The Kite

In a Russian provincial town, where in the early 1990s the perestroika of Gorbachov still hasn’t made its influence felt, a family lives in abominable conditions. The father’s work consists of performing executions. He can only keep up this everyday routine thanks to the thought that his paltry salary can save the life of his sick son. As well as his job, poverty, worries and the continual griping of his wife weigh heavy on his mind. In the meantime, the boy keeps his hopes up by dreaming about his greatest desire: flying a kite with his father. The film focuses on a tender father-son relationship with the kite as symbol of freedom. Muradov contrasts this with vulgar and cruel images from the prison and sombre, occasionally dreamy images of a city like so many others in Russia. Muradov and co author Yuri Solodov were inspired to make the film by a newspaper article, which wrote in a very disinterested way about the executioner, much to their indignation. In Zmei the pain and the joy of the executioner and his family is however portrayed delicately and true to life. The powerful filmic language – without a single dialogue, the only sounds come from trains and playing children – gives the story an extra emotional charge.