Red Army

By focusing less on his characters and more on a supposed dark side of Russian hockey, Polsky's film is less documentary than it is didacticism.

There's a lesson here for fans of any contemporary sport and an absolutely thrilling tale, impeccably assembled besides. Sporting glory awaits, even for those viewers who couldn't tell a jockstrap from a jellybean.

Polsky's documentary is nominally about ice hockey, but culture and politics provide the driving force as the Russians go head to head with the Americans in a battle of ideology, economics and art.

I'm not much of a sportsman, much less a hockey fan, but this meticulously crafted documentary is a knockout.