Das Irrenhaus

WARNING! - People who consider Armageddon the best movie ever made or Pearl Harbor one of the true war movies ever made. PLEASE do not read this comment or watch this movie. Go watch X-men instead or vote for Bush one more time. Thank you.

Ok for the ones who do not categorize themselves to the previous mentioned group. That means a least you know what a great movie is.

And guess what? - This is a great movie whether you Like it or Not. You will be amazed how this movie will make you think and feel after you have watched it.

Let me start from the technical point of view. One of the most impressive things in this picture is cinematography (camera movements, colors, lightning). Starting right from the begging and till the very last minute. Just great.

Acting. If you have seen the movie you definitely know what I am talking about. The storyline of this movie plays in the psychiatric hospital in Chechnya, so most of the leading characters are mentally unstable, so I think you get the picture. Sometimes you can't distinguish real actors from mentally ill and believe me, what you will see on the screen comes very, very close to real life.

The screenplay has no flaws, yes it has none. If you have some trouble understanding something in this movie, that only means three things: 1. You are not Russian and you have trouble understanding some little details of Russian culture, language or war in Chechnya. (I will give you example below) 2. You belong to above-mentioned group of the audience.(see WARNING) 3. You are completely Dump (in this case go read some books, no don't go watch CNN and say `Year I know this' I mean books, talk to people, debate, learn something ect.)

Example.. There is a moment in the movie when a camera tracks over the floor in the hospital and there is a TV set. TV broadcasting an interview with one of the generals of Russian army and a reporter asks him `Don't you think it is insane to go into Grozny first with tanks and then by ground forces' For average western audience no body even understood what it is about.

In the real life this decision caused allot of casualties. It was very stupid move. Even some of the military guys who were there and have seen this shit, admitted to that. Plus the vocabulary (Russian), which is used in this movie, is quiet strong and sometimes funny for Russian speaking though.

There is only one thing that can be a little `to much' and that is the Bryn Adams song. And still this is only for non-Russian audience. Because this is actually shows that this is the only thing in the main characters life and the passion for the western music especially in the beginning of 90s in Russia.

I think that I have written enough. For those who have not seen this picture and actually read till this point of my review I strongly advise to see this motion picture. You definitely will like it. Because, this is one of the best Russian movies of all times.

House of Fools follows the lives of a group of patients abandoned at a psychiatric hospital during the Chechen War in Russia. The protagonist, Janna (Yuliya Vysotskaya), must reconcile her dreams/delusions for a happy life (with Canadian pop star, Bryan Adams) and the real, violent war going on around her.

Offering an insightful parallel between the minds of psychiatric patients and war-torn soldiers (from both sides of the war), the director, Andrei Konchalovsky, poses the questions: What is "madness" and who is truly "crazy"? Without losing its quirky humor, the film's questions are brought to light through emotionally moving and complex characters and plot.

Konchalovsky provides a sympathetic contrast between the psychiatric patients and soldiers upholding his theme that true insanity comes from human aggression like war rather than mental disorders. The film first depicts the psychiatric patients as "crazy"; however, the arrival of the soldiers and war suggest a role reversal. The insanity of violence and two sides fighting against each other (who had previously fought with each other in the Soviet war in Afghanistan) is highlighted, while holding on to something—a hope for love, dreams, fantasies, and, above all, humanity—is presented as the combatant to insanity.

For those who love quirky films with deeper emotional and philosophical meanings, this film provides a perfect balance. Yuliya Vysotskaya's performance as Janna is astonishing. At moments she makes you feel both utterly sad and joyously optimistic at the same time. She plays the role beautifully and intelligently, using her humor as relatable and lovable, rather than as a gimmick. Not only is the film shot beautifully, but the plot and character are just so interesting that one is left wanting to watch it over again with somebody new. I would definitely recommend it to all of my friends and family. If not for the cinematography, moving themes, plot, and characters, then for the references and appearance of Bryan Adams which is just funny.

I saw this film yesterday and I'm still under the impression. It was overwhelming. All is brilliant -- plot, acting, images, music...

Certainly, there are motifs from other films -- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (for example, the episode when the inmate break out of the asylum), "Dancer in the Dark" (the dreams of Janna) -- but they are organically interwoven in the canvass of Konchalovsky's film.

This oeuvre, like other films by Andrei Konchalovsky, is a result of a happy amalgamation, a synthesis of Western and Russian cinema traditions, which does not happen often.

The film is profoundly artistic and at the same time realistic. This is achieved not least by a careful choice of details. For example, in the background, in the TV screen, you see Boris Yeltsin, the Russian ex-President who started this dirty war, and his corrupt Minister of Defence Pavel Grachov ("Pasha Mercedes").

The verbal language is also true to life. The personages, in particular the Russian military, use quite a few of Russian 'four-letter words', and here the use of such words is fully justified.

I saw the films in a DVD edition (Paramount Classics, 2003) and the only disappointment was the subtitles. The English translation is sometimes too inexact and leaves too much dialogue untranslated. This needs to be corrected in the subsequent edition.

Of course, the best is to see the film in Russian. But even if you do not speak Russian, try to see this film, because it is a masterpiece of a universal value, which transcends the language barriers. Watch it with an open mind.

I wish that all Russians had the chance too see 'The House of Fools'. Then, probably, their perception of the Chechen people would change for the better, and it would also bring them to a reflection about the war in the Caucasus, which is both Russia's crime and illness, and how the country could overcome it.

Thank you Mr. Konchalovsky, thank you all who made this excellent film! 10/10

I watched this movie on 7/14/06 with the Middle east ablaze and the Bush Administration still spouting their tired nonsense about democracy while Palestinians are slaughtered by the scores. Folks, the only language we, homosapiens, understand is force. Northern Ireland, Palestine, Chechnya and on and on. Might makes right and the rest is fluff. The movie is not so much, at least I don't think so, a commentary on the war on Chechnya as much as it is on human follies. For those of us who have known the wrath of a woman the scene after the newly-wed husband leaves and she stabs his pictures with a broken glass is so frontal-lobe. And then the silence when he returns! A master piece indeed! Perhaps the moral of the story is that might IS right and love insane! Enjoy.

What beautiful imagery capturing the essence of a cold dark night where the silence is suddenly broken by a view of a most enigmatic train - like a Christmas tree decked out in its finest. War as seen through the eyes of Janna, a beautiful woman who is madly in love. And we do mean madly! You see, Janna is a Chechen inmate at an isolated psychiatric hospital, where her only peace lies in her accordian and her dreams of being rescued by her imaginary fiance, Canadian superstar Bryan Adams at the controls of that train. What is that train? And who is that man with the apple? Is he God speaking to mankind? Is that train the Train of Redemption taking every child, man, and woman who has suffered and leaving behind others in a world full of all the things we detest?