Zhat (2015) Reviews

• Puzzling melange of history, artistic scenery and absurd humor

  qrs_ina2017-10-26

  Although this was the first Kazakh movie I've seen, I had somehow a strong feeling of familiarity.I guess this was due to the resemble of Kurosawa's breathtaking wild nature scenery in combination with an awkward humor, which appears in the second part of the film. The plot begins in a serious, dramatic note, picturing the hard life of the orphan Ilyas, who, like a modern Tarzan, escapes into a life of isolated wilderness in the mountains. Strangely enough, he thrives in the environment, building a home into a cave, hunting beasts and breeding domestic animals, while his village is ravished by war's horrors. The director takes a very explicit point of view against Russian communism, which becomes the background in the second part of the film. I'm addressing it as the second part, although there is no distinct split, because there is a brutal shift from the drama to an awkward, absurd humor, which goes up to paroxysm in the scenes depicting Ilyas' nightmare. Also it's worth mentioning that the director condiments the whole film with shamelessly conspicuous emotional extortion, almost cliché- istic. For instance, upon his death, we see his life's memorabilia: his only memory from his late father- a trinket, which has the Menorah engraved (?!) or the doll from his childhood lover. To be honest, I didn't truly understand what the director wanted to achieve with this film, because it was a melange of history, artistic scenery and absurd humor, in a carousel of emotions.

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