"Red Army," a documentary about the Soviet hockey system that focuses on former Red Wing Viacheslav Fetisov, has become an unlikely hit at the current Cannes Film Festival in France.

Directed by a young Russian American, Gabe Polsky, "Red Army" also shines the spotlight on the 1997 Stanley Cup-winning Red Wings, "Soviet hockey's greatest success in the NHL," writes Henry Barnes in the Guardian.

Coach Scotty Bowman won by building an old-fashioned Soviet team in the middle of an American sports franchise. When faced with the problem of melding cultures, he simply imported the more successful system wholesale.

Barnes writes that "Red Army" shows how, under the Soviet regime, "hockey was propaganda. Players were bred to beat the west, with young children selected by Soviet officials to enter intensive boot camps."

One such player – Viacheslav Fetisov – is at the heart of Polsky's story. A Red Army recruit from the age of 8, Fetisov's playing career spanned the key turning points in his country's history. He was part of the team that lost to the USA during the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Olympics. He became one of the first players to play in NHL after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the introduction of Gorbachov's glasnost policy. He was made minister of sport by Putin, a post he held until 2008 and he is currently a member of the Federal Assembly of Russia.

Fetisov's career in sport echoed that of his country's place on the world stage. He was one of the proud sons of the Soviet Union – a real man who played hockey. But he grew tired of the restrictions of the Soviet system, clashed with the tyrannical regime of his coach. He looked to America and saw wealth and individual prosperity. The chance to take for himself with the talent he'd developed. The Americans, meanwhile, wanted the incredible skill of the Soviet players on their side of the curtain. Yet the story's great irony was that skills that made the Soviets fantastic hockey players – teamwork, cooperation – were useless in an American system that demanded star power. Separated they floundered. Tempted to the NHL by big money deals, each player found himself adrift in the American game, which relied on brutal individuality. "When they had the puck they shot," says Fetisov. "For us the puck-holder was a slave to the rest of the team."

The New York Times calls "Red Army" one of Cannes' notable films this year.