Shiza

"Schizo" is the picaresque tale of a fifteen-year-old boy branded as nuts, who gives up on his mom and school and runs with his mom's boyfriend, a petty tough guy and crooked fight promoter. At school he got the nickname, "Shiza," but he turns out to be smart, tough, and humane – a powerful combination at any age. His real name is Mustapha (the slinky, smiling young actor's called Oldzhas Nusupbayev, all these people are Kazaks and the film is in Russian), and he has more of the criminal psychopath in him – there are signs that his sense of right and wrong is a bit loose – but whatever roughness he has is mitigated by the kindness he shows when a guy he's helped recruit to fight gets killed and Schizo takes on the dead fighter's girlfriend and her little boy as his responsibility and his new family.

This is the best rough crime adventure storytelling on film since the Chinese "Blind Shaft". The boy is lean and dark and graceful and his face has a Slavic Mogul beauty, and it's impassive till he shows his big sudden smile. This is pure narrative without introspection, and the fun of it, what makes it fresh and newly minted from shot to shot, is that we don't know what Mustapha has inside, so everything that happens – his determination, stamina, and spirit, his willingness to take on poses like a pair of dark glasses and a cigarette dangling from the corner of the mouth in a mirror (a bit like Belmondo mimicking Bogie in Godard's "Breathless") – is all a gift. Like a true picaresque anti-hero Mustapha is a social reject, but capable of blending in anywhere and slipping by without lasting damage.

In the opening scene Mustapha's mom takes him to a doctor, a boorish chap all done up in stiff whites like a sous-chef. It seems she's bought the idea that her son's defective, because she's going to save up for him to get treatment. But her boyfriend Sakura (Eduard Tabishev) sees that he can be a harmless helper in his fight schemes if he'll keep silent and help lure in fall guys. Schizo proves to be more than that, a cocky kid with a certain panache, a sliding swagger of a walk, an ability to swill down vodka with grown men. But his independent spirit soon leads him away from his mom's boyfriend and out on his own.

The events that follow shouldn't be revealed, but they're both natural and surprising, and it's a deft adventure that leads toward wisdom and happiness.

The people are intensified because of their toughness and the desolate harsh beauty of the scenery. Zinka (Olga Landina), the girl Schizo adopts, is a cross between Mia Farrow and Sissy Spacek. Her exchanges with Schizo are priceless, largely because of his combination of naivete and boldness. The rough men around the fight scene aren't caricatures; they're just tough and vivid. One event follows hard upon another and there's an edge of danger and menace but also a growing sense that this Mustapha fellow is both an operator and a sweetie-pie. Such a combination might seem corny sometimes, but it works fine here. The writing is economical (imagine early Hemingway with a Kazhakistan accent), the direction and editing are spare and energetic. The narrative delivers its little surprises with raw poetry, like a good short story. This first film is a little gem.

Schizo. This appears to be the first major picture out of Kahzikstan and what an impressive, stunning debut of a film. Schizo is the story of a 15 year old boy everyone thinks is schizophrenic. He's kicked out of school for fighting, but instantly the viewer will recognize this young man as the sanest, most responsible person in the film. He's hired by his mother's boyfriend to recruit fighters for illegal bare-knuckle fights. Shortly into his new career, a young dying fighter asks the boy to bring his winnings to his girlfriend and his son. Immediately Schizo develops a sense of responsibility for this little family and does whatever he can to ensure their well being. Things turn nasty, but a pervading sense of hope seems to light Schizo's eyes and one never questions his judgment and he stays true to some code of honor that no one else seems to have in this tale. It's a powerful, beautiful story with a sensational film debut from Oldzhas Nusupbayev. Throughout the film I kept wondering "where did they FIND this kid?" - and I was startled to learn he had never before acted, had no family and was actually growing up in an orphanage and discovered there. His performance is the lynchpin on which the entire film is hinged. Writer/Director Guka Omarova's location scenes are visually strong, conveying a sort of resigned hopelessness and presenting a post-Soviet Kahzikstan landscape that feels like a world that had been stripmined for all its worth and then merely abandoned. Equally as impressive as this landscape are the wildly diverse and unforgettable faces of the multi-ethnic populations of this country. Olga Landina plays the love interest and she is like a young, vibrant, Eastern bloc Rebecca Demornay. Hot. Schizo is a real find!

Most of the landscape is bleak and desolate which means the acting and story must carry the film, they do. This movie is far removed from the typical big budget cotton candy dumbed-down Hollywood syrup.

I would categorize it as basically a humanistic survival story set in the rural outback. The emotions are as sparse as the back drop and yet still quite beguiling.

Some of the fights seemed a little unrealistic, however, it does not detract too much from the movie's overall believable tone. Also it was not a predicable film. At times you feel that Schizo may be mentally impaired, by his lack of communication, yet his demeanor is fitting to his environment and circumstances.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked and underrated Films at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Schizo is an excellent film from start to finish. Set in the rarely filmed former Soviet Satellite country of Kazakhstan, the film focuses on a 15-year-old street hustler named Schizo who works for his mother's rather unscrupulous boyfriend as a recruiter of young boxers for illegal match fights for gamblers. When one of Schizo's boxing recruits dies in the ring, the ailing man asks Schizo to deliver his share of the prize money to his 28-year-old girlfriend and young son. Schizo agrees to carry out the man's last request but after finding the woman and child living in a tiny shack in the middle of nowhere, he decides to adopt the family as his own and quickly falls in love with the woman.

Director Guka Omarova's decision to cast Olzhas Nusuppaev, a real-life orphan in the lead roll of Schizo truly adds a sense of realism to this great film. I strongly recommend seeing this film; it is a phenomenal piece of work.

There is something magical in the films from Central Asian republics that serious viewers cannot disassociate themselves from them.No one knows for sure whether it has got something to do with folklore or customs or the fact that they have freed themselves from Soviet union.Whatever might be the reason it is sure that some of the films from these reasons are made by enterprising film makers who have always made nice films despite having been burdened with lack of funds.Schizo is one such film made by Guka Omarova.In the past she has been assistant to the great Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov.She has made good use of the current day political situation in Kazakhstan to make an entertaining film by using some rather common dramatic elements.Schizo functions as a double edged sword as not only it entertains but always leaves a serious message on viewers' minds.The film is a watchable treat thanks to the title character who proves in the end that the week and meek are not to be taken for granted.