User reviews

This striking film from Tajikistan takes wing from an Islamic fable which posits that all people have an angel on their left shoulder taking account of bad deeds and another on the right tallying the good.

Tough guy Hamro returns to his wintering home village to care for his sick mother after a decade in Moscow, planning to sell her house and settle his outstanding problems.

But life's not so easily ordered and he has to contend with local gangsters and a son from a forgotten relationship while weighing up how he wants to use the rest of his life.

The film's unfussy, documentary style is a major strength, rendering the lives of its characters starkly believable as they face life with a combination of resignation, simple optimism and grim humour.

My Central Asian colleagues have not seen this film and perhaps wouldn't be too pleased by the portrayal of criminality in their region's rural areas. Nevertheless, I thought this film gave us a peak at some of the poverty, tradition, and beauty lacing post-Soviet Tajikistan. Jaded Hamro, a "Brat"- inspired apathetic only son (in his late 30's?) returns to his unwelcoming village hoping to pay his last respects to his 'ailing' mother. While few words are exchanged between the two, it's clear that he hasn't learned anything from his 10 years in jail, and that she is at a loss as to how to reform her son and settle all their debts.

The towns folk are filled with many unsavory yet somewhat amicable characters who remind one of greedy extended family members looking out for each other while guarding their own backs. The mayor seems to represent much of the political figures throughout this region, whereas grafts are not uncommon and one wonders what makes Hamro more of a criminal than the other leaders of the community. The role of women in this community seems dismal.

We get only a small glimpse of some of the proud symbols of this country, such as the mountains, pomegranate trees, and craftsmanship. Seeing as the country's recent history has experienced post-communist confusion, war, and an influx of refugees all leading to economic hardship, it's appropriate that these symbols are understated. There is a bleakness in the storyline, cinematography, and music, but the humor and realism makes this less grim than some of the Iranian and Kurdish films from the 90's. People for the most part are able to survive, perhaps because whatever they own comes from remnants of the Soviet days (clothing, property) and because they continue to hold on to their tradition. One of those traditions may be the hope that is placed with the younger generation.

Central Asia came to the world's attention after the 9/11 attacks, so one might say that Jamshed Usmonov's "Farishtai kitfi rost" ("Angel on the Right" in English) got released at the perfect time. It focuses on a man who returns to his village in Tajikistan after ten years in jail. But when he returns to his village, it turns out that the villagers have old scores to settle with him, even as he tends to his dying mother.

This is the first Tajik-language movie that I've seen. I've always liked movies that show us cultures that we don't often get to see. The Tajik people were probably little known to the world before the Soviet Union broke up, and Tajikistan's not usually on most people's radars. So, while this isn't a great movie, I like that it shows this little seen culture. I would like to see more movies from Central Asia.

Bleak story of an unsympathetic ex-con coming home to his small town who becomes the object of hatred for most of the citizens. The highlight is the relationship he has with the son who wasn't even born before he left for jail. (It sounds quite corny, but the environment is so relentlessly grimy that it works.) The low parts are his cold relationship with his saintly mother (realistic) and the love interest (she's beautiful but unbelievable, even though its depiction is well-handled). Worth seeing for the fabulous cinematography and the interesting acting.

A naturalistic film about a smalltime criminal who is duped into returning from Moscow to his Tajik village on the pretext that his wise, leather-skinned mother is dying. The corrupt locals want to collect his ten year-old debts by selling the dilapidated family home.

A vinnyjonesalike Tajik hardman - there is much lens-lingering on his fighter's cheekbones and thousand yard stare - our ex-con enters a period of langour, comatosing on vodka, kick-starting the village's movie projector (to edify the local drunks with Bollywood gorefests) and suffering occasional mild beatings. In-between, there is his offscreen attempted rape of a distant cousin and nurse (who, extremely disturbingly, falls in love with him), an ill-developed attempt to build paternal feelings for a cutesy illegitimate son, and the appearance of downmarket mafiosi 'from the city'. Further explanation would require plot-spoiling, but needless to say misanthropy rules and any audience hopes for redemption - or at least, some emotional depth - are ill-rewarded.

The film has extremely subdued pacing, stunted dialogue and uniformly cruel characters. Yet the passable cinematography and acting might engage minor anthropological interest. We witness a patriarchal society where women are kept behind curtain walls, hard-currency corruption is rife and a kingpin mayor calls the shots. Universals include the unforgiving nature of poverty-stricken communities and the gradual acceptance of death by the criminal's mother.

Best avoided. The film covers similar territory to the Iranian film 'The Wind Will Carry Us', but without depth of characterisation, long-distance landscape shots or high production values.