Dom durakov (2002)

In the midst of the Chechen War, a remote psychiatric institution is left without staff leaving the patients to fend for themselves. Based on a true story.

Director:

Andrey Konchalovskiy

Writer:

Andrey Konchalovskiy

Stars:

Yuliya Vysotskaya, Yevgeny Mironov, Sultan Islamov

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yuliya Vysotskaya	...	Zhanna
Yevgeny Mironov	...	Officer
Sultan Islamov	...	Ahmed
Stanislav Varkki	...	Ali
Elena Fomina	...	Lucy
Marina Politseymako	...	Vika
Rasmi Dzhabrailov	...	Makhmud
Vladimir Fyodorov	...	Karlusha
Vladas Bagdonas	...	Doctor
Anatoli Adoskin	...	Fucue
Gevorg Ovakimyan	...	Goga (as Georgi Ovakimyan)
Ruslan Naurbiyev	...	Chechen Commander Vakhid
Bryan Adams	...	Himself
Cecilie Thomsen	...	Lithuanian Sharpshooter
Tigranui Chakryan	...	Karapetovna

Storyline

The war film that's not a war film. A film about the mental institution which backdrop is the Chechen war. A story about the patients living in an institution during the war on the border of Chechnia and Russia during the war. The patients have to continue living their day to day life after being invaded twice over, and they have to deal with their sicknesses.

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Plot Keywords:

patient | chechen | chechen war | soldier | russia | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some violence and nudity

Details

Country:

Russia France

Language:

Chechen Russian

Release Date:

6 December 2002 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Casa de Loucos

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,246 (USA) (25 April 2003)

Gross:

$57,722 (USA) (8 August 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bac Films, Hachette Première, Persona

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References King of Hearts (1966)

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Soundtracks

"Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"
(Bryan Adams) / Robert John Lange / Michael Kamen)

User Reviews

Ingusetia borderland

A hospital near a monorail.A merciless war.The soldiers' grimness.The psychiatrist left his "psihushka" to seek means of securing his patients.The clinic is taken over alternatively by Chechens and by Russians,and made over into a battle scene.

The mad people:some are grovelling,others are grumpy,others grinning, contentious, fractious, petulant,forlorn, babyish,foul, fossils of disease.

The Chechen soldiers are portly,while some of the young ones are very handsome.

My favorite scene is the Chechens' song:heart-breaking and manly.It also offers a sample of the beauty and musical valences of that Oriental language.One of the best musical moments in cinema's history.

"Dom ..." is made of suavity and infinite tenderness.The story is limber.In depth,this flick about an amorous insane woman is a parable about the ambiguity of life.The score is a profusion of beauty and Oriental privacy.

Mrs. Vysotskaya is amazing as "Jana";the rest of the cast is first-class.

Visually,the movie is not as beautiful as many Russian movies are (e.g.,Utomlyonnye Solntsem).The photography is deliberately made to look like that of a documentary.The hospital is not grisly;"Dom Durakov" is not about madness in a clinical sense,nor war,nor love,for what love could be that;it is about the ambiguity of life,about the hidden infinite suavity.The hospital itself is a parable.It is a clinic of parable and symbol,not one of cruel naturalism.The aesthetics is one of insobriety,extravagance,fancy and powerful exuberance.

"Dom ..." features a pleasurable and plain cosmopolitanism:Adams and Chechen songs.

Konchalovsky is back in high form,with this work of contemplation and insight.

Tocilescu,the Romanian director,praised to the skies this film's richness.