House of Fools
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Movie Reviews of House of Fools
Movie Review: A Russian "Cuckoo's Nest" -- but much better!
Summary: 5 Stars
This picture is a French-Russian collaboration but I saw little French influence here -- in any event, it's a simple story but a spectacular film.
I'm not all that keen on contemporary films but this one caught my attention due to the Russian angle, which I have come to enjoy in both literature and film, (see my lists and reviews). It's a cute love story with a Chechyn War battle as the backdrop.
The staff and inmates of a marginally budgeted mental institution on the Russia-Chechnyn border come under fire, finding themselves betwixt the Russian Army and the Muslim Rebel Guerillas. The staff is forced to vacate the premeses to try to get some busses to evacuate their patients but they are compelled, due to the hot battle, to stay away for a few days. In the meantime, the patients are free to roam.
The Muslim Rebels take over the asylum as a base, pretty much ignoring all the inmates, (who think it's all great fun as the walls explode from tank shelling!), except for one very pretty female accordion-playing nut. She's not quite as looney as her peers until she receives a kidding marriage proposal from one of the Muslim Rebels, Ahmed, the ugliest of the lot -- and then she's head over heels in love with the guy.
There's a bit of a sub-plot in that the girl is also obsessed with a fantasy of singer Bryan Adams (who "shows up" periodically, singing love songs to her in English!), with whom she believes that she's engaged to. Still, she's willing to marry the Chechyn since he's right there all the time, so to speak.
A second male inmate is also somewhat sane, (his foible is his backpack which he never takes off), and he realizes that there is no real engagement for his nutty friend so he tries to retreive her from the nearby Rebel camp, after the girl follows Ahmed into actual battle.
It's difficult to understand how the cuteness of the main theme can be combined with a killing war so successfully, but they've done it here. This is really a fine, well-made film.
If you can at all tolerate English subtitles of the Russian verbiage, (which are also well-done and very readable without much distraction), then don't pass this one by. It's a real sleeper that you won't hear much about in the West.
Movie Review: a rare beauty from Russia
Summary: 5 Stars
This is like almost from Russia with love to Hollywood. The story of a mental assylum in the war torn Russia Chechnya border. This is one of the best war satires I have seen. The character cast can be compared to that Satyajit Ray and photography is superlative. The back drop of the movie is tragic but still there is a sense of carnival - as you compare the inmates of the assylum and soldiers you tend to see the similarities - the walls between the normal owrld and the world of insanity breaks down - war is after all measured insanity
Andrei Kochalovsky's film setting is a run-down psychiatric hospital on the Chechen border, where a Russian doctor (Vladas Bagdonas) cares for patients of a lunatic assylum. There is quite a mix of chareters among them are Ali (Stanislav Varkki), a large but reticent man who writes and wears a bulging backpack filled with his scribblings; Vika (Marina Politseimako) and a variety of other types-including a dwarf. But the central character is Janna (Julia Vysotsky), a fragile but vulnerable, sweetly-smiling person who is lost in her world of love with Bryan Adams. Janna is a musical sort--she plays polkas on an accordian--and her benign madness involves believing that she's the girlfriend of pop singer Bryan Adams (who periodically shows up playing himself in her mental ramblings). War breaks through and torns down the peaceful rambling of the assylum - chaos was already there but it becomes mortally danferous.Chechen rebels groups take over the assylum -one of whom jokingly offers to marry Janna, leading her to abandon her beloved Bryan and go off to him. In the disorder the inmates literally take over the asylum when the doctor disappears to secure a bus for the inmates to transport them to safety. I was touched by a scene where theRussian soldiers and Chechen rebels exchange corpses, money and munitions.
When it seems that the assylum will be destroyed then the doctor returns and a small twist to the story occurs which I am not going to mention. This movie is worth watching - better than most Hollywood flicks
Movie Review: House of fools proves to be stunning.
Summary: 5 Stars
While searching for a movie I was sure no one else in my family would want to see, I stumbled into the forgeign film section of Blockbuster. I was intregued by the title of this film and gave it a shot. This turned out to be one of the best movies I've ever seen! Unfortunatly, my family ended up watching it with me, but they loved it too. Though they are generally umm.. American in their ways and don't appriciate films from or about other cultures, they too loved this movie.Movie Review: Absolutely Amazing.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first review on Amazon after years of using it, because I just watched this movie, and was blown away by the visuals. I'm no big foreign film fan, I'm really not much of a film fan period, I bought this DVD because I'm learning Russian, and wanted some movies to watch as aids. This movie blew me away. There is a scene, where a helicopter crashes behind Janna while she plays the accordian that I could never in a million years forget.Movie Review: Understanding the Chechens
Summary: 5 Stars
For most of us in the US it is hard to comprehend the Chechyna insurrection. This movie is worth watching if only to watch the interaction between the Russian soldier and the Chechen commander who have a unique bond from the past. The dance scene with the Chechen soldiers and how they slip into a powerful song is one of the best scenes in any movie I've seen. This movie is much more than a King of Hearts plot.