Set in a non existent country we meet El Presidente, or 'your Majesty' as he likes to be called. He is a nasty, self obsessed man who has surrounded himself with the trappings of any self respecting tyrant. His children are spoilt, he out corrupts the most corrupt and most of his fawning subjects hate his twisted guts.
Then the people just crack over his latest outrage and a revolution kicks off; as he has been detached from reality for so long he is unaware quite how bad things are and elects to stay to sort out the kerfuffle. His grandson – a mere boy- also wants to stay with him, and grandpops relents. Soon they are on their own and having to survive by their wits.
Now this is a film made in Georgian and the sub titles could have been better, but it has a momentum right from the start that just grips you and makes you want to go for the ride. The performances are excellent, the action sequences realistic and often brutal. The filth and detritus that we see as the plot unfolds can be quite moving too. Add to all of that a very humanist story and you get a well made, conceived and presented original piece of cinema.
The fact that this is a fictional country means, that it is not penned in by the constraints of history and so is free to concentrate on the human side of the story. This also means that we avoid political dogma and just see what extremism can do to people. Well worth a punt even if you are half curious as I strongly feel you will not be disappointed.
Then the people just crack over his latest outrage and a revolution kicks off; as he has been detached from reality for so long he is unaware quite how bad things are and elects to stay to sort out the kerfuffle. His grandson – a mere boy- also wants to stay with him, and grandpops relents. Soon they are on their own and having to survive by their wits.
Now this is a film made in Georgian and the sub titles could have been better, but it has a momentum right from the start that just grips you and makes you want to go for the ride. The performances are excellent, the action sequences realistic and often brutal. The filth and detritus that we see as the plot unfolds can be quite moving too. Add to all of that a very humanist story and you get a well made, conceived and presented original piece of cinema.
The fact that this is a fictional country means, that it is not penned in by the constraints of history and so is free to concentrate on the human side of the story. This also means that we avoid political dogma and just see what extremism can do to people. Well worth a punt even if you are half curious as I strongly feel you will not be disappointed.