This tragedy is remembered today, more than thirteen years after it happened. Not everyone can confidently answer the question of which year Sergey Bodrov died, but they did not forget their beloved artist, and almost everyone is saddened and bitterness at such an early departure from the life of a talented actor, director and screenwriter. Personally, he was indeed bright.
Life outside the world of cinema
Sergey Bodrov, Jr. was born and raised in a creative family. His father is a famous director (also Sergey), his mother, Valentina Nikolaevna, is an art critic. In the movie, it seemed to him that the road was laid in advance, but what does an artist who does not know life mean? Having entered the history department of Moscow State University, the young man successfully completed it five years later (1994) and entered graduate school. Another four years passed, and he received the Ph.D. degree by writing a qualification paper on architecture in Renaissance Venetian painting. This should be remembered in connection with the fact that many viewers identify Sergey with the image of “Brother”, a young man who served in the army, came to civilian life and “resolves issues” mainly by force. For all the merits of this character, such as courage and honesty, his hat (figuratively speaking) would be too small for Sergei Bodrov Jr.
The future actor and director received knowledge about life not only on the academic bench. A school teacher, a confectioner of the Udarnitsa factory, a beach lifeguard (it was in Italy), and then a journalist - here is his short track record.
The Prisoner and the Brothers
In 1989, Sergei Bodrov, Jr. made his screen debut in his father's film "SIR." In this film work, very successful, the story was told about difficult teenagers who ended up in a special boarding school. The artists did not want to get a haircut, and then the director attracted his own son, who, of course, agreed, and did not regret the hair. Only after almost seven years, Sergei got the next role, very serious, in the "Prisoner of the Caucasus", where he happened to work in tandem with Oleg Menshikov, an excellent actor and a true master. True fame and popular love came after "Brother" (1997) and "Brother-2" (2000). In these films, viewers saw something that they really yearned for in the troubled period of the nineties. The character of Bodrov Jr. became the personification of "good with fists", his image of a laconic active intercessor turned out to be as close to the people as the "Voroshilov shooter" played by Ulyanov. Of course, the plot of revenge is a win-win in itself, but the picture was successful not only because of the exploitation of this artistic device.
Other jobs
In addition to the most famous film works, Sergey had other roles, and all of them turned out to be successful. Paul Pavlikowski made the movie Stringer in 1998. “East-West”, another very good picture of a foreign director (this time Frenchman Regis Varnier) was released in 1999, with the participation of magnificent screen masters Catherine Deneuve, Oleg Menshikov, Bogdan Stupka, Tatyana Dogileva and many others. Less than a year before Sergey Bodrov died, he made his first own film, entitled “Sisters,” playing a small role in the episode. This directorial debut was a triumph. The picture immediately took the first lines in the ratings of the rental, she received international recognition in the form of a prize of the Venice Film Festival.
In the same year, there was a small role in “Let's Do It Quickly” and serious work in the film “War” directed by Alexei Balabanov. And also - “Bear Kiss”, which was put again by Sergey, and the project “The Last Hero” on ORT. In general, such activity suggested a rapid rise to the pinnacle of fame. And then - a trip to shoot in the Karmadon Gorge. Bodrov did not return from there.
A family
The actress Svetlana Mikhailova became the wife of Bodrov Jr., and this marriage, which took place in 1987, can surely be called happy. They had a daughter, Olya (1988), and in August 2002, a month before Sergey Bodrov died, and a son, who was named Alexander. Then the young actor married for love, and at first glance, which he himself spoke about in his interviews. The couple parted for a short time, a trip to the Caucasus should not have taken much time. In North Ossetia, Sergei made the film “The Messenger,” for which he himself wrote the script, and in which he was going to play the main role.
Avalanche
Much is known today about how Sergey Bodrov died, but the very moment of his death can only be reconstructed according to circumstances clarified during the investigation. In the early autumn morning of September 20, the group, gathered in the lobby of the hotel, went to the mountains for field shooting. The day did not set right, there was a rise ahead, and the vehicles had to wait a long time, and therefore the start of work, planned for 9-00, was delayed until one in the afternoon. Then, as it turned out later, filming still began and continued until about seven in the evening, when it began to get dark. The film crew of Sergey Bodrov loaded the equipment and set off on the return trip. At a quarter past nine, the mudflow covered a huge area, its mass was several million tons of stones, mud, sand and ice, and the speed exceeded 100 km / h. The layer was thick and reached three hundred meters.
Disaster victims
On the morning of September 21, the whole country already knew what misfortune had come to the Karmadon Gorge. Bodrov and his Moscow group were not the only victims of the disaster. The equestrian theater "Narty" took part in the shootings; people from camp sites of enterprises, students and local residents were in the disaster zone. A total of 127 people were missing, who were initially declared missing. The rescue operation began immediately, during which EMERCOM employees and local volunteers found 17 corpses and fragments of bodies. The crew members who died with Sergei Bodrov, as well as he himself, have not yet been found. This fact for a long time gave vague hope and became the basis of many dubious versions regarding the fact that the actor, beloved by millions of viewers, is still alive. Alas, the hope for this now, after thirteen years, is gone.
Memory
Searches lasted until February 2004. Theoretically, there was a chance that the group managed to hide in one of the tunnels dug in the mountains, so they first drilled soil in places where voids could remain, but to no avail. Most likely, we will never know how Sergey Bodrov died. According to geologists, the melting of the formed glacier will take about twelve years, during this time it is unlikely that anything will remain from the remains of missing people. An alder grove has already grown in a mudflow desert, and a memorial plaque with the names of the dead has been installed next to it. The mournful date reminds in which year Sergey Bodrov and another 126 people died, of whom there is no one to blame, because such disasters are absolutely unpredictable.
According to the script of the film "The Messenger", the main character dies young. Sergei Bodrov Jr. was thirty ....