Russia's Culture Minister: Filmmakers Should Learn From 'Fury'

"Everything was brilliant — the idea, the actors, the plot and the execution," says culture minister Vladimir Medinsky.

Russia’s Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has called on local filmmakers to learn how to make a war movie from the creators of Fury, last fall's Hollywood production toplined by Brad Pitt. To some extent, the statement contradicts the minister's earlier anti-Hollywood stance.

"[Fury is] an excellent war film," Medinsky was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. "Five out of five. Everything was brilliant — the idea, the actors, the plot and the execution.

"That's only a shame that they used a well-known, popular story that happened to a Soviet tank," he went on to say. "I don't know if something like that ever happened in America. But there was a story like that with our tank, although it was more dramatic as everyone died."

According to Medinsky, Hollywood filmmakers know how to make war films and "are doing it in a superb way, and we have much more material for good films than the Americans, so we need to learn."

It's rare for Medinsky to praise, even in a reserved manner, a Hollywood release. He has been a proponent of protectionist measures for Russian films in competition with Hollywood releases. Although he didn't approve of open restrictions for Hollywood films, his ministry recently came up with the idea of moving release dates for foreign films to make sure they don't collide with major Russian releases.

To avoid a mandatory requirement from the Culture Ministry, Disney recently moved up the Russian release date of The Avengers: Age of Ultron to avoid colliding with the Russian war film A Zori Zdes Tikhiye (The Dawns Here are Quiet).

Fury was released in Russia on Oct. 30, 2014, and grossed $8.5 million, according to the Russian database KinoPoisk.