I generally don't write cinema critics not only for my very lack of knowledge ,,more importantly unless until "this show (or at least trailer) " satisfy me or otherwise circumstances are so hard,-that to refresh I watch it . This week has a very hectic calender to most of all Indian journalists & on 22nd July trust vote will follow. In the mean time I enjoy a Russian movie :Alexander Sokurov's drama about a Russian soldier in Chechnya who is visited by his grandmother.
Genre Type: Drama
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Starring: Galina Vishnevskaya, Vasily Shevtsov, Raisa Gichaeva
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Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
The question is not what filmmaker Alexander Sokurov's deliberately paced drama, set during the second Chechen war, looks like, but what it smells like.The answer? Guns, iron and men.That's what Russian army officer Denis Kazakov (Vasily Shevtsov) identifies as the strange odor coming from the inside of a tanklike vehicle he's showing to his visiting grandmother (opera legend Galina Vishnevskaya in the title role), who has just arrived at his camp in Chechnya. As visualized by Sokurov ("Russian Ark"), the scene is so redolent of dusty, olive-drab metal, sweat and oily gun rags that you can practically smell it coming off the screen. The tension, therefore, that is introduced by the almost absurd presence of this silver-haired little old lady among the male-dominated culture is exquisite, if not exactly epic.On her second day in camp, Alexandra shakes off her military minders and wanders into the nearby town market, where she's greeted by the mostly Muslim population with reactions ranging from the outright hostility of a teenage boy to the open arms of Malika (Raisa Gichaeva), a local woman who invites the heroine back to her apartment for tea and conversation.Speaking of conversation, "Alexandra" is pretty chatty for a war movie.That's because it's not one. Not really. Although guns can often be heard firing in the distance, the violence is limited to dirty looks and references to how many people Denis has had to shoot.The frequent, mundane talks -- which Alexandra engages in with her grandson, Malika and the base camp's enlisted men -- are not so much about politics as they are about people. At the same time that they underscore the gulfs between the young and the old, between men and women, between civilians and soldiers, and between Russians and Chechens, they highlight the common humanity of these groups with a touch that is both delicate and devastating
Friday, July 18, 2008
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