Almost every man between 25 and 50 knows that heaviness is reliable, and London is where the fish, chips, tea, lousy food, lousy weather and Mary Poppins are. On Guy Ritchie's birthday, we're looking into why he's so popular in Russia.

Guy Ritchie's original films really enjoy popular love. And his “studio” films are also held in high esteem by us. “The Agents of U.N.C.L.,” “The Sword of King Arthur” and “Aladdin” are at least remembered, and someone seriously considers the unconventional vision of Sherlock Holmes to be the best - and this thesis deserves not laughter, but discussion.

But much more interesting to most are the legendary “Snatch” in combination with the film “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” or “The Gentlemen” - whoever likes which one more. And here it is extremely important that Richie came up with these films himself . And he wrote scripts for them himself.

Guy Ritchie
Photo: picture alliance/Global Look Press
Guy Ritchie
A sitcom set in the criminal world
Ritchie's films are understandable to people from any country in the world. A sitcom is the easiest to transfer to another language. It does not involve wordplay or complex convoluted meanings that would be difficult (if not impossible) to translate without loss.

Richie makes a universal product. So universal that even the crime around which the plot revolves has no characteristic specificity. Trade in stolen goods, cheating, fake underground fights, drugs - all this is familiar to us.

The crime itself is rich in emotions. And the “correct translation” is also not poor in wording. A person who has watched “Snatch” at least once will easily remember some emotional exclamation from it. And it has probably become a common phrase.

And all these microfactors - the theme of crime, rich emotions and still living aphorisms - fell into the extremely fertile soil of Russian culture, where they still adore the “Brigade” and “Brother”. Where they love to use quotes from works so much in everyday life - and they love it so much that ignorance of any phrase is considered to be bad upbringing and lack of culture.

In general, we loved Guy Ritchie so much that some were even surprised that he was not Russian.

Still from the movie "Snatch"
Photo: Supplied by FilmStills.net/FilmStills.net/Global Look Press
Still from the movie "Snatch"
A philosophy that is intuitive to us
We also like Guy Ritchie’s films because he can’t stand those characters who take their place “undeservedly” and block social dynamics. He mocks them in each of his original films.

In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, robbers ineptly torture two old men living out their century in a house full of antiques. In "Snatch," a fearsome bandit is tricked and killed by the Irish Travellers, who are mistakenly known as gypsies.

In RocknRolla, a similar character is demonstratively buried, thrown off his “throne.”

In The Gentlemen, Richie returns to bullying the aristocrats - now they are begging money to fix the roof of the estate from a drug lord. And the main character of the film asserts himself by destroying those who take his “deserved” place.

Still from the movie "The Gentlemen"
Photo: STXfilms
Still from the movie "The Gentlemen"
The history of our country is in many ways similar to Ritchie's films.

The leaders of the USSR over and over again rose within the Politburo and immediately found “traitors.” And then, losing power, they quickly turned into “bad guys.” Even Stalin, who died a natural death, did not escape such a fate: after it, Khrushchev carried out a large-scale defeat of the “cult of personality.”

This practice did not end with the collapse of the Union: in 1993, another head of the country fired at the White House - and managed to do without consequences. “He who is right is stronger.” And the people of Russia know this very well. That’s why they understand Guy Ritchie’s heroes.

It’s unclear whether Richie’s new films will be as close to us. A director, like any person, changes and develops. Society as a whole is also changing. The coincidence of these changes is very unlikely. But, even if Richie becomes different, there is no need to worry. We will still have films from 20 years ago that we can always watch as if for the first time.

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