The Green Elephant
| The Green Elephant Зеленый Слоник |
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| Directed by | Svetlana Baskova |
| Produced by |
Oleg Mavromati Svetlana Baskova Vladimir Zubkov |
| Written by | Svetlana Baskova |
| Starring |
Sergey Pakhomov Alexander Maslaev Vladimir Epifantsev Anatoly Osmolovsky Oleg Mavromati (intro dialog with Maslaev) |
| Music by |
Pantera Iron Butterfly Atomic Rooster |
| Cinematography |
Svetlana Baskova Oleg Mavromati |
| Edited by | Supernova Studio |
| Distributed by | Independent |
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Release date
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1999 |
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Running time
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86 minutes |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Budget | $0 |
The Green Elephant (Russian: Зеленый Слоник, translit. Zelyonyy slonik, also known as Green Elephant Calf) is a 1999 Russian art-house and splatter gore film directed by Svetlana Baskova. The movie received a limited theatrical release in Russia, as the film's violent imagery and graphic language made it unable to be 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".
The Green Elephant 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.
Two men (both being junior officers in Soviet Army, in 1986), nicknamed "Bratishka" (Little Brother) and "Poekhavshiy" (The Mad), are being held in a penal military prison. The room which they share looks like a dark cellar with a dripping sewer pipe running through it. One of the prisoners, Poekhavshiy, seems to be delirious and never stops talking. He tells stories of his past, sings the song of the "Green Elephant" circus, does push-ups, comes up with crazy ideas and even mimics a heron in an attempt to cheer up his cellmate Bratishka, leading only to an increase in his anger. He receives a violent beating from the enraged Bratishka, before he is then taken from the cell by a guard to clean up a dirty toilet bowl with a fork.
Some time later, after Bratishka falls asleep, Poekhavshiy defecates on their shared plate for eating (calling it "sweet bread"), smears feces over his belly and consumes a large portion of it. After doing so he offers a plate with the fecal matter to the other man right after he wakes up, and drives him mad again. Poekhavishiy tells him that he is just giving him some food to eat with together (as they will not be given anything to eat), but Bratishka angrily tells him to wash himself by the dripping pipe water, threatening Poekhavshiy that he will kill him. The guard arrives from the screaming in the cell, and drags the infuriated Bratishka out to clean the toilets again. The captain arrives to the cell and lectures Poekhavshiy on the theatre of operations of the Pacific Ocean, particularly on the names and numbers of the Japanese and American ships on Pearl Harbor. He scolds Poekhavshiy on his incorrect answers, and orders a guard to go to the canteen to prepare a glass of tea for him and the officer. The captain tastes it, and comments "It tastes like urine", spilling its contents on the guard's head. He orders to guard to hold the glass with his teeth, instructing him to go and tell the kitchen staff that "this kind of tea will not be tolerated, ever." The guard then beats up Poekhavshiy.
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