Morphine

Powerful and bizarre tale of the young medical doctor sliding into the abyss of drug addiction as the country around him slides into the horrors of civil war. Even so the revolution and the war is hardly shown in the movie (which is set in a small Siberian village), one could feel it's dark presence in every scene, every dialogue. Surprisingly well captures the spirit of autobiographical novels of Mikhail Bulgakov, Russia's greatest and most controversial author of the 20th century. Strongly recommended for everyone who enjoys Bulgakov, Dostoevsky, classical Russian literature and history. Also, it's a great tribute to the director/screenwriter Sergei Bodrov Jr. who died so tragically at the height of his career.

The title of the movie suggests us what to expect. However, it is not that simple. The fact that the plot is settled in 1917 could make us unsure, because that was a war year and the year of revolution, and this year couldn't be chosen accidentally. Also, in those years there wasn't much a local doctor away from big cities could do but perform basic surgery and relieve pain with no modern medications, so morphine was the symbol of what a patient could hope for. Then almost immediately we are surprised and confused again, when we are told that the movie was made after Bulgakov's autobiographical story (what is only partially correct).

But the fact is that the plot is not as simple as our expectations could be formed based on the title. It is really a war time (although we don't see battles we see how former hard times became even harder), revolution has important influence to the plot (how could it not?), lonely doctor with no professional experience has to deal with patients in these impossible conditions, and the title is not misleading, the use of morphine is significant and a trigger to many later events.

Though the movie is divided by appearing titles into a dozen fragments, it is very coherent with a firm time line and the whole story happens within several months. These interfering titles do not break it, sometimes the story simply continues in the same scene, but emphasize some events or persons. This might be supposed to make movie look artistic, however I don't find it necessary or useful, but more needlessly distracting.

The movie doesn't take any side when revolution happens. Bad things happen during revolution, and we see them, but bad things happen also unrelated to revolution, and we see them as well. As for medicine work that we see, I am uncertain if a hundred years ago morphine was really used for treating allergies (though it is possible that in this scene allergy was just an excuse), and the complicated birth seems to end too easy; CPR as we see in the movie has been invented decades later; the rest of events in hospital looks very realistic for the time and place.

And as for addiction... This is one of brutally, graphic realistic movies and can be compared to German Christiane F. (Kinder von ZOO Banhof), Canadian H or – a bit less graphic – Croatian Ta divna splitska noc and Swedish Under ytan. Too bad that kids have to grow up enough to be allowed to watch these movies (because of censorship and age restrictions), because it will already be too late for many of them when they grow up enough to satisfy the censors.

So, this is Russian plain, cold, empty, large, as we have been told many times before. But this is not Mikhalkov, this is not dr Zhivago and for sure not Turgenyev. Some scenes are not easy to watch. The movie is very dark, but we expect is because new Russian generation (like Zvyagintsev) prepared us for that, and Balabanov (Pro urodov i lyudey, Gruz 200) as director guarantees you that you won't be left undisturbed. If you think you can handle it, then do it, you won't regret.

I rarely watch the same film twice but I watched this film twice within the same week and I feel I could watch it a hundred times. It left me thinking about it for days.

It's a very symbolic film, somewhat humorous (after all, Bulgakov was great at satire) but tragic, as were those times. It's bizarre, alluring, and quite dark.

The film was so beautifully directed by Aleksey Balabanov, and Leonid Bichevin did a stunning job in the title role!

(Some people might find some of the surgical scenes disturbing. Personally, I didn't mind as I've always been fascinated by such things.)

To correct the other reviewer...

"Powerful and bizarre tale of the young medical doctor sliding into the abyss of drug addiction as the country around him slides into the horrors of civil war. Even so the revolution and the war is hardly shown in the movie (which is set in a small Siberian village), one could feel it's dark presence in every scene, every dialogue. Surprisingly well captures the spirit of autobiographical novels of Mikhail Bulgakov, Russia's greatest and most controversial author of the 20th century. Strongly recommended for everyone who enjoys Bulgakov, Dostoevsky, classical Russian literature and history. Also, it's a great tribute to the director/screenwriter Sergei Bodrov Jr. who died so tragically at the height of his career."

..... the movie events do not happen in Siberia, but in Uglich district (Uyezd) of Yaroslavl Gubernia, some 240km (150 miles) north of Moscow.

The dependance on morphine of a young MD during the revolution in 1917 is directly linked to the complete collapse of society in Russia. The personal life is destroyed by drugs, but the life in general is destroyed by brainwashed Russians, there is no escape, the nation is falling in dust. Great movie showing how easy it is to sweep the Russian society into madness.

We forgot about the dangerous mind of Russia, sadly, we know about it by now. Memento.

The movie is great because it is emotionally expressive and we understand the desperation of an individual in radicalised environment.

The loneliness of the main character and his despair is brilliantly exposed here, it's a movie to watch.