PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS
[Spoilers]
A film review by Jun Yan
Copyright 1997 Jun Yan
A film by Sergei Bodrov Running time: 109 min.
Spoiler Alert: The following review is full of spoilers. Be aware and stop while you can if you don't want to lose the suspense!!!
It doesn't happen that often, but it happened today -- I walked out of the cinema with shamelessly wet eyes and don't know how to explain it. The film is the Russian production "Prisoner of the Mountains." It's a story about 2 Russian soldiers captured in the civil war in Chechen by some village people. It is inspired by a Leo Tolstoy's short story written 100 years ago. Stunned by how perfectly it fits today's situation, my friend who watch the film with me said afterward: "I thought we were much civilized by now." Well, we are. Instead of horses, we have tanks; intead of swords, we have machine guns and helicopters and bombs. It is amazing how little we have evolved and such a theme about war and human spirits in the war is so unexpectedly timeless. In the beginning of the film, a group of Russian soldiers are ambushed in the mountains by Muslin villagers. Bruised but alive, the only 2 survivors were taken hostage by a village elder Mehamed Murat, who planns to trade them for his only son who is imprisoned by the Russians in town. Veteran actor Oleg Menshikov plays the older, more cynical soldier Sasha; while the director's son Sergei Bodrov Jr. plays a naive young man newly drafted and inexperienced in the war. Chained together, the two men first do not get along, but soon develop a friendship and bond in the desperate situation. As time goes on, the 2 prisoners also grow fond of the village people, among which are Murat's daughter, a cute teenage girl with some very real headaches in life, and their mute guard Hassan, who has an emotional story in his past. Yet, as Sasha says to his young friend, "It's war, Vanya, you have to (kill them)." And he did, in an attempt to escape. It is chilling to see how the people who are basically good are capable of killing in cold blood, from both sides. Like an invisible hand, the powerful bureaucratic machine that initiated the meaningless war has made a simple hostage trade into a mission impossible. Vanya's desperate mother comes down to the village and fights with teeth and nails to save her son while Mehamed Murat trying to save his own, who is a teacher, not a soldier, but just another casualty of the war. The showdown goes on and the situation gets more and more impossible to resolve, until the writers of the film utterly eliminate all the possible ways for Vanya to survive the fate of being executed. The ending is an incredible payoff that first took me aback, but became more and more logical as I chew on it. The acting and cinematography of this film are quite interesting. They look very crude in the beginning and all the villagers look like local people temporarily turned actors. It is too real to be real for a movie. The cinematography is undoubtedly beautiful in the portrayal of the magnificent mountains and harsh land where these villagers have lived for hundreds of years. But there is never an over-the-top shot that shouts out "I'm Oscar material." The filmmakers present the story, the scenery and the Muslin villagers' lives and cuture with such realism, patience and subtlety that they fooled me for at least half an hour. The only "visible" acting is Oleg Menshikov's Sasha as the flashy and witty joker. Everyone else is low-keyed and real as if walking out of a documentary, yet incredibly interesting and intriguing. The characters are so real and presented to effortlessly that I never stop and think about their authenticity until way after the movie. No one in this film is flat, yet no one is glamerous or conventional in any way. Even the weary commander is interesting with only several scenes. And the actor who plays Mehamed Murat (whose name is too long for me to remember) goes through the entire film solemnly and almost expressionlessly. It was not until I stepped out of the cinema did I realize his great delivery of the role. Quite amazing. Everything is done way too realistically that you let the effort of the filmmakers and actors slip by unnoticed. I have never seen anything quite like this. Above all, it's a story about issues beyond one war or the concept of war. It's a complicated study of human hearts and spirits, both the great dignity and compassion AND the horror and stupidity we are capable of. It is a lesson, all too real, all too contemporary and all too universal. I think it can be done so perfectly only by Russian artists. Anyone else who attempts to tell the same story would probably fall into melodrama and unsincerity. The theme and idea are presented so effortlessly and so effectively that we cannot but sigh with appreciation. The theme is heavy, but delivered in a quiet and smooth way. The middle part of the film is actually quite humorous (a trait I thought Russians didn't have). The ending is captivating, surprising but logical. It is sort of happy, but also sad, and above that, it's uplifting. It makes me feel better about us and mankind as a whole. It presents hope after all for the world that maybe, perhaps, we can still make it out of this swamp of killing, war, hatred and ignorance and idiocy. It is a great film, an unforgetable experience. I give it an A+. Go see it.
jun yan
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