The Gift to Stalin

Rustem Abdrashov, whose Rebirth Island was the first film from Kazakhstan to win the prestigious FIPRESCI (international critics) prize, sets his new drama in a tiny village in the vast Kazakh steppes. The inhabitants are all considered enemies of the state, but they refuse to allow their outcast status to quash their rebellious acts privileging life and human connectedness.

In 1949, railcars holding Jews and other deportees creep eastward into oblivion. Or is it? For young Sasha, salvation comes through a rubric of chance, defiance and love. His enforced rebirth finds him surrounded by a makeshift new clan: his savior and new grandfather, Kasym (veteran actor Nurzhuman Ikhtimbaev), who is Muslim; Verka, the wife of a traitor; Ezhik, a Polish resister; and a gang of orphans—a wilderness family with deep bonds despite habitual harassment from authorities. Rare news comes from Moscow announcing a childrens contest celebrating Stalins 70th birthday. If Sashas original gift wins, he hopes to achieve his parents freedom. Decades pass, and Sasha questions history and his fate: Who are you in the land of your God if a part of your soul was left behind? Gifts allegorical ending will linger long in your heart and mind, likely to raise questions, yet perhaps answer others, such as Kasyms early query, Whose flock are you from?

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Gift
• to
• Stalin
• Boy
• Circum

[LeRenardAP]

does anybody know where I could find this film with subtitles (English or German).

[sebirius970]

Very nice film

[aneka2009]

amazing film