A great example of the so-called perestroika “black”, when it became fashionable to show what was not possible before. Intergirl - about prostitution, Needle - about drug addiction, Lawlessness - about prison, My name is "Harlequino" - about hooping, Guard - about hazing, and here's Reed Paradise - about homeless people. The problem with a lot of movies like this was that the blackberry was made for the black woman, and I specifically gave examples of really talented films (with the exception of The Needle, which I just hate, with all my love for Viktor Robertovich). There is a feeling, I don’t know whether true or false, that some people were still doing something from the heart in those days, and not for commercial reasons.
The fishlessness in the golden wormwood is over, the saints of the 90s have become an occasion for jokes, everything has normalized on average (I will not joke about the temperature in the hospital), there are these wonderful films that I really like to consider in two ways - both from the point of view of the display of reality and from the artistic. Of course, I'm not a homeless person or a prostitute to rate "Kamish Paradise" or "Intergirl" on the scale of authenticity in percentages, here you can only assume, but as a movie ... Why forget the idiotic thrash of the 1990 Desertir, despite the fact that the wonderful Chonishvili plays there? Yes, because the blackness there is combined with an absolutely vomiting plot and general primitiveness, there is nothing there that in principle could be called a good film. There is a place in Paradise.
Start with the characters. Each is an extremely bright, convex personality, with its own individual characteristics, while all are chicly played. Not even the most significant roles. I watched the movie several times and didn’t even see anyone in the group playing badly! Here the merit of both writers and directors (love Elena Tsyplakova) and actors. And all the little-known, which adds authenticity. I repeat for the third time, and if I need to say another billion times: if you worry about the heroes, then the authors and actors have worked for glory, here it is and how. The characters are not saints, oh no. In the film, magnificent life dialogues that keep the balance between two extremes: the first is unrealistic philosophical advances and ridiculous wit, when a locksmith talks in such a way that Schopenhauer would be awesome; and the second, as the opposite, is stupid meaningless bazaars about anything, characteristic of real life, but only suitable for cinema in limited quantities. There is a balance here: people talk like people, but at the same time really interesting thoughts and ideas break out, which you even remember and think about them later (the highest compliment for a work of culture is when you think about it). The scenario is simple and unwise - in this case it is a plus, because everything focuses on psychology, idea, characters.
What else I liked: there is no pronounced drunkenness of suffering. That is, the blackness of the film in fact only in the fact that the uncharacteristic for Soviet cinema theme of the presence of scourges is touched upon (as well as their illegal exploitation, which probably took place - the film is based on a story in the style of "a friend of a second-grandmother told my fourth cousin, and he told it to me through a talking parrot"), but this story looks quite realistic and reasonable. The only ... not that minus, but, let's say, a sign of the time: a demonstration of a naked female breast, and not in the topic at all, that's as if it became possible - well, we just shove 'shob boulo'.
It's mast heavy. Great acting, interesting thoughts, a good and believable atmosphere, the presence of “life truth”, but without hypertrophied blackness.
The fact that such “labor” camps existed in the Kazakh steppes was rumored in the USSR. Apparently, Tsyplakova found an opportunity to show how it really was. The most interesting thing is that this film was not shown in theaters. Now it is no longer artistic, but historical interest. The film is not of particular aesthetic interest.
Yeah, what do you say? But this is still the times of the USSR, however, the times of its decline, the country began to fall apart closer to the mid-80s, when Humpback came to power, he hated the Bolsheviks from childhood, the USSR and sought to destroy the country that nurtured this bastard, the country he destroyed, the 90s came, in the former republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus began to rob and kill Russians, but years have passed and now slavery is thriving there, thousands and thousands of Russian slaves, adults and children serve black people, at which the power knows all this, but is silent, because its main task, this is the complete destruction of Russia, and now it is a rather depressive film, but it is already close to Russia. . . 10 out of 10.
Heat. A homeless young man named Kesha sits on the wreckage of an old train drinking milk. Suddenly he sees a pack of hooligans beating up some unkempt citizen on the rails. Kesha blows the whistle and the punk runs away in terror. The man saved by the good Kesha is also a homeless man named Vitek. In the process of dating, a bearded uncle offers the guy a hard, but highly paid job - to cut reeds and knit mats from it. Kesha doesn't mind making extra money...
On the same day, the guys, escorted by an evil man with the appearance of a hardened criminal, go to the south of the USSR (presumably to Central Asia), where among the boundless steppes they are waiting for a camp in which renegades work. The illegal colony is managed by a former criminal nicknamed Syra-Pyra (Valery Kravchenko). The society of this colony is divided into two categories: “shepherds” and “sheep”. Shepherds live well, but rams, unfortunately, not very well.
Getting by the thorn, Kesha and Vitek immediately realize that ' hell' is still on Earth. Newly made sheep work like lepers from dawn to dusk, feed on some burda, sleep in a dirty leaky shed, and unmerciful shepherds punish them with whips for the slightest fault. Ominous heat and blood-sucking insects only aggravate the situation. All the time I want to drink, but the water is given little and strictly according to the schedule, and in the reservoirs it is poisoned.
The movie is very interesting. The story is original and the ending is unpredictable. In general, there are not so many films about slavery, so each of them is perceived as something so unusual. The main roles were performed by actors not known to a wide audience - Nikolai Stotsky (Kesha) and Alexander Bureev (Vitek). This is good, because in a picture with such a theme, venerable actors would not look very realistic, and the tape itself would lose its charm and credibility.
The film “Paradis” is directed by a woman. It’s surprising, of course, that a woman can also be a director. That's first. And secondly, “Kamish Paradise” is a purely male film, and therefore Elena Tsyplakova managed to accomplish the impossible. A few words should be said about a completely unknown actor Ivan Arakelov, who played a ram named Bomzh-Bruevich. The role is successful and, interestingly, not the only one. Many years later, he was noted in the humorous project 'Our Russia' where he depicted an elderly mustachioed man working at a pipe-making plant.
P.S. Soviet films made during perestroika have a specific energy. At that time, together with the Soviet Union, our cinema was slowly collapsing. On the wave of devastation, Russian cinema, breaking out of the shackles of hated censorship, broke out with a new bright fire and in the late 90s burned to the ground. In the adventure drama “Kamish Paradise”, as well as in other similar films, we are shown the unflattering realities of a dying power, which, fortunately, in December 1991, forever ceased to exist.
10 out of 10
A very worthy work of Elena Tsyplakova, based on the eternal story about freedom of will and choice, filmed in a realistic and cruel manner. A huge number of people of varying degrees of talent can learn from this picture – how to make a movie with a sharply social overtones.
The film received a certain share of fame from the Internet audience, and it is worth saying frankly - it stands out sharply from a series of mediocre films of the end of the life of the USSR.
It is worth noting that Tsyplakova deliberately introduces allegory, the impossibility of liberation, exit from the cell. Or do you just need one more shot?
It is worth noting the danger of the topic, which Tsyplakova and the screenwriters set about - many of the border republics indulged in slave farms, and to talk about this even in the era of glasnost - an act.
To all fans of late Soviet cinema.
This brutal film is based on real events. While the Soviet republics lived together under one flag, either a concentration camp or a slave-holding plantation lived in the southeastern regions of the country under the protection of local authorities. Slaves became homeless, runaway convicts, in a word - parasites, for whom the state did not intercede, did not seek close people.
Is it about slavery or the underground Soviet mafia? No, "Kamish Paradise" is a film about human will, strength of spirit, courage and protection of one's dignity. Using the example of different characters, he shows that one person will think about freedom every day, refuse to kill an unhappy comrade, and another will join the humiliating ones. All slaves are divided into “rams” and “shepherds”. Sheep suffer pain and humiliation, obey the shepherds. What about the shepherds? With a whip in hand, they remain rams in front of superior people. The herd does not belong to the shepherds, they only do their job, the masters are something else. On the example of sheep and shepherds, the life of slaves is shown, on the example of slaves and masters, one can see the connection between people and power. It is quite possible that the “Kamish paradise”, which appeared before the collapse of the USSR, was a kind of call to the people to revolt.
Perhaps I will seem fastidious, but the rapid change of events did not allow to fully imbue with the cruel life of slaves. Somehow, days, scenes of punishments, escapes quickly changed. In any case, the psychology of slaves is well shown. A slave named Cucumber decides to submit, he perceives the death of his master as a tragedy, because freedom is the unknown, the lack of satiety, security. Kesha, Professor, Vitek do not give up, they make attempt after attempt in the hope of escape, strength of spirits and honor do not allow Kesha and Vitka to raise the whip on their comrade.
The ending in the film is amazing. It's hard to predict, hard to believe, but it's typical of some people. In the herd there is food, there is a roof over your head, there is the illusion of a small paradise.
In conclusion, I would like to note the amazing performance of the actors, a good script and praise the director Elena Tsyplakov. And the costumers and the people who were responsible for the scenery. It is not often you see real rags on actors, and not hastily sewn funny rags, not often they are surrounded by real dirt.
8 out of 10
A great film of the late 80s - the era of glasnost, when the cinema allowed to talk on topics previously forbidden in the Union. Stunningly, the picture is based on real events in Kazakhstan, and took place not in the late 80s, but their beginning, when the collapse did not smell and, it would seem, the existence of such underground camps was impossible. And no, it turns out that it is very possible.
Surprisingly, such a tough (and at the same time nice that not black) film made a woman. It is now Elena Tsyplakova has reached the shooting of third-rate series such as Carmelita, and then she debuted a strong social drama, for which she was noted at the festival in San Sebastian as the best new director.
Interestingly, in the course of the film, the main character understands that the Central Asian mafia of “party basmachi” is controlled by such an authority as the police, but at the same time relies only on the KGB. Would people now believe in the integrity of the FSB or SBU? And then they still believed.
In general, I recommend watching as one of the best domestic films of the late 80s, deserving no less.
8 out of 10
Heat. Young homeless Kesha sits on the wreckage of an old train and drinks kefir. Suddenly he sees a pack of scumbags beating up some untidy citizen on the rails. Kesha blows the whistle and the punk runs away in terror. The man saved by the good Kesha is also a bum named Vitek. In the process of dating, a bearded uncle offers the guy a hard, but highly paid job - to cut reeds and knit mats from it. Kesha doesn't mind making extra money...
On the same day, the guys, escorted by an evil man with the appearance of a hardened criminal, go to the south of the USSR (presumably to Central Asia), where among the boundless steppes they are waiting for a camp in which the scum of society work. The illegal colony is managed by a former criminal nicknamed Syra-Pyra (Valery Kravchenko). The society of this colony is divided into two categories: “shepherds” and “sheep”. Shepherds live well, but rams, unfortunately, not very well.
Getting by the thorn, Kesha and Vitek immediately realize that hell is still on Earth. Newly made sheep work like lepers from dawn to dusk, feed on some burda, sleep in a dirty leaky shed, and unmerciful shepherds punish them with whips for the slightest fault. Ominous heat and blood-sucking insects only aggravate the situation. All the time I want to drink, but the water is given little and strictly according to the schedule, and in the reservoirs it is poisoned.
The movie is very interesting. The story is original and the ending is unpredictable. In general, there are not so many films about slavery, so each of them is perceived as something so unusual. The main roles were performed by actors not known to a wide audience - Nikolai Stotsky (Kesha) and Alexander Bureev (Vitek). This is good, because in a picture with such a theme, venerable actors would not look very realistic, and the tape itself would lose its charm and credibility.
The film “Paradis” is directed by a woman. It’s amazing that a woman can also be a director. That's first. And secondly, “Kamish Paradise” is a purely male film, and therefore Elena Tsyplakova managed to accomplish the impossible. A few words should be said about a completely unknown actor Ivan Arakelov, who played a ram named Bomzh-Bruevich. The role is successful and, interestingly, not the only one. Many years later, he was noted in the humorous project Our Russia, where he depicted an elderly mustachioed man working at a pipe mill.
P.S. Soviet films made during perestroika have a specific energy. At that time, together with the Soviet Union, our cinema was slowly collapsing. On the wave of devastation, Russian cinema, breaking out of the shackles of hated censorship, broke out with a new bright fire and in the late 90s burned to the ground. In the adventure drama “Kamish Paradise”, as in other similar films, we are shown the unflattering realities of a dying power, which, fortunately, in August 1991, forever ceased to exist.
10 out of 10