Kalashnikov AK-47

AK-47 is a 2020 Russian biographical film about the experiences of Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle.

The designer's daughter, Elena, and a consultant to the Kalashnikov Concern took part in the film. The director and producer of the picture is Konstantin Buslov, the film stars Yuri Borisov, Olga Lerman, Artur Smolyaninov, and Eldar Kalimulin.

The premiere took place in Russia on February 20, 2020 by Megogo Distribution.

The film begins with a sequence (supplemented by subsequent flashbacks) in which Mikhail Kalashnikov, a young farmer's son from Altai, is seen secretly working on a functional toy rifle. The film switches to the year 1941, in the midst of World War II, where the now adult senior sergeant Kalashnikov serves as a tank commander in the Red Army. During the Battle of Bryansk, Kalashnikov is seriously wounded while taking out a German anti-tank gun, and he is taken off the frontlines. While being transported to the rear, he and a companion encounter a group of German soldiers, and he witnesses his comrade's new submachine gun failing at a critical moment due to design faults in the magazine. This inspires him to use his self-acquired talent at inventing to design a new automatic weapon for the Soviet army.

On his way home, Kalashnikov visits Matai Station in Kazakhstan, where he previously worked as an engineer but was dismissed for using the depot's workshop to build his private weapon designs. He appeals to his former superior, Krotov, to let him assemble his latest invention, but Krotov refuses. When Kalashnikov proposes his design to a passing high-ranking officer named Basarov, he gets authorization to proceed, and with the help of the workers he successfully assembles his new submachine gun. While trying to bring it to Basarov, he is mistakenly arrested, but an ordnance officer takes notice of the gun's innovative design and has it sent off for evaluation. As a result, Kalashnikov is released and encouraged to present his gun to General Pavel Kurbatkin, the district commander of Central Asia, who approves him for a national arms design competition.

Kalashnikov is sent to Golutvin, the Shchurov arms testing facility, where he is to compete against prestigious arms designers like Alexey Sudayev and Sergei Korovin; there he also meets Ekaterina Moiseeva, a female design assistant and his future wife. While his weapon ultimately loses to Sudayev's gun, he is given permission to work on new designs, and his friends also encourage him to continue his work. By the time the war comes to an end, Kalashnikov has a new automatic rifle ready and is sent to the Kovrov Arms Factory to improve on it. Impatient to see if it works, and denied a test at the firing range, he conducts his own successful trial, upon which he is arrested for testing his gun in the open without authorization and brought to General Vasily Degtyaryov, a notable arms designer whom Kalashnikov considers his fiercest competitor. However, Degtyaryov, expressing his sincere respect for Kalashnikov's talent and the superiority of his design, removes himself from the competition, and tested under extreme conditions (after being immersed in water and sand), the new rifle passes. In 1949, after the first major field testing, the new weapon is approved for mass production. Kalashnikov is decorated and given an extended leave of absence, which he uses to visit his mother at his home farm along with his wife and children.

Casting

• Yuri Borisov as Mikhail Kalashnikov
  
• Olga Lerman as Ekaterina 'Katya' Moiseeva
  
• Artur Smolyaninov as engineer Captain Lyuti
  
• Eldar Kalimulin as Zaytsev
  
• Vitaliy Khaev as major general Kurbatkin
  
• Valeriy Barinov as major general Degtyaryov
  
• Anatoliy Lobotskiy as colonel Glukhov
  
• Aleksey Vertkov as state security captain Lobov
  
• Dmitriy Bogdan as engineer major Sudaev
  
• Maksim Bityukov as Kazakov
  
• Armen Arushanyan as Saakyants
  
• Valeriy Afanasev as Chief Artillery Marshal Voronov
  
• Sergey Gazarov as head of depot Krotov
  
• Seydulla Moldakhanov as lieutenant colonel Basarov
  
• Dmitriy Kulichkov as major Lebedev
  
• Igor Khripunov as deputy Degtyarev
  
• Yuriy Loparyov as Kuzmich
  
• Aleksandr Nikolsky as uncle Misha
  
• Mikhail Gudoshnikov as Kravchenko
  
• Yevgeniy Antropov as lieutenant in Alma-Ata
  
• Amadu Mamadakov as guard in Alma-Ata
  
• Yevgeniy Kartashov as officer in Golutvin
  

The lead actor Yuri Borisov emphasizes that he actively studied the life path of his character, engaged in the search and collection of alternative sources, wishing to realize the complexity of the character of the gunsmith with his complexes and reflections. According to Borisov, he personally saw Kalashnikov, and when he passed by, “something directly flew out of him and flew to me! And then I walked around the site with it”.

Work on the film began in August 2018, filming was carried out, including in the Apraksins' Estate, Dmitrovsky District, Moscow Oblast, in the Republic of Crimea, in the town of Torzhok, Torzhoksky District, Tver Oblast and Shushary near Saint Petersburg, scenes with locomotives were filmed. In addition, locomotives were involved in large numbers in the Locomotive Depot of the Podmoskovnaya station when filming scenes at Matai Station (Kazakhstan Temir Zholy), where Kalashnikov began working on his first submachine gun.

Costumes and props were provided by Mosfilm Studios; they also supported in the dubbing and recording of sound. The scene of the Bryansk tank battle was filmed at the Voyenfilm cinema complex near Medyn, Medynsky District, Kaluga Oblast, using the scenery of the painting "Ilinsky frontier".

All models of weapons developed by Kalashnikov were specially restored according to drawings received from the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps in St. Petersburg.