David O'Connell
Russian Resurrection Film Festival 09: WILD FIELD
August 12th 2009 22:47
Wild Field (2008)
Director: Mikhail Kalatozishvili
Starring: Oleg Dolin, Daniela Sroyanovich
Dmitri (also called Mitja and played by Oleg Dolin), is the newly arrived and dedicated young doctor in the isolated Russian community on the Kazakh steppe some 200 kilometres from civilisation, in this quiet feature by Mikhail Kalatozishvili, grandson of Russia’s only Palme d’Or winner Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes Are Flying). This young-medico-as–fish-out-of-w ater premise brings to mind the American TV series of the nineties, the enormously popular Northern Exposure, in which the protagonist describes the remote Alaskan town of Cicely as “somewhere between the end of the line and the middle of nowhere”.
The same can be said for the Kazakh steppe, the remoteness of which results in a Cicely-like quirkiness among the locals but also an out of sight, out of mind lack of caring from the authorities and thus a dire shortage of adequate medical supplies. Dmitri must make do with what he has, and it certainly isn’t much. But what he lacks in tools and medicine he makes up in dedication and determination.
Dmitri is a quiet hero, approaching his work much as he approaches his life in the barren Russian landscape he calls his new home. Whether he is thinking of his absent girlfriend (Daniela Sroyanovich), removing bullets from an unconscious teenage girl or chasing after the mysterious figure on the hill who seems to be watching over him like a menacing guardian angel, he is quiet and methodical, his emotions never allowed to come to the fore.
Kalatozishvili’s unflinching, static camera and the script by Petr Lutsik and Alexei Samoriadov are pared back to the absolute minimum, allowing the drama to simply unfold. There is not so much a plot as a series of events that build onto the previous ones and give us a glimpse into a post-Soviet Russia in which its inhabitants are despairing of ever living under a regime which is willing to look after their interests. “I don’t believe in God”, says one character. “But if I ever meet him, I will ask him ‘why have you abandoned Russia?’”
Kalatozishvili ‘s skill lies in showing the idiosyncratic, often downright peculiar behaviour of the locals and the unusual progression of events (cows that consume tablecloths, wild west-type shootouts with indigenous Kazakhs, lightening-struck victims buried up to their necks as a remedy), without ever descending into farce, or worse, patronising or mocking his subjects.
Wild Field is a slow burner- a film that grows on you as it progresses, much as the steppe and its colourful characters grow on Dmitri. The cinematography of Petr Dukhovskoy deserves a big screen viewing as he simultaneously captures the beauty and barrenness of the forgotten rural Russia. But it is also a film full of quiet surprises. In centring the entire film around Dmitri’s cottage (which also serves as his medical practice) in a deserted landscape, Kalatozisvili has skilfully managed to create a microcosm of the world, where life is at once dangerous, confusing, frightening and exhilarating, but where unlikely friendships can be forged out of almost nothing and may one day change your life.
A modest but touching film, that adds to the continuing rebirth of Russian cinema.
Wild Field screens at the Russian Film Festival in Sydney on Sunday August 23rd at 4.30pm and Wednesday August 26th at 7pm. Both sessions at the Chauvel cinema in Paddington. For screenings in other cities please go the festival website:
www.russianresurrection.com
-Ruby
Director: Mikhail Kalatozishvili
Starring: Oleg Dolin, Daniela Sroyanovich
Dmitri (also called Mitja and played by Oleg Dolin), is the newly arrived and dedicated young doctor in the isolated Russian community on the Kazakh steppe some 200 kilometres from civilisation, in this quiet feature by Mikhail Kalatozishvili, grandson of Russia’s only Palme d’Or winner Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes Are Flying). This young-medico-as–fish-out-of-w ater premise brings to mind the American TV series of the nineties, the enormously popular Northern Exposure, in which the protagonist describes the remote Alaskan town of Cicely as “somewhere between the end of the line and the middle of nowhere”.
The same can be said for the Kazakh steppe, the remoteness of which results in a Cicely-like quirkiness among the locals but also an out of sight, out of mind lack of caring from the authorities and thus a dire shortage of adequate medical supplies. Dmitri must make do with what he has, and it certainly isn’t much. But what he lacks in tools and medicine he makes up in dedication and determination.
Dmitri is a quiet hero, approaching his work much as he approaches his life in the barren Russian landscape he calls his new home. Whether he is thinking of his absent girlfriend (Daniela Sroyanovich), removing bullets from an unconscious teenage girl or chasing after the mysterious figure on the hill who seems to be watching over him like a menacing guardian angel, he is quiet and methodical, his emotions never allowed to come to the fore.
Kalatozishvili’s unflinching, static camera and the script by Petr Lutsik and Alexei Samoriadov are pared back to the absolute minimum, allowing the drama to simply unfold. There is not so much a plot as a series of events that build onto the previous ones and give us a glimpse into a post-Soviet Russia in which its inhabitants are despairing of ever living under a regime which is willing to look after their interests. “I don’t believe in God”, says one character. “But if I ever meet him, I will ask him ‘why have you abandoned Russia?’”
Kalatozishvili ‘s skill lies in showing the idiosyncratic, often downright peculiar behaviour of the locals and the unusual progression of events (cows that consume tablecloths, wild west-type shootouts with indigenous Kazakhs, lightening-struck victims buried up to their necks as a remedy), without ever descending into farce, or worse, patronising or mocking his subjects.
Wild Field is a slow burner- a film that grows on you as it progresses, much as the steppe and its colourful characters grow on Dmitri. The cinematography of Petr Dukhovskoy deserves a big screen viewing as he simultaneously captures the beauty and barrenness of the forgotten rural Russia. But it is also a film full of quiet surprises. In centring the entire film around Dmitri’s cottage (which also serves as his medical practice) in a deserted landscape, Kalatozisvili has skilfully managed to create a microcosm of the world, where life is at once dangerous, confusing, frightening and exhilarating, but where unlikely friendships can be forged out of almost nothing and may one day change your life.
A modest but touching film, that adds to the continuing rebirth of Russian cinema.
Wild Field screens at the Russian Film Festival in Sydney on Sunday August 23rd at 4.30pm and Wednesday August 26th at 7pm. Both sessions at the Chauvel cinema in Paddington. For screenings in other cities please go the festival website:
www.russianresurrection.com
-Ruby
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Good review Ruby, makes me want to see it. Is it coming to Sydders at any point??
cheers
fog
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