“The biggest post-Soviet film blockbuster packing the country’s multiplexes is a bloody tear-jerker about a topic many Russians would rather forget – the 10-year war that resulted in the Soviet Union’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. For many here the film also is apparently read not only as a metaphor for Russia’s Chechen quagmire, but even for the very collapse of the Soviet Union. The movie, Company 9, has grossed $23.47 million since its Sept. 29 opening and is close to doubling the total receipts here of the latest installments of the popular Lord of the Rings and Star Wars films.”