I do hope that people with some link to the Russian-Chechnian conflict get something out of this movie. Because as an outsider, I thought this movie was a horrendous creature, possibly one of the worst I have ever seen. The script seems to be non-existent, the dialogues are one big mumble, the supposedly 'meaningful' parts are so forced that they make one gag, but most importantly, the main actress, Galina Vishnevskaya, renders an awful performance, most of the times she just scared the hell out of me. I suggest - with all due respect, she has lived many years already - that she either sticks to opera, or offers her services as a soon to be cult horror character.
Here and there, the director threw in some close-up shots (the braided hair, the Chechnian boy's face) and one time also the ominously outlined clouds in a Bergman-style; they made things only worse, because they gave me the awkward feeling that the director WAS actually trying to deliver something.
I will not remember a powerful older lady putting her stamp on the young ignorant soldiers and the civilians living in a difficult conflict. All I will remember is an old woman, shuffling through an army camp, obviously lost, in every possible sense.
Here and there, the director threw in some close-up shots (the braided hair, the Chechnian boy's face) and one time also the ominously outlined clouds in a Bergman-style; they made things only worse, because they gave me the awkward feeling that the director WAS actually trying to deliver something.
I will not remember a powerful older lady putting her stamp on the young ignorant soldiers and the civilians living in a difficult conflict. All I will remember is an old woman, shuffling through an army camp, obviously lost, in every possible sense.