All language subtitles for anthony.bourdain.parts.unknown.s03e05.russia.720p.hdtv.x264-w4f

Beautiful, right?

We can already indulge ourselves

into something special,
such a beautiful day.

Pony ride.

Absolutely.

Now we are coming to your most

beautiful fascination side of

Russian legacy, the
forest of birch.

Ah, what a place.

♪

All hail, the maximum leader.

Now let's dance.

♪

Okay.

Thank you.

Well.

♪ I took a walk through
this beautiful world ♪

♪ felt the cool rain
on my shoulder ♪

♪ found something good in
this beautiful world ♪

♪ I felt the rain
getting colder ♪

♪ sha la la la la

♪ sha la la la la la

♪ sha la la la la

♪ sha la la la la la la

whatever you think of this

guy, his dead, affectless eyes,

his smooth pulled tight like a

snare drum face, he
ain't going anywhere.

Look at him.

He's the Russian Superman, the

KGB middle manager desk jockey

turned expression of greater
Russia's hopes and dreams.

He lets no opportunity to take

his shirt off pass him by, pose

with a large gun, he's there.

And no matter how transparently

autocratic, vengeful, oblivious

to even a thin veneer of
democracy, Russians love him.

They seem to feel about him like

new yorkers used to
feel about Giuliani.

He may be a son of a [
expletive ] But he's our son

of a [ Expletive ].

It's February 2014, and the

Sochi Olympics are just coming

up when I arrive in Moscow.

It's a different Moscow
every time I come here.

The '80s style go-go capitalist

conspicuous consumption see who

can spend the most money
disco-techno thing that I saw

when I first came here in 2001,

it's still going strong.

In fact, these days, Moscow
has one of the highest

concentrations of
billionaires in the world.

But as never before, its
imperial Russia now, a one-man

rule.

All power emanates, every

decision must consider this guy.

♪

Russia is full of characters

with murky pasts and
shadowy connections.

One of them I' called a friend
for more than a decade.

Tony!

Wow.

Zamir.

Now, my concern is back in the

day, this place was famous for

all of the rooms were bugged.

Not anymore, I'm sorry.

Oh, really?

I'm really sorry about that.

Times change.

My long-time crony tries at

least to be diplomatic
about these things.

I mean, he's got to
live here, right?

He doesn't want problems
with his blintzes.

The forward-thinking Russia,

they removed the
surveillance devices?

Listen, as a born Muscovite,

I'm trying to be a good patron.

I really want you to tell me

frankly a week from now, Zamir,

now I understand why stereotypes

sometimes send a bad
message about Russia.

I have an open mind.

Everything's great.

Russians have
everything they want.

Listen.

Why don't we just taste.

Oh, thank you.

The most gorgeous
women are in Russia.

Welcome to Russia.

I'm trying to be kind of sober.

United we stand.

I prepared the special for you.

Russian tapas.

With small pancakes
like blinis and caviar.

All this cocoon with honey.

This is Baltic sprouts.

Thank you.

I'm hitting the
caviar and the blini.

Oy-yoy-yoy.

Maybe some more vodka.

Thank you.

And your smile makes it
feel like it's water.

What do you think?

What is the perception of Mr.

Putin these days, after
14 years he's in power?

My perception?

You really want to hear it?

I'm not sure, but let's see.

A former midlevel manager in

a large corporation, short, I

think that's very important,

short, who has found himself

master of the universe and like

a lot of short people, if you

tick them off, bad
things happen to you.

He likes to take his
shirt off a lot.

Let's be serious.

He strikes me as a businessman.

He is.

A businessman with an ego.

Okay.

So he's like Donald
Trump but shorter.

I think my friend needs
some kind of booze.

To you, comrade.

Like this, you know.

You can have that one.

I'll get the other two.

I'm serious about your
one week stay in Russia.

I want you to enjoy
every minute of it.

I hope you'll get something new,

positive to learn and
share around the world.

That's my mission.

♪

Advertise your product or brand here
contact www.OpenSubtitles.org today

Okay, Tony, so being part
of the opposition rally.

This is nothing new for me.

Strike against the empire.

I go way back on this.

I marched on the Pentagon
with my dad when I was a kid.

Seriously.

Yep.

So you are well prepared.

It is physical and brutal today.

I don't know.

My day as a dissident
may be over quickly.

There is opposition to Putin
but it's a mixed bag.

If you do see a demonstration
like this one, it is with

permission along a planned

route, carefully managed and the

cops and security tend to
outnumber the demonstrators.

The main topic of this rally

is to support the
political prisoners.

Last may when they came to
protest against Putin's

re-election, which
allegedly was...

The election results were,
shall we say, dubious.

Some of them were arrested

and put in prison and some
of them are still there.

Divide and conquer?

Well, look who showed up today.

Everybody from human rights

activists to ultra right wing

nationalists who think
Putin has been too soft.

Putin is not right
wing enough for them.

No.

He's like a liberal to them.

He doesn't refuse
immigrant workers.

I'm kind of shocked shees
these guys are at the same

demonstration.

Russians are not united
against one political agenda.

It's general unhappiness
with Putin.

That's it.

♪

Bad things seem to happen to
critics of Vladimir Putin.

Journalists, activists, even
powerful oligarchs once

seemingly untouchable are now

fair game if they
displease the leader.

So we were supposed to be dining

at another restaurant this

evening and when they heard that

you would be joining
me, we were uninvited.

Should I be concerned about
having dinner with you?

This is a country of corruption.

If you have business, you are in

a very unsafe situation.

Everybody can press you and
destroy your business.

That's it.

This is a system.

Meet Boris Nemsaw.

He was deputy prime minister

under Yeltsin and today is one

of Putin's most vocal critics.

This restaurant was kind enough

to take us in but the chef is a

Brit so maybe he has
less reason to worry.

First course, gentlemen?

At Yornick restaurant they

are serving their own versions

of Dino-era Russian classics.

A modern riff on borscht,

typically a hearty cabbage broth

with meat, here's a puree with a

more elegant shall we say
deconstructed presentation.

Critics of the government,
critics of Putin, bad things

seem to happen to them.

Yes.

Unfortunately, existing power

represent what I say Russia old

19th century, not of 21st.

Critics of Putin, beware.

Oligarch Kolikofsky accused

Putin of corruption and spent

ten years in prison
and labor camps.

Alexander Litvinenko accused
state security services of

organizing a coup to
put Putin in power.

He was poisoned by a lethal dose

of radioactive polonium and
Viktor Yushenko poisoned,

disfigured and nearly killed
by a toxic dose of dioxin.

I'm not saying official Russian

bodies had anything to do with

it but it's mighty suspicious.

I don't think you need to be a

conspiracy theorist to say
whoever did this very much

wanted everyone to
know who done it.

Everybody understands.

Of course.

Everybody is meant
to understand.

Everybody understands.

Everybody understands
everything in this country.

When you're talking classic
conspiracy theories and

classically Russian style

paranoia, you want some classic

Russian food to
go along with it.

Pelmini, minced meat dumplings

served on a pillow of
cabbage with sour cream.

Mh.

Very good.

Maybe the most extreme and

visible example of how things

seem to work here is
the Sochi Olympics.

If you look at the map of
Russian Federation, it's

difficult to find a sport
without knowing... but Putin

did.

It seems like a pretty obvious
question, if you wanted

to hold a winter Olympics in

Miami, presumably someone would

say isn't it a
little warm there.

This is absolutely
personal Putin project.

They spent more than $50 billion

of dollars, which is the most

expensive games of mankind.

$26,000 a seat for
the curling stadium?

To build?

The road is 30 miles.

Price for that, $9 billion U.S.

This is a road, right?

It's three times expensive than

American program flying to Mars.

And who got many of those
contracts for the roads and

stadiums and infrastructure?

Well, there's these guys.

Putin's childhood friends and

judo partners, the Rottenburg
brothers, whose companies

received contracts worth
upwards of $7 billion.

And Putin's associate of 20

years, Vladimir Yakunin, who
owns the state railroads.

His company received $10
billion worth of contracts.

It's very easy to imagine

what's happened with this money.

Right.

You know who cares in Russia?

Just about no one.

This is a case of
the Binenko case.

A known enemy of Putin stricken

with a bout of
radioactive polonium.

Aren't you concerned?

Me, about myself?

Yeah.

You're a pain in the ass.

Tony, I was born
here 54 years ago.

This is my country.

The Russian people
are in trouble.

Russian court doesn't work.

Russian education
decline every year.

I believe that Russia has
a chance to be free.

Has a chance.

It's difficult but
we must do it.

America, yeah.

All of Russia's
eyes are upon you.

Bring honor to your... you
know what, America, I

will break you.

I will break you.

Forget about it.

I'll bury you.

I'll rip up your visa!

No!

O'er the land of the free.

Just missed it, buddy.

That was pretty close.

I was actually out here all
last night practicing.

I'm kidding.

While Zamir contemplates a

suddenly grimmer future thanks

to me, I head out to Rublevka, a

compound of luxury homes outside

Moscow, to meet
Alexander Levedu.

At one time, Alexander
was doing great.

Former officer of the
intelligence services like

Putin, turned billionaire.

He owned pieces of Russia's most

powerful energy companies,

airlines and banks, and still
publishes one of the only

opposition newspapers
left in Russia.

But running a newspaper that's

been harshly critical of
the ruler has cost him.

He's been stripped of
nearly everything.

It can be a dangerous thing to

do investigative journalism
in this country.

Your own paper, five
journalists, six lost their

lives?

Yeah.

Probably the biggest number

because there was no war in this

country, so in peaceful times,

to lose six journalists
killed is quite a lot.

Six journalists
murdered, one paper.

Presumably for their reporting

on political corruption
or human rights abuse.

Though pointing a finger
directly at the government is

impossible, one can say that the

climate here is such that what

you say can certainly
get you killed.

You have at various stages made

life difficult for yourself.

Business was very good for you,

then you had to have an opinion.

When you interact with the

local bureaucracies and judicial

system, it still leaves a lot to

be desired, let's
put it this way.

Levedev is now a potato farmer.

That's my production.

That's my potato.

The biggest producer in Russia,
true, but his billions

are gone.

He now lives the life
of a mere millionaire.

Let's see how you like this one.

Very good.

Some freshly made potato chips

that Levedev is very proud of.

And his personal chef prepares

Scottish salmon, smoked on

cherry tree sawdust
served with avocado.

Mm.

Very good.

Lately, he is getting
into slow food.

This is cold pressed
cedar tree in Siberia.

Cedar oil?

But he has not slowed down his

profile or kept his mouth shut.

Recently, in a Russian talk

show, he got in an argument over

the financial crisis with
another guest, a heated

argument.

He ended up smacking the guy.

I saw the incident on television

that got you in trouble.

I found it very refreshing,
actually, something that

political discourse
could use more of.

The government took the
opportunity to charge him with

politically motivated
hooliganism, a charge that could

have resulted in a penalty
of five years in prison.

He is instead been
convicted of battery.

He is working off his sentence

painting fences and
shoveling snow.

I mean, sitting on a bench

and expecting to spend the next

five years in prison with two

small kids, it's not always, you

know, very nice, but the guy
said something very bad.

He said those who don't have a

billion go [ Muted ] themselves.

Though his victim did not

register an official complaint,

the message I think was clear.

The charges were pressed by

the Russian state which is funny

because this is a
private accusation.

It's dangerous, very
dangerous, to criticize or

investigate or speculate.

Why?

Why do you care?

Do you really think you
can defeat it, no.

Hopefully, reason will prevail.

♪

It's the KGB.

They're blocking your signal.

I'm sure that they are,
believe it or not.

I'm quite sure you've had

someone on your tail the
entire time you've been here.

What's rock and roll supposed

to be about other than cars
and girls and aggression?

About dissent.

About rebellion, right?

In Russia, where everything is

supposed to be just fine, that

can be a dangerous position.

Travis link is an ex-pat

American that manages
this band, Luna.

Ruben Kazarian is Luna's
guitarist and song writer.

It's very nice, we have
elections, democracy, courts,

but always doesn't
work as it should.

So that prevents right now
in Russia to speak freely.

Formerly nothing but in
reality, a lot of things.

Let's talk about MTV.

Rebel music as I understand it

was an MTV music series whose

fundamental principle was
to celebrate bands who say

difficult things in environments
where there might be

repercussions.

And as I understand it, your

band was chosen for one
of seven episodes.

Correct.

And in fact, one of your
songs was used as the title

track for the series.

So I get a letter from the

producer and essentially it says

because of political pressure,

the Russia episode has been

removed from the
rebel music series.

According to the producer,

MTV Russia pushed back on the

content, she presumes because of

the negative impact it would

have on them and their ability

to do business on a
day-to-day basis in Russia.

MTV's official reason for

removing Luna from the series is

that they simply did not have

enough time to air all
the stories they filmed.

This was a documentary series

about musicians standing up and

risking their lives in some
cases to stand up against

government abuse of power,

government corruption, and yet,

a foreign government was able to

editorially control what

American viewers see
on their TV screens.

That to me is a scandal
of epic proportion.

This entire documentary's gone.

Luna's song is the title track
to the series, but their

episode never happened.

The rest of Russia is very
very different than Moscow.

Here, you drive around it's like

Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati.

You go to buy a pair of shoes,

you pick up a Bentley
on the way out.

You tour a lot in Russia.

What do you see?

We see a lot of problems.

We see the level of
believing is very low.

There is something in music
that unites everybody.

It's something beyond politics.

It's certain energy and this

energy is the same in every
country, in every city.

We have rock music, we
have common people.

We're like you.

♪

I'm going to the hometown
of president Putin.

St. Petersburg.

He was born there,
started his career.

The night train to St.

Petersburg is one of the great

fun things to do in Russia.

Roll on great steel wheels

through the night, through dark

forests of birch and snow.

Out there in the dark, visible

for a second or two at a time,

the real Russia, the one
most Russians live in.

So Tony, time to enjoy life.

The gentle chicken meat.

I need something gentle, Tony.

The seat cushion
and ratatouille.

May I propose a toast?

To gentle chicken meats.

Pro tip.

If the word gentle is used on a

menu, avoid those items and
stick to the classics.

Like blini with caviar and cold

pickled herring and potatoes and

soup of sturnlgen,
olives and lemon.

Is health care free
anymore in this country?

Officially, it is free but if

you want to get operation within

a month, and you can't wait, you

won't get it because
long line of those.

How about education?

Up to the high school,
it's still free.

The quality's not best
as it used to be.

People used to get a lot
of things for free.

Now it's coming to an end.

You asked for capitalism,
you got it, buddy.

According to Reaganomics it's
the trickle-down theory.

That means if I make lots and

lots and lots and lots of money,

money will somehow
trickle down to you.

You know, my masseur, my garage

attendant, my aroma therapist.

They of course will
be making money.

I will be buying more things for

various wives and prostitutes.

In this way I don't exactly

share the wealth but I trickle

it down and if you
don't like your job...

What can you do then?

Cleaning up for my dead
prostitutes, you can leave your

job at Walmart and become
a billionaire like me.

Or you go on a reality show and

become really really rich.

Doing nothing.

It's fantastic.

Tony, I'm convinced.

I think you know what you
are doing in life, man.

♪

Did you put on your jammies?

Uh-huh.

I just want to state for the

record, just because you were in

the top bunk, that's no
indication of any relationship

that we may or may not have.

You and me are very
careful in public.

If we bring up subject like
this, there could be some

different repercussions.

Tolerance never
existed in Russia.

That's why when just recently

people started to come out in

Russia, like lesbians and gays,

they were either fired from

their jobs or were given
like hard time to exist.

What about Tchaikovsky?

They try not to acknowledge
it by saying he was a great

musician, so... he was
a great musician who

liked to have sex
with other men.

That's what people are not
meant to learn in school.

♪

That's the former palace?

You remember what happened
in October of 1917?

Everybody came charging
through, charged up the steps

and looted the palace.

And he had to put on his
female outfit to escape the

revolutionary peasants.

That wouldn't go over
well these days.

Not anymore.

Recently in the run-up to the

Sochi Olympics, attention has

been drawn to a wave of rabidly

homophobic remarks
by public officials.

Images of gay and lesbian
activists being beaten and

harassed in the street, often

with official or
semi-official consent.

And a new law which claims to

forbid promoting homosexual

propaganda to minors but which

could be interpreted any way
the authorities choose.

What's happening here?

What's going on?

Oh, my god.

I don't know what's going on.

Every day, I ask myself what's

going on, what's going on.

Do you have to be afraid?

No.

I have nothing to lose.

So I can be myself.

I'm nobody in social system.

Artist and film maker Xena

Robrek is a brave young woman.

She's openly gay.

Lately, the actual hunting of

gay people has been documented.

Violent skinhead gangs who
contact gay men and women

online, arrange meetings under

false pretenses, then
violently ambush them.

There have been very
few prosecutions.

You can get killed for this.

Our local fixer, Dasha,
helps translate.

She had a situation once

where the skinheads
attacked her on the street.

Not only once.

This new law prohibits
propaganda?

Amongst minors.

Soviet propaganda, you can
go to jail for anything.

It means whatever
they want it to mean.

Yes.

How many gay families we have

with kids, and those people are

in maximum stress right now

because their families
might be hooligans.

We rightly see this
as outrageous.

The Russian public, however,

it's very likely a vote getter.

A cynical pandering to a
powerful and enduring vein of

deep-seated homophobia
that goes way, way back.

What do you think the
source of this hatred is?

It's not about Russian church.

It's about political structure.

It's about power.

We have two Russias.

Okay.

What are they?

Big like big bear.

Not very sophisticated
but instincts country.

Okay.

And the other side is the

country of intelligent
people, thoughtful people.

A lot of these political
leaders, are they using the

issue of gay rights to
appeal to a larger audience?

They try to play with bear.

Because usually what happens

when you play with the bear is

tomorrow or the next day or the

next day, the bear eats you.

Yeah.

Are you hopeful?

It's about responsibility.

We should never give up.

♪

Farm to table, in Russia?

Organic?

Local?

Why, yes.

There are those who are trying.

Sergei is a very popular

musician and leader of
the band Leningrad.

It was banned in Moscow
purportedly for promoting

alcoholism.

Cheers.

This is Sergei's wife, Matilda.

Together they have opened this

restaurant, Kokoko, with the
mission to bring genuinely

local, quality Russian
food to diners.

We opened this restaurant one

year ago which will work only

with local farmers and we
are the first to do it.

In all of Russia.

Yes, in all of Russia.

Traditional combination, rye
bread and Russian fish.

Chef Igor's version of Sushi.

Instead of rice, more
traditional Russian black bread

with sprouts, mackerel, COD
liver and salmon caviar.

Old school, but
looks new school.

When I first came here 2001,

the best restaurant in Moscow

was a nightmare of French,

Japanese ingredients,
recipes from nowhere.

Everyone hated Russia,
wanted to be someone else.

Lightly smoked raw beef
topped with quail egg.

Very interesting combination.

Very nice.

What's the most popular thing?

What do people want?

The most popular is
Italian-Japanese cuisine.

Sounds like a nightmare.

Cheers.

That was good.

Before Putin, before Gorbachev,
Khrushchev, Stalin and

Lenin, there was this.

Imperial Russia.

Mighty palaces spread across the

empire where the very very few

lived in unimaginable luxury.

While their people
worked and starved.

Didn't work out so
well for Paul, did it?

Not really.

They choked the dude
to death, right?

Actually strangled
with a piece of cord.

The czars of previous centuries
were certainly living

the good life.

Money, no object when it came to

personal comfort or
luxurious lodgings.

And today's imperial powers
seem not far behind.

Putin allegedly had a billion

dollar palace built for him.

We couldn't license the actual

smuggled photo but our artist

rendering looks like this.

A Putin spokesman dismissed all

this, telling the "New York

times" we have congress halls

built for the Kremlin but if you

call all of them Putin's palace,

it is nothing but absurd.

Vodka.

Haven't tasted that before.

So what would I be doing on my

outing if I were a czar,
looking for cool ox to press?

Enjoying life.

Picking up some good speed here.

Oh, okay.

Some suggested that Russia

is, after all this time,
coming full circle.

A tiny, tiny minority in
possession of nearly unlimited

power and wealth.

The idea of running up the steps

and disemboweling royals, I can

easily imagine
myself doing that.

It would not take
much convincing.

Wow.

That's a pleasant surprise.

I would hurl them all
into the sea tomorrow.

After the revolution, in a

blood-forced strategy designed
to even things out, the

government seized private

residences, dividing them into

little pieces and portioning

them out to the masses who were

arriving from the countryside to

serve the new industrialized
Soviet union.

I never had any ideas of growing

up in socialist wonderland.

There was a brief period when I

was a hippie and the idea
of living in a commune, not

attractive to me.

I was born in a communal flat

with three other families,

sharing one John, one kitchen.

No way.

They would treat me
when I had no food.

No way.

I share my toilet with no man.

Take the first left, please.

Meet Uri, human rights
activist, professor of

journalism, one of 26 tenants
living in this communal

apartment.

Just in case you
change your mind...

And it's here that I see for

first time a glimpse of my

friends in the years mysterious

past, growing up in a
home just like this one.

This was normal for
you growing up.

Yeah.

I show you how it workings.

So who decided to moved
into these plays?

Those who were in charge of

the specific communal services

assigned X amount to
this plan, to that plan.

You got to choose your
neighbors though?

No.

I got that.

In the present day Russia

there's never been a reason to

create infrastructure to
make people's lives bet per.

Nobody cared about the people

that they should have a
decent toilet or shower.

How is it lately, letter?

Worse.

So he changed the

whole landscape in the country.

First of all he clamped down
on the Democratic right.

The most recent laws bring up

the old Soviet union type of
structure in the country.

So what happens next?

A year before the

Soviet union collapse, you would

never believe in your wildest
dreams it would happen.

Now it's symbolism, it looks

stable, people are
busy, money is made.

But it can't go on like
this for too long.

So Uri predict we could be in a

similar overnight
collapsing situation.

So there is some hope...
You're due for some major

renovations.

♪

♪

Just another crisp morning in St.
Petersburg.

♪

The river, ice fishing paradise.

I wouldn't go out on that,

not for a million
dollars, man, not now.

It's total unstable.

♪

Lessons of history.

Where are we?

It's used to be a place for
those who are a lit the

executed.

Originally built to defend
the swedes, it was overrun

during the revolution.

So the 100-year anniversary
of what is coming up?

Great October socialist
revolution in three years from

now.

So the disparity gap in the
society, very rich and very

poor, that someone might bring

the masses back to palace and

storm it again, like 100
years, nothing changed.

Every day at noon without

fail this D 30 .122 howitzer is

fired to commemorate
the revolution.

Moment of truth.

♪

Come up.

Enemy is destructed.

Congratulations, you are
the hero of Russia now.

Sweet.

You can't take it on
the plane, though.

You understand.

Not even carry on?

Since the filming of this show a

number of things have happened.

Putin's Sochi Olympics
went off as planned.

Russia won many gold medals,
the most of any country in

competition which was
really all that mattered.

A few journalists complained

about the bathrooms, but
that is all but forgotten.

More than $50 billion of
mostly public money gone.

Ukraine rose up and their
pro-Putin president run away.

Russia, in broad daylight has

recently annexed Crimea and is

massing tens of thousands of

troops on the border of Ukraine.

The world has done nothing.

It will do nothing, as
Vladimir well knew.

He wins again.

OpenSubtitles recommends using Nord VPN
from 3.49 USD/month ----> osdb.link/vpn