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A really interesting debut from Balagov that earned him the favour of critics at the Cannes film festival in 2017.

This movie represents a very deep dive in the patriarchal culture, permeating Russia and North Caucasus in general, how the women struggle with the lack of ability to choose their own path, the way they are treated by their parents and everyone around them. At the same time, it is also a dive into the idea of toxic mother's love, that gets overbearing and, at times quite literally, to the point of choking the children.

Also, about the violence, which some of the previous rewires have deemed unnecessary - unfortunately, it was necessary, as it drives the plot and the ethnic conflict between the native ethnicities of North Caucasus and everyone else. It is also an important contextual detail to understanding why the family feels alienated.