Saturday, June 11, 2011

House of Fools

Russia

1995...Russia's border with Chechnya. We see the war from the perspective of the patients of a mental hospital. The obvious message is...where does the madness lie?

It's tricky using mental patients in films...hard to get the right mix between crazy, entertaining and avoid being offensive. There have been many who tried...the most successful was The King of Hearts in 1966...but even there the inmates didn't seem really crazy.

Here there were legitimate actors and what looked like real inmates...a strategy that worked. The story was amusing, harrowing and ultimately worked to make the point. The lead actress was quite impressive as she tread the line with skill.

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