Mikhail Kalashnikov (Yuriy Borisov), a tank commander with a 7th grade education, enters a series of contests to design a new, modern weapon for a new, modern Soviet Union.
There's not a lot of movie in this movie. Kalashnikov seems to have had a fairly charmed life. He survives a battle that killed all his compatriots, he immediately runs into the guy he needs to approve his work on gun design, he is sponsored for these design and fabrication contests again and again, and even when it fails, all his peers offer encouragement and support. It's kind of nice? I kept waiting for the inevitable conflict, a clash of ideals or ideology that he has to overcome, but it never manifested. Even when he gears himself up to confront a highly-decorated inventor, the guy is perfectly reasonable and even deferential, and you can witness Kalashnikov's deflation as he (and the audience) realizes that he doesn't need to fight.
It is absolutely propaganda of a meritocratic Soviet Union that probably never existed, but it's not horrible. It would make for a fascinating double feature with Lord of War, showing how much global damage Kalasknikov's little invention facilitated. A dubbed version is available on Tubi, not sure about one in the original Russian.
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