The Green Elephant

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The Green Elephant Зелёный Слоник
Russian release poster
Directed by	Svetlana Baskova
Written by	Svetlana Baskova
Produced by	Oleg Mavromati Svetlana Baskova Vladimir Zubkov
Starring	Sergey Pakhomov Alexander Maslaev Vladimir Epifantsev Anatoly Osmolovsky Oleg Mavromati
Cinematography	Svetlana Baskova Oleg Mavromati
Edited by	Supernova Studio Oleg Mavromati
Music by	Stanislav Zapalikov
Production company	Supernova
Distributed by	Independent
Release date	1999
Running time	86 minutes
Country	Russia
Language	Russian

The Green Elephant (Russian: Зелёный слоник, romanized: Zelyonyy slonik, also known as Green Elephant Calf) is a 1999 Russian psychedelic exploitation horror film directed by Svetlana Baskova.^[1] The movie received a limited theatrical release in Russia, as the film's violent imagery and graphic language made it unfit for being distributed through the mainstream film circuit. The film was shown at the 2005 International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the program commented that the movie was "even more urgent because of the escalation of the war in Chechnya and growing criminality in the Russian army".^[2]

The film stars Sergey Pakhomov and Vladimir Epifantsev, and follows two Russian officers locked in a military prison cell that must deal with "social and psychological problems" in their isolation through brutality and torture.^[2]

Plot

Although the exact date is never mentioned in the movie itself, it is implied that the story takes place in 1986. Two unnamed junior officers in the

Later, when the exhausted Epifantsev is brought back to the cell and has fallen asleep, Pakhomov defecates on their shared plate, smears himself in feces, and consumes some of it. He then wakes Epifantsev up, and offers him the plate, which disgusts and aggravates him again. While Epifantsev is yelling death threats at him, Pakhomov says that he got them something to eat because he feared that they will not be fed there. Maslaev comes to the shouting, and takes Epifantsev to clean the toilet once more, while seemingly completely ignoring Pakhomov. The captain (Osmolovsky) arrives to the cell, and teaches the suddenly quiet Pakhomov about the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, particularly the names and quantities of Japanese and American ships on Pearl Harbor. He then asks Pakhomov question about it, and gets angry at him for answering incorrectly. Meanwhile, Maslaev brings him tea, which Osmolovsky says "tastes like piss", after trying it. He then pours the tea on Maslaev's head, and orders him to go back to the canteen while holding the glass with his teeth. When he comes back, the captain allows him to beat Pakhomov up.^[3]

Epifantsev and Pakhomov are then sent to the basement, where they are subjected to various humiliating acts by the captain, while the guard watches. Osmolovsky suddenly turns to Maslaev, and asks him why is he standing there, since he will be executed in an hour as well. The guard doesn't realize that the captain isn't being serious, and wets himself out of fear, after which the captain whips him to make him dance, while Epifantsev and Pakhomov sing "Yablochko". Epifantsev struggles to get out of the hole in the basement's floor, screaming and ranting of his sanity, and orders Pakhomov to catch a rat for him to eat. The captain returns, and asks them questions about the Northern Formation. Taunting Epifantsev's requests for food, the captain forces him to oral sex, to which he begs that Pakhomov receives it instead. The captain then subjects him to oral sex,^[4] muttering the names of the Japanese carrier ships at Pearl Harbor. Driven to insanity, Epifantsev beats the captain with a pipe and bites off his face, before sodomizing him and tearing off his trachea. He then makes Pakhomov blow it, pretending like it is an elephant's trunk.

Upon realizing that he has murdered a human, Epifantsev commits suicide. Pakhomov mourns him, muttering about his experiences with his mother. Some time later, Maslaev comes to the bloodied basement, proclaiming himself a colonel, and asks Pakhomov to accompany him to some celebration. He then gets on a chair and puts a rope around his neck, and Pakhomov knocks the chair over. Pakhomov plays with the corpse for a while, singing about the "Green Elephant", before falling asleep among the dead bodies.

There are also several black-and-white scenes showing the guard walking the hallways, drinking and eating his meal, and complaining about the prisoner's behavior affecting the prestige of the military. During the credits, the guard is shown screaming "I am a colonel" and "I will be a colonel".

Cast

• Sergey Pakhomov (actor) [ru] as the first junior officer.
• Vladimir Epifantsev as the second junior officer.
• Alexander Maslaev as the guard.
• Anatoly Osmolovsky as the captain.
• Oleg Mavromati as the captain's voice in the opening scene.

Production

The movie was filmed during the summer of 1999 at several different locations. One of them was the basement in the house that belonged to the photographer Sergei Rodkevich, located near the

The film was shot on an amateur (S-VHS, DV-cam) video camera.^[14] According to one version, the name of the film is taken from the song of the same name by Pakhomov, written specifically for the film,^[10] however, Mavromati claims that the title of the film came from another film Pink Flamingos, under the influence of which The Green Elephant was partly filmed.^[15] In the Cult of Cinema program on the Russia-K TV channel, Baskova noted that the film, in a certain sense, was conceived as a protest against the Chechen War.^[16]

Reception

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HorrorNews.net wrote an overall favorable review for the film, stating "By the end, we find ourselves asking a lot of questions; of ourselves, of the director, of our television screens. What did we just watch? Why did these people do what we just watched them do? What does it all mean? I can't answer those questions, but I can tell you that it is an experience that I am happy to have gone through, and I'd definitely be interested in checking out more of Svetlana Baskova's movies."^[17]

This film is banned for distribution in Russia and Belarus^[18][19] due to the film's graphic nature.^[20] According to the court of St. Petersburg, it contains "information that can cause children to feel fear, horror or panic", and "provoke obsessive flashbacks or feelings".

Actor Sergey Pakhomov said on the topic:

This film is a force of nature. The force of nature was denied, it was banned. The sky was banned, grass was banned, sleep was banned. You could say that children were banned. This movie is very important for children, because it shows how scary the future is. There is a fixation on certain elements like feces, urine, pain, joy. The movie is, of course, about that. These are absolutely children's symptoms.

Legacy

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The Green Elephant has gradually gained a

On January 5, 2017, Vladimir Epifantsev posted on his Instagram account that he has started working on a remake of the film, known as Operation GE («Операция ZS»), in which he and Sergey Pakhomov will reprise their roles.^[22][23]

As of 2022^[update], there have been no further news regarding the potential remake.

References

External links

• The Green Elephant (Zelyonyy slonik) at
  IMDb
• Baskova.com Archived 2016-11-09 at the Wayback Machine: Director Svetlana Baskova's website
• Supernova Group: Зелёный слоник (Green Elephant Calf) Archived 14 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine