Operation Odessa (2018)

Operation Odessa (2018)

You will be watching this crazily entertaining documentary with your mouth open in disbelief.

The Very Best

8.9

Movie

N/A, United States of America
English, Russian, Spanish
Documentary
2018
TILLER RUSSELL
Juan Almeida, Kristy Galeota, Ludwig Fainberg
92 min

What it's about

The stranger-than-fiction true story of a Russian mobster, a Miami playboy, and a Cuban spy who teamed up in the early '90s to sell a Soviet submarine to the Cali Cartel.

The take

The movie opens with a guy called Tarzan, saying in a Russian accent: “I called my friend Michel, and I said can I buy a submarine, a used one?” Apparently, two days later he called him back asking: “With, or without missiles?” This should give you a decent idea of how the protagonists of this Tiller-Russell-directed documentary roll. Operation Odessa is the crazy true story of how the FBI, Pablo Escobar, and the Russian Mafia were played by three criminal outsiders in a $35 million submarine deal. Strictly speaking, it belongs in the true crime documentary genre, but it can also be treated as a real-life black comedy. The protagonists are so audacious, it is hard to believe that most of this story is true. The submarine deal story is only the tip of the iceberg here. Crazy, funny, and just really well done!

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