Exclusive Trailer: 'Red Army' Depicts Cold War Struggles Around the World and on the Rink

For decades, the Soviet Union's Red Army ice hockey team was one of the most unstoppable sports teams in the world. The infamous squad brought home gold at every Winter Olympics through the 1960s and 1970s, only to relinquish the precious medal to the U.S. in a heart-stopping game in 1980. The Red Army team was so formidable, in fact, that Russian leaders hoisted up the team as a prime example of communist supremacy.

But as the new documentary Red Army proves, not all of the battles took place on the ice. The latest trailer for the film, seen here first on Yahoo Movies, teases what’s in store from this sports doc, which takes viewers behind the Iron Curtain to show how the team (and the government) operated at the height of the Cold War.

At the center of the documentary is Slava Fetisov, a former captain of the Red Army team who’s considered one of the best ice hockey players in history. Like many Russian boys, he played the country’s most lauded sport from a young age. The best of the best were carefully selected, and then recruited into a training regiment so grueling, it left players (including Fetisov himself) questioning why they sacrificed so much. All the while, the KGB were applying pressure on the players, sometimes threatening them, so they wouldn’t leave and play for another country.

But not all of the team’s struggles took place in their home country. When the Red Army failed to get gold in the final against the U.S. in the 1980 games — which were held in Lake Placid, New York — the tension between the two countries was at a new peak. The Cold War in full tilt, the historic match was subsequently dubbed “Miracle on Ice” by Americans. The loss was not just an athletic blow to the Soviets, but a political one, as well.

Red Army won raves at the Cannes Film Festival last spring, including high marks from New York Times writer Manohla Dargis, who deemed the doc “one of a handful of titles [at the festival] that… are keeping the critics from grumbling too loudly.”

The film, which recently screened at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals, opens on Jan. 22.