Barabaniada

The fascinating Barabaniada is a surrealist allegory about a post-totalitarian society in which all values have disappeared without anything emerging to take their place. In this film without dialogue a young man – a kind of Buster Keaton – gets a drum kit called Stradivarius. On his aimless roamings through a poverty-stricken Russia, in which he sees the chaos and despair of his country pass by, the drum starts to dominate his life.The film starts when the protagonist is getting drunk with his colleagues from the funeral band. He is taken by the dead man to a world where objects rule the roost. The drummer has no idea what he is walking behind or where he is going, but he is not able to resist the evil power that his drum exercises over him. The film is intercut with black & white footage of drummers from all over.