It's not hard to guess that I'm a pretty big fan of Russian cinema. Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Parajanov were two of the first "art" directors that I really enjoyed, and since then whenever I can get my hands on a good Russian film, I watch it (excluding Eisentein and Pudovkin, believe it or not, whom I can't really stand). This was no exception, as it is directed by a fairly famous Russian director named Sergei Bodrov, who also did Mongol, which was nominated for a foreign film Oscar last year.
This is a fairly straight forward story of two men who are taken prisoner as potential trading material for the Chechans, who were at the time (not sure if they are still) warring with the Russians. The two men are very different, and the elder of the two (Oleg Menshikov) starts off berating the younger (who's played by the director's son, Sergei Bodrov Jr.). Apparently it's an update of the Tolstoy story The Prisoner of the Caucasus, as in the Caucasus mountains, which are photgraphed magnificently throughout the film. The film's clearly anti-war, but it doesn't come across as preachy. Most of the points are made relatively subtley, yet come across clear as day.
Overall the film's not a masterpiece, but the combination of the (I'll say it again) absolutely stunning cinematography, which captures the beauty of a Chechen village right in between a bunch of towering mountains, as well as the acting which is solid, and the direction, which is very straight forward and to the point. No symbolism or higher metaphors here.
Check it out if you can.
This is a fairly straight forward story of two men who are taken prisoner as potential trading material for the Chechans, who were at the time (not sure if they are still) warring with the Russians. The two men are very different, and the elder of the two (Oleg Menshikov) starts off berating the younger (who's played by the director's son, Sergei Bodrov Jr.). Apparently it's an update of the Tolstoy story The Prisoner of the Caucasus, as in the Caucasus mountains, which are photgraphed magnificently throughout the film. The film's clearly anti-war, but it doesn't come across as preachy. Most of the points are made relatively subtley, yet come across clear as day.
Overall the film's not a masterpiece, but the combination of the (I'll say it again) absolutely stunning cinematography, which captures the beauty of a Chechen village right in between a bunch of towering mountains, as well as the acting which is solid, and the direction, which is very straight forward and to the point. No symbolism or higher metaphors here.
Check it out if you can.
