House of Fools

1996, the first Chechen war. A psychiatric institution near the border, at a crossroads of war conflicts. Here Janna and the other inhabitants live on oblivious to the conflicts in the world outside. They are stunned when the train that passes every night, suddenly doesn’t come. Next morning, the medical staff has left. Chaos breaks out: some of them decide to leave, but the sound of bombs makes them return to what they see as their home. Janna lives in a dream world, plays her accordion and dreams of the American pop star Bryan Adams, her ‘fiancé’. When a group of soldiers occupy the institution, Janna falls in love with one of them. The war comes closer and closer. All that is left for Janna is to make music and pray that peace will return.The whimsical Russian Andrei Konchalovsky, who lives in America, has sketched an intriguing portrait of a politically topical and charged situation. With love, he paints a wide range of characters, without imposing a moral judgement. Konchalovsky succeeded in tackling the difficult subject with a degree of lightfootedness while also avoiding the pitfalls of caricature or sentiment. In addition, he has managed to put the complete outsider Bryan Adams in a Russian Chechen border village.