The Wounded Angel (2016)

Plot Summary: The film follows the lives of four adolescent boys in a rural village in mid-1990s Kazakhstan, each grappling with their own personal struggles and self-destructive behaviors. Set against a backdrop of socio-economic upheaval, the film portrays their search for purpose and direction in a bleak and challenging environment.

Director: Emir Baigazin

Screenplay: Emir Baigazin

Starring:
Nurlybek Saktaganov as Zharas
Madiyar Aripbay as Chick
Madiyar Nazarov as Toad
Omar Adilovas Aslan

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⚠️ SPOILER ALERT ⚠️

Visual Symbolism and Atmosphere

Third day in Kazakhstan, and now we are in deep! As you must already know from the synopsis, we have four different stories that loosely connect in the end, or at least you know the four different pre-teen kids you're going to spend some boring time with come from the same remote village. And damn, shit looks really boring out there. Baigazin employs strong visual symbolism throughout the film, using the barren landscape and decaying village to mirror the internal turmoil of the characters. The stories will leave you with a feeling of total lack of hope for these children who seem to have very little joy in life. And that is if you can survive a very slow and contemplative movie. There's some really nice cinematography and awesome shots, like when our subjects are seen through a ruined house window.

Standout Stories and Themes

In the third act, titled "Жадность = Greed", we get a post-apocalyptic scenario that reminds me of the Russian video game series Metro, featuring pale greens, grays, and copper tones. This act directly references Hugo Simberg's painting "The Wounded Angel," replacing the angel with a disabled kid. Interestingly these kids, who ran away from an orphanage and like to sniff toluene are the only characters that speak Russian in the movie. This bizarre, mysterious, and cruel episode is my favorite. Second comes the story of the singing kid in "Падение = Fall", with the only scene featuring music. Sadly, his talent is overshadowed by his path of violence. The final story, "Грех = Sin," explores unique themes, with a shocking take on addiction and morality. If you are worried about your kid starting to do drugs like cocaine or heroin, let me tell you that it is worse if he gets an addiction to water. That's what I've learned. I'm really stupid. 🤪

Personal Reflections and Final Thoughts

The first story (Рок = Fate) is the most boring of all. Papa was a criminal, converted to Islam (of course), and the kid ends up doing some thieving also. Fate. There is no music apart from the kid singing and the brief sound of a Dombra (long-neck string instrument). So you will have to do with the sounds of birds and crickets. I could have used some music. Dialogue is almost absent; you just sit there looking at these miserable kids and think about what they must be thinking. I was really wondering what the greedy kid "Toad" was planning to do with all that money. It seemed like he had nowhere to spend it! He had to leave that town, hit a casino, jeez! The acting is as real as you can get, and you could mistake the movie for a documentary. The stories were a bit too slow for me at times, leaving my mind to wander into some other business. The images or story weren't compelling enough to keep me grounded. In the end, I got curious about the director's intention and was grateful for him to bring to my attention the work of Hugo Simberg, who I didn't know previously. He has some weird paintings with devils and skeletons and stuff I like. I don't know if this movie illustrates the life of the majority of kids in Kazakhstan in the post-Soviet era, but I do feel like someone went through those times. I remember the scene where the kid from the first act is sitting outside during sunset with the wind blowing while he waits for the officials to call him inside to confront him with his dealings at work, and I just felt it. That something, that I can't describe. I was just there. This is a movie recommended only to world cinema fans.

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