Baksy

The first thirty minutes of footage make you believe that the post-Soviet Kazakhstan cinema has finally produced a masterpiece. It seemingly got it all: A charismatic, out-of this world character, a shaman woman, for some reason referred to as a "native dancer" in the English version title; wonderful insights into the dark and unknown side of Kazakhs' lives; the charm and wisdom of a good ethnic movie reminiscent of both "Atanarjuat" and the "Ballad of Narayama"; and most of all, uncompromising artistic honesty that doesn't care about dollar aspects of post-production. Hallelujah! Then everything went wrong. All of a sudden the film evolved - or should I say, degraded - into a banal, standard and unappealing crime drama, a rather primitive tribute to the theme of the "roaring 90s" with their proverbial black-leather-jacket gangsters, kidnappings, shootings etc. A totally unjustified shift from beautiful to ugly. Years ago, the director, Guka Omarova, had written a script for "Sisters" (Syostry), the only movie directed by the untimely departed Segrei Bodrov, Jr. While Bodrov was clearly a fantastic, cult actor, he failed as a director. Unfortunately Bodrov-director's legacy won Omarova's heart. There's no connection between the "native dancer" beginning of the film and its "native criminals" part. The movie's criminal line is unpersuasive, full of bugs, oversights, and contradictions that are not even worth being mentioned here. At the very end Omarova recalled that the shaman woman was supposed to be the main character and brought her back to the screen, but this return was way too artificial.

I watched a TV discussion of the film, hosted by Alexander Gordon in his "Zakrytyi pokaz" Show. There Omarova, a nice looking woman with very likable personality (sorry, it really hurts to utter all this criticism) claimed that the movie was good for two reasons: (i) it accurately depicted life and personality of a real person, the shaman; and (2) it was exclusively intended for Kazakhstan audience and as such was cheered by local movie-goers. Hardly persuasive arguments! "Native Dancer" is not a documentary, so accuracy of depiction is no virtue here. As to the target audience, I'm glad the film enjoyed a success, but with all due respect, Kazakhstan is not a fashion maker in the world of cinema. If the audience is confined to one country, so be it, but don't bother with international distribution, which producers pursued so vigorously.

Anyway the beginning of the movie was so powerful that it justified the overall grade of 5. Despite the shortcomings of the rest of the film, it proved that Omarova is a talented artist. Hopefully one day she'll say goodbye to her passion for black-leather-jacket guys and create a masterpiece.

Convincing acting despite my disregard for shamanistic practices. The female lead is the real deal in real life and doesn't care a whit for the validation of other characters or the audience, which made my suspension of disbelief early & rapid when watching the film. The detractors & naysayers among the other three current IMDb reviewers would likely dismiss any melodrama or trope from one perspective or other; they seem to have ulterior motive of positioning their perspective above, beyond or outside the basic movie and common theme of the plot. But, as a plausible noir storyline, it plays convincingly and efficiently in editing & narrative sequence. The big bonus in this movie is the long takes portraying salt of the earth Kazakhstan trying to keep it together. Watch this movie to inoculate yourself against Hollywood whiz bang.

Generally, I avoid a movie that puts 'fantasy' as its genre. So, what caught me about this pleasant romp through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is just that: a chance to see parts of those little-known countries that were once part of the old Soviet empire.

And, I'm glad I did. Because, yes, it is a mite fanciful to see an old crone dancing around hapless people, chanting, dripping blood upon some, coating others in mud and so on in order to cure them of some sickness, but the world is a strange place and strange practices do occur – for example, sending electric current through a person's brain in a misguided attempt to cure some psychological problem, as happens still in some so-called modern hospitals. Putting asides both types of absurdities, I instead concentrated upon the story...

Which concerns a recent widower, Batir (Farkad Amankulov), with a young son, Asan (Almat Ayanov), who is approached by some hustlers from the big smoke, and pressured into selling to them the land upon which the, er, old witch, Aidai (Neisipkul Omarbekova) carries out her healing practices. Naturally, the old one is incensed because the widower had given the land to her. And so, the trouble begins, for her as well as Batir and Asan.

What follows is fairly standard good guy versus bad guy fare, when Asan is kidnapped because Batir is wrongly accused of destroying the gas station built on the land the 'mob' has taken over: they want a big money ransom to pay for the destruction. Hence, Batir sets off to find his son and make the bad guys pay, big time.

Fortunately, he has the help of some of his own tough guys and, for good measure, the old crone...

How it all turns out is well worth getting the DVD and seeing it. There are moments of comic relief, and the music is soothingly evocative of dreams and distant lands, all beautifully assisted by the photography of the almost treeless, dusty and serene landscape. Interestingly, most of the actors were new to filming; so the director did an excellent job to get such great, natural performances from them all – especially the old crone: she is an absolute delight to watch. Or, maybe Karzaks are just naturally well-endowed for acting?

Be aware of the opening sequence: there is much sheep blood which, if not actually real, still manages to make one watch in amazement. Not good for the squeamish to see, though, especially adolescents.

Recommended for adults, young and old.

November 2011.