Zoya Buryak Movies
- 1998
Blokpost is a film about the madness of war. Somewhere in the Caucasus, which looks like Chechnya, a dirty war is raging. There are no battlefields as such, but every peasant is either a suspect or a victim. During a raid on a village, young Russian soldiers are unable to prevent the death of a child, killed by a land mine. The child's mother shoots the village policeman in her grief and is shot herself by the panicking soldiers, who are posted to a remote check point for thirty days as a punishment. Although they don't actually see the enemy in the darkness of the forest, they hear the intermittent snipers and imagine its presence behind every tree. The film, which is shot in quasi-documentary style, aims at displaying the madness of war in which everyone suffers, including the soldiers. Blokpost was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrei Krasko, Alexei Buldakov, (more)
- 1995
In this slapstick Russian comedy Raivo, a young Finnish researcher journeys to rural Russia to observe the hunting customs there. The story begins with a posh picnic attended by elegant people speaking French and eating rare delicacies; it is winter and a few dozen people are waiting for a horn to sound and the hunt to begin. Suddenly a horn is heard, but it belongs to a car. The horn awakens the Fin and soon he is surrounded by the real hunters, a band of high-ranking army officers who are allowed to hunt in a restricted military area. Their idea of hunting involves drinking whole cases of vodka, stumbling about trying unsuccessfully to avoid the many cow pies, and setting off fireworks. Real chaos ensues when a Russian bear cub ambles into a sauna filled with drunken soldiers. Meanwhile, poor Raivo asks, "When do we begin the hunt?" The others are too busy having fun to care and eventually Raivo returns to Finland without having learned a thing about Russian hunting customs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ville Khaapassalo, Viktor Bychkov, (more)
- 1994
A satirical look at Stalinism and Soviet bureaucracy, the movie is based upon a previously banned Russian novel by Vladimir Voinovich. Ivan Chonkin, an uncomplicated man with a taste for sex, is a soldier assigned to guard a broken down airplane in Red, a tiny rural village. Unbeknownst to him, World War II has erupted and his superior officers have forgotten about him. Chonkin enrages the neighbors when he moves into the home of his lover Nyura, the town postal clerk. To get revenge, the neighbors send an anonymous letter to the secret police accusing Ivan of being a spy. The dreaded NKVD immediately go the remote village to arrest Ivan, but he refuses to leave his post without direct orders from his general. In the end, Ivan Chonkin triumphs over both the secret police and the Soviet army. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gennady Nazarov, Zoya Buryak, (more)
A group of escaped criminals hides out in the remote wooded area of Siberia in this grim drama set in the summer of 1953. Although Josef Stalin was already dead, the shadow of his oppressive rule still hangs over the country. The gang makes their way to a small village where political prisoners Luzga (Valeri Priyemykhov) and Kopalich (Anatoli Papanov) wait to escape by boat. Luzga is a former Army scout who can barely hide his contempt of Josef Stalin, while Kopalich is a noted archaeologist. When the village is attacked by the marauding gang, the two political prisoners help defend the townsfolk against the bloodthirsty mob. The last feature for the popular actor Anatoli Papanov, Kholodnoye Leto Pyatdesyat Tretyego was seen by over 40 million people in the Soviet Union, making it the third most popular feature of 1988. This is one of the first perestroika films that showed political prisoners in a sympathetic light. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeriy Priemykhov, Anatoli Papanov, (more)
