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Stream Russian Movies All Day with These Accessible Streaming Services
If you’re learning Russian, you can boost your language skills while being entertained by some great Russian movies.
In this post, we’re going to share a couple of great sources for streaming Russian movies to provide you with a comprehensive learning experience.
Netflix may be the most obvious resource and it does have some great options, but they’ve taken a stand against the invasion of Ukraine by removing most Russian-language content in 2023.
So we’ve provided you with two other streaming services that are worth checking out.
They provide a wealth of choices, some of which aren’t available on any other streaming services!
Contents
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Prime Video
After Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video is probably the best-known way to stream movies, and there are many Russian-language films available to choose from.
“Stalingrad”
This film is a true classic and one of the most famous Russian films about World War II. By viewing this story about the devastating battle in Stalingrad, a city in Russia (now called Volgograd), in 1942, you can immerse yourself in the most infamous battle in the country’s history through action-packed scenes.
You can learn a lot of army/military/war terms in this film, such as солдат (soldier), пистолет (gun) and атака (attack).
SovietMoviesOnline.com
SovietMoviesOnline.com only has Russian-language movies, which makes your search much easier. There are lots of great movies here, so we’ve gone ahead and included a few different examples for you.
“The Days of the Turbins”
This movie tells a story about the lives of the Russian Guards during the Russian Revolution in 1917. That year, two revolutions aimed to dismantle the tsarist regime and bring about communism and the rise of the Soviet Union.
This movie is based on the novel “The White Guard” by Mikhail Bulgakov.
There’s a lot of terminology about directions and movement as it is wartime and family members are waiting for their loved ones to return. You can learn words such as железнодорожная станция (train station), стоять (to stand) and приeдет (will come, will drive over).
“Operation Happy New Year”
Russians are big on holidays and celebrations, and there is no bigger occasion in the country than the New Year!
This movie gives a detailed look at how Russia celebrates the New Year, an event that may be very surprising and interesting from an American or otherwise non-Russian perspective.
Combining American Christmas traditions such as Santa Claus and the Christmas tree with New Year traditions of counting down to midnight and drinking champagne, Russians go all out on December 31st!
Laugh and learn about this important celebration while watching this Russian comedy, but don’t forget to focus on learning Russian words. This title is full of colorful language and adjectives like xорошо (good), лучше (better) and мерзкая (female form for “dirty,” “disgusting,” “nasty”).
“Law of the Lawless”
This film (also known as “Brigada”) takes place in the 1990s, when crime was running rampant through Russia. This is a story about a group of friends that turn into mafiosos. Although they’re criminals, they’re also young, fun and often endearing in their friendships and romances.
This is a great film for learning Russian slang, like ладно (OK), давай (literally, “to give,” or “let’s go,” “let’s do it!”) or я в курсе (literally, “I’m in the course,” or “I know, I’m in on it”).
Why Movies Can Help Us Learn Russian More Efficiently
For disbelievers of the educational value of movies, we challenge you to consider these benefits:
- Immersing yourself in Russian movies teaches you about the culture and way of life. Movies can show different perspectives and times throughout the history of Russia, the former Soviet Union and other Russian-speaking areas.
- Movies give us front-row access to hearing casual Russian and learning slang and idioms. Movies provide more of an interactive experience that allows us to learn actual language without popping open a textbook. It is great for those planning to move to a Russian-speaking country or those who want deeper insight into Russian-language culture.
- Movies are an ideal complement to your daily language-learning routine. For example, you might intensively study the vocabulary in one of FluentU’s shorter authentic video clips, then watch a full-length movie later that day to get a more extensive Russian practice session. You can also take notes on the movie’s vocabulary and add them to your FluentU vocabulary lists later.
Streaming movies are a gateway to exploring the Russian language and culture.
Explore the sites above to be immersed in the language, improve your listening skills and speak better Russian!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
