Siege of immature minds... Having bought a ticket to the cinema for this movie, I expected to see the history of the great battle, as well as the dramatic biography of Imam Shamil. Everyone in the room was disappointed.
For Dagestan, Imam Shamil is a cult personality, and those who were interested in his biography and the history of those days (which I also belong to) will be very disappointed with the actor selected for the main role. Well, the KAAK can be portrayed as so gentle and gentle, Imam Shamil, a man who rallied the scattered khanates of those times with his iron hand, a man who cut off his hand for stealing, a man who established Sharia law in the vastness of the Caucasus. Just look at the pictures of Shamil, his eagle stern look, and then compare with the appearance and manner of speech Khaibuly Khasayev. For example, I had a facepalm.
In general, for some reason, all the actors in the film talked and acted like something ridiculous, for example, Shamil and his son stopped for a minute to sit down and everyone who followed stopped in the same place, as if they stood on a pedestal and turned their heads there here. Why didn't anyone speak with a mountain accent, except for our Buinak Imam, who was the only one who played his part successfully? Why did the actors melodiously and stretchly sang “LaIllagha IllaAllagh”, if in reality it is pronounced very quickly, why was “InshaAllagh” pronounced so unnaturally and with emphasis? A person who hears these words every day can not help but pay attention to such trifles, it reeked of unprofessionalism of the film crew.
About professionalism all questions fell away when in one frame one of the negotiators comes to the Imam and with an angry face sticks the saber into the ground, and it does not stick and falls, and in the next frame we see it stuck in the ground. It was really funny.
If it weren't so sad. In all this story, for some reason, the love line (facepalm) was intertwined, not only did women allow themselves a lot in the communication of men, but the main role was chosen as a kakakai TPshka in a scarf with inflated lips (then I learned that this is a Chechen singer - facepalm N2). In the love line, I was infuriated by one moment, after which I did not expect anything good from the film. Imam Shamil married the girl without the consent of her living parents and generally without witnesses from her side (it is expressly forbidden in Islam) and after that the Imam gave some lengthy speech about love and softness (Facepalm N3).
The film itself was shot in a scatter, sometimes the thread of the plot, who whom and why was absolutely not understood, the fighting scenes were shot ugly, at the level of Indian films of the mid-80s. The Russian military is represented by good-natured people who came to teach literacy to mountain ignoramuses, not a single frame that exposes the Russian military in a bad light, if there were sneaky people in the film, it was also Dagestanis, only those who fought against Shamil, and by the way, they drank alcohol on occasion and without it (Facepalm N4).
About the cast can only say two words - played safely!
Real value is only the last five minutes of the film, which tells about Imam Shamil. I'll get a couple of points for that.
2 out of 10