Feature Film | Drama | Armenia/Netherlands | None | 1h22m
Dir: Harutyun Khachatryan | Scr: Harutyun Khachatryan & Mikayel Stamboltsyan | Ph: Vrezh Petrosyan | Prod: Gevorg Gevorgyan, Harutyun Khachatryan, & Denis Vaslin | Mus: Avet Terteryan | Ed: Harutyun Khachatryan | PD: Ararat Sargssian | Cast: Liparit Liparitian, Manvel Mkhitaryan, Davit Gasparyan, Parandzem Chakhalyan, Nvard Gasparyan, Alik Gasparyan, Sayat Poghosyan, Elya Poghosyan, Ter-Virab Ghazaryan, Khdr Aloyan, Hombert Atoyan, Armen Mkhitaryan, Aida Mkhitaryan, Levon Mkhitaryan
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At the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, following the cessation of the early ‘90s undeclared war between the two countries, two men find a stranded buffalo in a ditch and take it back to their farming community. However, seeming to be aware of the life and death that surrounds it, the hirsute ox makes a number of escape attempts, but is forever thwarted by its captors and their ubiquitous barbed wire fencing. For the most part, Khachatryan’s engrossing dialogue-free film provides a fascinating portrait of the everyday lives of a mountaintop peasant farming community. However, as it progresses, the skilled director’s mise en scène becomes ever more menacing, the discomfiting score ever more portentous, and the threat of violence ever more palpable, transforming the film in to something much richer and more remarkable.
