Ya vstretil devushku

This is one good Tadjik movie, and I recommend it for those interested in understanding how the Tadjik society was represented locally. In my view despite the fact that the central authorities in Moscow where working to change the traditional mores of Central Asian societies during the Communist period, the movie shows the local culture is unaffected by the ideology. Propaganda is almost absent. The main tension in the movie is between the father's attempt to follow the tradition by keeping the reputation of his daughter (Lola) unstained, and on the other hand the pressure from the local arts club director, who wants Lola to sing at the annual youth festival. In parallel, a love story develops between an electrician (elektromantyor)and Lola, but this is never presented directly. The situation turns bad when the father, Aka Mukhtar exercises his authority to prevent Lola from singing as in his view this would destroy her reputation and there will be none willing to marry her (even though it is not mentioned in the movie, this seems to worry the father:). In his view, singing should be done privately and only for her future husband. In short, the movie symbolizes the tension between the old (the father Aka Mukhtar and his concern for tradition) and the new (the new way of life of the Tadjik youth brought about by the Soviet power).

The climax is reached when Lola decides to participate at the youth festival challenging her father's authority and her father is looking for her. In my opinion, the key line here is uttered by Aka Mukhtar's sister. Being asked by Lola's father where is his daughter, she replies irritated: "She is there where all the Tadjik youth is. She is at the youth festival." Obviously, it suggests that Lola's father lives in the past and that he does not understand the new cultural forms. The ending is in fact a presentation of the festival and one can notice often in the background the Soviet symbols. But as mentioned above, there is not a lot of propaganda in the movie. The party, Moscow, Stalin, or Hrushchev are not mentioned at all.

The old order is delegitimized when the father, finally enters a theater and becomes part of an audience watching a play on the stage. His daughter, Lola plays the main part and at a certain point, an actor representing her father is threatening her (the play in the play trick). Aka Mukhtar, the real father not realizing that it is just a play jumps from his seat and defends his daughter against the actor on the stage. This is a funny moment, but reading between the lines, I suspect this was probably done to illustrate how backward some of the older people in Central Asia were in 1957. It also illustrated the failure of the Soviet power to change the local cultural norms by that time. Taking into account that in Central Asian societies older people are very respected, making fun of Lola's father is a covered attack on the old sources of authority; the rule of the elderly in those societies is derided. This is understandable, since most likely the older generation is the one that was least affected by the attempts to create the homo sovieticus. However, mocking the old man and ending the movie, would be considered offending, so the screenwriter gave the opportunity to the father to say the last word and bless the young people. Note that in the movie Lola never challenged the authority of his father directly. The propaganda part is more evident at the end where the youth is shown marching through the city and chanting all sorts of 'healthy' songs. The houses equipped with electricity should also suggest that electrification was a success, while the one defender of modernization is the electrician. Probably at that time it was prestigious profession associated with modernity.

I liked a lot the performances (especially that of the shoe-cleaner) and the costumes in the movie. The national costumes are everywhere and one sees rarely people wearing suits.