| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 4:00PM - 7:00PM | Seminar Room 108N, Munk Centre For International Studies 1 Devonshire Place |
Central Asia Program Film Screening
Hasan-Arbakesh (Tajikistan, 1965) Director: Boris Kimyagarov
At first glance, Hasan-Arbakesh seems to tell an ordinary story about an arbakesh named Hasan, who has a cart and a horse and dreams of earning enough to marry his beloved. As in a traditional fairy-tale, Hasan is young and handsome, strong, determined and very much in love. The fairy-tale plot, however, is set against a very real historical background, which soon starts to interfere brutally with the romantic thrust of the story. The film was shot during the so-called ‘Thaw’ of the 1960s and contains a metaphorical protest against the establishment of Soviet regime in Tajikistan. Its main theme is the clash between the traditional Tajik culture, and the new ‘invading’ Soviet one. Unlike most of the ‘revolutionary’ films that were shot in the Soviet Asian republics and focused on the bloody fights between the ‘reactionary’ forces of traditional societies and the ‘righteous’ Soviet ‘liberators,’ Hasan-Arbakesh shows the process of peaceful sovietization, that nevertheless, ruthlessly reroutes the fates of its characters.
Discussion will follow the film.
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