Spitak

Lengthy and boring, don't waster your time! Wouldn't recommend to watch at all.

My title is the one word I would use to describe this film. Watched last night as part of the Ft Lauderdale International Film Fest & it was stirring. The director's visual choices & camera movements were like fine choreography. Minimalist at times in approach, it still wowed with some technique. The performances from the cast were at times chilling. Many wonderful elements.

This film revolves around the massive earth quake that hit the Armenian town of Spitak. It is an excellent depiction and considering the subject matter was handled very well. The acting was superb and it reminded me in the finest way of a Ron Howard film with all the attention to detail.

It's an historic event handled so well. I understand that this is winning a lot of awards

After the film was over the director went to the stage and said that he appreciates that the audience managed to watch till the end. And, literally, it was not easy. There was practically nothing in this production which was good. From the very beginning I couldn't believe in anything what was showed on the silver screen. And I don't mean the true story behind which is, indeed, very much tragic. But regarding the film itself, there was nothing catching my attention, nothing I could learn from, nothing surprising, nothing interesting. The drama of the main character was flat like a table. There was no hidden message which would make one think about. The Russians in the film were depicted as extremely helpful and there were countless boxes presumably with first-aid supplies with a big sender address, _Moscow_. No surprise the film was financed by the Russian Ministry of Culture. During the Q&A session after the movie I felt like in a czech movie, in some kind of a set-up where all the questions asked to the director were prepared before the film started. A really awkward experience. In some other review of the film somebody wrote that there is not much to expect from it apart that it is kind of a souvenir from the terrible earthquake. I can agree here, but I would just add: it was a sponsored souvenir. I am really sorry to write this but I would strongly hope that such financial resources will be much better used in the future.