Khibula Movie Review

Georgian director George Ovashvili, whose 'Corn Island' became shortlisted in the 2015 foreign-language Oscar race, tackles the remaining days of his u . s .'s first democratically elected president in his 1/3 feature.
the primary democratically elected president of the previous Soviet Republic of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, had a captivating lifestyles. beginning as a scholar and human rights activist who helped usher in Georgia�s independence inside the technology of the Soviet glasnost, he in turn turned into accused of human rights abuses once he have become the chief of a country with a population of which nearly one-0.33 consisted of minorities, barely represented on the legislative stage. additionally, he needed to deal with pushback from now not most effective the Russians however additionally two areas of the united states, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, that claimed their independence from Georgia, which caused a civil struggle.

but viewers of Khibula, named after the village wherein Gamsakhurdia died in 1993 below still-mysterious occasions and even as technically nevertheless in workplace, will be difficult-pressed to locate a lot biographical statistics in George Ovashvili�s portrait of the person�s final days that�s no longer already in the film�s establishing name cards. Poetic and elliptical, politically and psychologically frequently cryptic but ethnographically and geographically quite lovingly particular, that is the form of art house movie for which quite a few endurance is needed and which gives modest � and some would possibly argue ambiguous � rewards.

nonetheless, there is no denying the filmmaking prowess of Ovashvili, whose previous, largely communicate-loose film, Corn Island, gained the pinnacle prize on the Karlovy range fest in 2014 and which managed to make the shortlist for the overseas-language movie Oscar later that year. Given the difficulty, it wouldn�t be a wonder to peer his modern, which also premiered at Karlovy vary, once more submitted by means of Georgia as its contender, although the movie might be without delay too historically and culturally specific and too narratively indirect to acquire a similar stage of success.


Ovashvili again wrote the movie with Dutch playwright Roelof-Jan Minneboo, who co-wrote Corn Island and also labored in this yr�s Azerbaijani Karlovy vary entry, Pomegranate Orchard. Their narrative right here is one that has been emptied of any kind of historical past statistics, is set entirely in the gift � there are not any flashbacks � and focuses on the president (Hossein Mahjoob), his prime minister (Kishvard Manvelishvili), their small entourage and a few armed defense force as they pass via the mountains of the Caucasus, from safe haven to safe haven. A army coup and a Civil warfare has made them fugitives in their own us of a and they hope to regroup and re-establish themselves because the democratically elected leaders that they are. An early scene illustrates the absurdity of the scenario, as one in every of Gamsakhurdia�s guys asks whether a mountain inn will take guests for the night time and the president then walks into the constructing and beyond a reception table that also has his portrait striking on the wall at the back of it.

It is through small moments along with those that Ovashvili suggestions on the a good deal large photo, and people nicely-versed in Georgia�s current political records will be capable of choose up on all such references. For neophytes, however, it's far tougher to dig into the substrata of allusions to the right away previous events and the socio-political situation portrayed. or even so, a few matters, which includes Gamsakhurdia�s well-documented spiritual facet, by no means some quite appear to interrupt the surface, which appears odd in a film that uses the call of the location of his loss of life as its title, turning the film itself into a slow but positive march to a death foretold.

curiously, the director forged Iranian actor Mahjoob (The colour of Paradise), who has the best patrician bearing, inside the lead, rather than an actual Georgian. This should assist nearby audiences see their own president as a clear outsider, despite the fact that he appears to be respected or at the least respected every time he runs into unsuspecting locals as they preserve transferring thru the mountains, hoping to keep away from being caught via the guys of the junta. at some point of, Gamsakhurdia is a regal but additionally very stoic presence without any precise idea on how to recapture the usa. It�s clean he doesn�t need to desert his people again � he already fled the u . s . a . once earlier than � but there are simply no discussions of a possible army or diplomatic plan that could help the delegation acquire its intention.

The movie doesn�t appear to need to judge the president � and there is best a quick mention of his meant human-rights abuses � however this has the unlucky result of leaving the motives in the back of his inaction open to interpretation. Is he being foolhardy and delusional, hoping that he�ll in some way magically come back to power again so long as the new rulers don�t catch him first, or is he genuinely resigned to his fate and placing on a courageous poker face for those near him who haven�t given up wish? �fate makes plans, we simply comply with them,� he says toward the cease, whilst he's exceeded a gun (he was later killed by using a unmarried gunshot). If the primary concept behind Khibula turned into to demonstrate this maxim, then Ovashvili succeeded, though audiences may need to do some paintings themselves to parent out that he did.


The director knows how to make the most of his modest, $1.7 million price range, in particular thru his foxy use of offscreen space. The president�s handful of guys are as a result all amassed in a claustrophobic log cabin once they listen � but we in no way see � helicopters overhead, suggesting the enemy is remaining in on them and they is probably trapped. similarly, a breathtakingly staged midnight sequence sees them chasing away howling wolves through swinging ropes over their head which have been lit on hearth at one end. It�s a striking photograph that turned into created very economically, as no longer a unmarried wolf comes out of the shadows and Ovashvili once more is based only on sound to suggest that unseen enemies are close to. The spectral presence of these threats additionally paintings on a thematic stage, as Zviad appears to be haunted by means of fighters that he can't even see. The latter sequence additionally teases out one of the film�s underlying ideas, which is that each humans and nature can be fickle; they are able to guard or help you but additionally grow to be your worst enemy. in this experience, Ovashvili's movie is as a good deal a meditation on the character of energy and man's area in the universe as it's far the precise tale of the united states's first submit-Soviet president.

For roughly the first half, Ovashvili and his cinematographer, normal Tornatore collaborator Enrico Lucidi, technique their challenge in a stately but almost documentary manner. We get to peer the splendid mountain landscapes, the faces of the human beings and the hardships of the small group having to constantly navigate hard terrain in a dignified way. Gamsakhurdia is constantly impeccably and presidentially dressed, even if he�s assisting to push a car caught in the dust that�s threatening to tumble off a cliff in a single nail-bitingly shot collection. there's no track to accompany them except for the conventional, deep-throated Georgian songs the guys like to sing on occasion.

As their trek keeps and turns into extra exhausting � the tale appears in part monotonous by means of design, which may not fly with all art residence shoppers � the director steadily introduces the movie�s rating, courtesy of Israeli-Georgian composer Joseph Bardanashvili (he additionally wrote the track for Corn Island and titles together with past due wedding ceremony). the primary piece of non-diegetic tune appears some 50 minutes in and comes within the shape of a flute-heavy passage that accompanies the sighting of a deer inside the forest, lending the moment an nearly otherworldly air. changed into this a presidential epiphany in hindsight? For non-professionals it is probably difficult to mention, but what�s sure is that Ovashvili has gathered an excellent command of all of the elements in his cinematic toolbox over the direction of just three characteristic movies.

manufacturing agencies: Alamdary, 42film, Arizona Productions
forged: Hossein Mahjoob, Kishvard Manvelishvili, Nodar Dzidziguri, Zurab Antelava
Director: George Ovashvili
Screenplay: George Ovashvili, Roelof-Jan Minneboo
producers: George Ovashvili, Eike Goreczka, Christoph Kukula, Guillaume de Seille
Director of pictures: Enrico Lucidi
manufacturing dressmaker: Teona Kavelashvili
Editor: solar-Min Kim
song: Joseph Bardanashvili
sales: Pluto film Distribution community

In Georgian
ninety eight mins