion and sex trafficking. It is rumored in his Salisbury home, he keeps several women around as practical slaves to his lust.

He also appeared in countless "action" movies where he doesn't get involved in action, where the acting is poor, the editing weak, the politics of the film racist and ignorant

He has also become the friend of many Rhodesian right wing politicians, including Edward Higgs, a man notorious for war crimes committed during the Southern African conflict. And he has been a frequent guest on Rhodesian talk radio, where he has denounced any criticism of himself or the Rhodesian state as bad karma, and has told countless fabrications about the supposed important people he has met and about his secret influence on the world stage.

Capitalism In Human Form

Many Cubamericans have turned Seagal into a punching bag. To them, he is nothing but a joke and a sham.

But the fact that he has become a "popular" figure for Anti-Reaction Movie Night is not just because of his complete lack of self-awareness or the mediocrity of his films. He is really the living embodiment of capitalism: a system by which a racist, misogynistic man can bully and abuse others around him and achieve great success despite talent.

His Rhodesian movie characters are also a pure reflection of the capitalist elite: a weak and overweight aristocrat who somehow has the power send others to die for him while enjoying wealth and comfort and being able to abuse those weaker then him.

 

[The Jovian]

Recently, one of my hobbies has been watching the video and articles that have mercilessly taken the piss out of a certain actor who's career is....well....Half Past Dead.

It is only fair that the Red Americans should be able to tear this completely demented prima donna to shreds in the name of the workers' and peasants on Anti-Reaction Movie Night.


How Seagal Went From Being the Capitalist Action Star to the Living Example of Capitalist Decay

Alright, you win. Can't top this.

 

[Bookmark1995]

Alright, you win. Can't top this.

Oh please, you give me too much credit.

Most of the praise must go to Seagal, for making himself into a parody of action stars.

There was one instance of him, in complete seriousness, weeping after reading a script he considered to be wonderful. When asked about who wrote it, he said, without any irony, that he had written it.

 

[PNWKing]

Just saying, I like the concept of "Anti-Reaction Movie Nights." The idea of MST3K being turned into a beloved tradition of American culture is just so funny.

 

[Mal-3]

Just saying, I like the concept of "Anti-Reaction Movie Nights." The idea of MST3K being turned into a beloved tradition of American culture is just so funny.

You mean it's not already?

 

[Bookmark1995]

Just saying, I like the concept of "Anti-Reaction Movie Nights." The idea of MST3K being turned into a beloved tradition of American culture is just so funny.

It helps that in a TTL world, the existence of a genuine communist society had set off the trolls of society to make the most toxic drivel anyone can imagine.

Like the crazy Nazi playwright from the Producers, or Jack Chick, they never imagined their work would be unintentionally comedy.

 

[xsampa]

Rhodesia is still around ITTL?

 

[Bookmark1995]

Rhodesia is still around ITTL?

Yep. Think of it as a fusion of Apartheid and OTL North Korea, and you get the idea.

 

[PNWKing]

I wonder if TTL has a Snow Queen movie where the LGBT subtext of the Snow Queen's ice powers is made explicit. (Just listen to "Let It Go" and realize it sounds like a teen coming out of the closet.)

 

[Bookmark1995]

I wonder if TTL has a Snow Queen movie where the LGBT subtext of the Snow Queen's ice powers is made explicit. (Just listen to "Let It Go" and realize it sounds like a teen coming out of the closet.)

I've never understood that context. I always picture it as someone embracing their powers.

 

[xsampa]

One good thing about TTL is that other communist countries are genuinely more socially radical unlike the PRC so as Chinese immigrants are far less conservative than IOTL and especially as parents more connected to a less racist society and more open

 

[Bookmark1995]

One good thing about TTL is that other communist countries are genuinely more socially radical unlike the PRC so as Chinese immigrants are far less conservative than IOTL and especially as parents more connected to a less racist society and more open

Their conservatism was because Mao and his policies were complete madness.

 

[xsampa]

Their conservatism was because Mao and his policies were complete madness.

Yes, that is a factor. The different development of the SRC will help

 

[Bookmark1995]

Yes, that is a factor. The different development of the SRC will help

OTL feels like a conservative wank. The forces of radical socialism OTL were such a mess that capitalist-imperialism came to be seen by many as a lesser evil. Even worse, you have grassroots in DEFENSE of these billionaires.

To someone living in a reds world, the idea that a bunch of poor people would rally around a billionaire who isn't that eloquent or composed would fill them with incredible cognitive dissonance.

 

[The Jovian]

The Hunt for William the Conqueror (1990)

Crew:
Directed by: Aleksei Balabanov
Produced by: Mace Neufeld, Igor Nosov, Vladislav Sverkunov
Screenplay by: Joss Whedon and Aleksei Balabanov
Cinematography by: Alexander Filatov
Edited by: Marcia Griffin
Music by: Basil Poledouris
Production Company: Goldfields Film Collective, Gorky Film Studio
Release Date: May 1st, 1990

Cast:
- Richard Burton as Captain Marcus Richards, a British submarine captain who wishes to defect to the Comintern alongside the rest of the crew of his submarine HMS William the Conqueror.
- Morgan Freeman as Jack Ryan, a former WFRN marine and intelligence analyst tasked with determining the goals of Richards after the Conqueror is spotted heading for Soviet waters.
- Michael Ironside as Commander Vincent Baker, the Newfoundlander executive officer of the Conqueror and supporter of Richards' move to defect.
- Vera Vasilyeva as Captain Daria Maksimova, the commanding officer of the Soviet attack submarine Petrograd tasked with locating the Conqueror and stopping it should it attack the Soviet Union.
- Natalya Negoda as Petty Officer Gala Kovaleva, a sonar technician on Petrograd.
- Claude Blanchard as Captain Leon Trudeau, a French submarine captain tasked with tracking down and destroying the Conqueror before it can defect.
- James Earl Jones as Vice Admiral James Greer, head of WFRN Intelligence who tasks Ryan with investigating the Conqueror.

Plot:
In November 1984, British submarine captain Marcus Richards is given command of William the Conqueror, a new Resolution-class nuclear missile submarine with a stealth magneto hydrodynamic "caterpillar drive", rendering it undetectable to passive sonar. Richards leaves port to conduct exercises along with Rubis-class submarine Jeanne d'Arc, commanded by his former friend and professional rival Captain Leon Trudeau. Once at sea, Richards secretly kills the officer in charge of holding onto one of the two nuclear missile keys on board and relays false orders that they are to conduct missile drills off the northern coast of the USSR. At the same time, Soviet attack submarine Petrograd, tasked with identifying and shadowing Franco-British subs as they leave port, detects the Conqueror as it begins its mission, but immediately loses contact once the sub's caterpillar drive is engaged.

The next morning, WFRN Intelligence analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan, after consulting with Vice Admiral James Greer, briefs government officials on Red October and the threat it poses. The Comintern fears Richards plans a renegade nuclear strike. They also learn that the bulk of the FBU Navy has been deployed to the Northern Atlantic to find and sink the sub. During the briefing, Ryan hypothesizes that Richards instead plans to defect, and Admiral Greer gives Ryan three days to confirm his theory or else the Comintern will have no choice but to assume hostility and will attack on sight. He is sent to an aircraft carrier in the mid-Atlantic to begin the search. Meanwhile, after some delay, Trudeau also receives orders to intercept and destroy the Conqueror.

Due to an unknown saboteur's actions, the Conqueror's caterpillar drive malfunctions during risky maneuvers through a narrow undersea canyon. Petty Officer Kovaleva, a sonar technician aboard Petrograd, has discovered a way to detect the Conqueror using her underwater acoustics software, and Petrograd plots their own intercept course. Ryan arranges a hazardous mid-ocean rendezvous to board Petrograd, where he attempts to persuade its captain, Commander Daria Maksimova, to contact Richards and determine his intentions.

The Franco-British ambassador informs the Soviet government that Richards is a renegade and asks for help in sinking the Conqueror. That order is sent to the Soviet fleet, including Petrograd, which has found the Soviet sub. Ryan, however, is convinced that Richards plans to defect with his officers and convinces Maksimova to contact Richards and offer assistance. Richards, stunned that the Comintern correctly guessed his plan, accepts. He then stages a nuclear reactor "emergency," ordering his crew to abandon ship. After a Soviet frigate is spotted, Richards submerges. Meanwhile, Ryan, Maksimova, and Kovaleva come aboard via a rescue sub, at which point Richards requests asylum for himself and his officers.

William the Conqueror is suddenly attacked by Jeanne d'Arc. As the two Franco-British subs maneuver, one of the Conqueror's cooks, Layton, an undercover JSB agent and the secret saboteur, opens fire on the bridge, fatally wounding first officer Vincent Baker before retreating to the nuclear missile bay. Ryan and Richards pursue him, and Layton wounds Richards in the shoulder, but Ryan kills Layton before he can ignite a missile. Meanwhile, the Conqueror makes evasive maneuvers with a diversion provided by Petrograd, causing Jeanne d'Arc to be destroyed by its own fired torpedo. The crew of the Conqueror, now rescued, watch the explosion from the Soviet frigate. Unaware of the second FBU submarine, they believe that Richards has sacrificed himself and scuttled the Conqueror to avoid being boarded.

Ryan and Richards, their subterfuge complete, navigate William the Conqueror to a shipyard in Petrograd. Richards admits that he defected because after he was handed the plans for William the Conqueror, a nuclear war first-strike weapon, he concluded that he could never support such an action. From atop the submarine's sail deck, Richards, pleased to have made it to Russia, offers Ryan a quote from William Z. Foster's eulogy for Norman Thomas: "The question of Left or Right; that is, Revolution or Barbarism, has been answered. Now there is only one course: forward. Forward to the Red Dawn." Ryan nods in agreement and offers in return, "Welcome to the free world, Comrade."

Production:
The film is an adaptation of Tom Clancy's techno-thriller novel of the same name and is a join American-Soviet production by the American Goldfields Film Collective and the renowned Soviet Gorky Film Studios. In terms of man hours it was the biggest production ever undertaken by the Soviet Film Studio better known for lower budget dramas than action-thriller films.

Young up-and-coming film director Alexei Balabanov was chosen to direct the film after Mace Neufeld and the rest of the production committee reviewed his short films and Soviet television work and were impressed by his ability to get the best performances from his actors. Over the 90s he'd establish a solid career as an action director, including his famous Night Watch trilogy.

American writer Joss Whedon collaborated with Balabanov to adapt the novel to screenplay and plot-wise there are minimal deviations from the source material. The biggest difference was in the characters, as in the book the Petrograd commanding officer is the male captain Dima Maksimov as opposed to the film character Daria Maksimova but the character was gender-swapped at Whedon's insistence as he felt the book lacked a strong female presence, a decision supported by Balabanov and film editor Marcia Griffin who also added some touches to Maksimova's dialogue.

The film would be produced primarily by the Gorky Film Studio crew, with Russian Cinematographer Alexander Filatov leading the cinematography team and edited by Marcia Griffin, best known for being part of the editing team on the first Star Wars trilogy and a prolific film editor throughout the 80s and 90s.

Reception:
The film would receive strong reviews in the Comintern for Balabanov's tense and atmospheric direction, strong performances from Burton and Freeman as well as Whedon's snappy dialogue and the film's overall editing and pacing. In the FBU however the film was immediately lambasted by the capitalist media for being in the words of the Daily Mail "a glorified propaganda piece", while the Daily Telegraph would call it "a slanderous film designed to make our navy look incompetent and treasonous." but it would find an audience despite a truncated run in theaters and no official home video release.

The success of the film would see a sequel, wholly produced by the UASR based on Clancy's second Jack Ryan novel The Lion and the Crocodile.