Ayka

We see a film that makes love to questions our souls seldom ask. The pain of attachment whispers to those of us finding love sacred, until we are all alone screaming in torment's silence.

A woman in Moscow attempting the forbidden, crossing the bridge of survival in the ice and snow of human apathy. As we are there with her, helplessness unflowering shock, the garden of our selfishness wants us to leave this immersion, are we drowning or escaping...Although we are the prisoner of our own denial, we would beg to lose the shackles of the woman in this film. Samal graces the river of my senses with a waterfall of paralysis. A rainbow of emotion awaits you. Become the fire of the sunrise. Or the darkness before the dawn. Fire does not burn. It illuminates. A film that blinds, that you may truly see and feel. Close to home...

It's not easy to watch. The story, as it unveils , makes one clinching hands and seems to affect viewer physically. It's graphic but remains real, almost like a documentary. There's no music (as a film score), no chance for even a short break from heavy grip of what seems to be reality. And I believe it is reality, with fictional characters and acted out (in a most convincing way). It's a reality that you won't normally hear of, unless you know someone who's forced into it. That's why it's definitely worth watching, worth grinding your teeth in discomfort. Hopefully, it will at least make us think, feel and act differently when next time we encounter someone from that kind of reality.

Quite a realistic film showing the life of migrant workers from the former Central Asian Soviet republics in modern "humane" Russia. The aesthetic pleasure the film does not deliver, but view it still makes sense.

The camera is focus on 1 character: we share the calvary of Ayka during a few days. Be prepared for a 100 minutes apnea!

"Ayka" is the main festival success of the year of Russian cinema. The director of the film, Sergei Dvortsevoy, worked for 7 long years about 7 short days in inhospitable Moscow of a woman migrant worker. A barely standing pregnant woman is struggling for life with all her strength, taking on any hard work. Absolutely fair award for the best female role of the Cannes Film Festival went to the wonderful Kazakh actress Samal Eslyamova. Sad fact: the Ministry of Culture of Russia annually distributes a huge amount of money for mediocre films, but can not forgive the debt of the director of this film, which glorified Russia.