User Reviews

Slon (Russian for "Elephant") isn't the worst thing I've seen, but nor is it the best either. Along with stunning cinematography and music, the creators of this film couldn't have chosen a better actress for the main character of Boni. She was a delight to watch. And the entire scene where the elephant escaped and was wandering through the farmlands of rural Russia was laugh-out-loud funny. But the story left something to be desired. When Boni is accidentally left behind by her circus troupe, she tags along with the grumpy truck driver who's supposed to deliver the circus elephant. The first half of the movie plods along between Boni being abandoned by him, and then being reunited after a series of mishaps. And the ending left my family and I unsure of what to make of the movie. A beautiful quote at the end-- but what did it have to do with the story? Once again, not the worst but not the best. We mostly watched it for a better understanding of Russian culture.

Objectionable Content:

Sex & Nudity: None, except a man asks Zarezin if Boni is his daughter. When Zarezin replies, "Kind of", the man says "We all have those." It is not clear what is meant by this.

Violence: Zarezin purposefully crashes into some police cars and Boni shrieks.

Profanity: 1 use of the H-word, 1 use of the P-word, one use of the S-word.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: Characters smoke constantly throughout the film. On the bus, the circus performers pull out bottles.

Frightening Scenes: Along with crashing into police cars, there is an intense scene at the end with an automobile accident.

I was very much prepared not to like this film. I don't go for "fun" or "light," and certainly not for "uplifting." I prefer movies with depth and substance. Well, I found it here. This bright tale offers an excellent script, great acting, beautiful cinematography, and compelling music. They work in unison to create a whole that's greater than the sum of it parts. Sure, this flick can be viewed as a light, pretty coming-of-age story of a young girl (which it is and, yes, she is extremely pretty, no, downright beautiful), but there's a lot more going on that I didn't sense at first. I knew "something was up," but didn't know what it was. Why was I so drawn to such a "cute" tale? I needed to watch it a couple of times to find out why. It's because one inch beneath the movie's shiny surface lies a complex, confoundingly universal dynamic: Who are the captives, who are the captors, what causes the capturing, and what is the nature of capture? In this tale, things blow up, and then they fall into place. All is made clear. Who's confined to a cage at the beginning? Who at the end? How did things flip like that? What does it mean to be free? Well, I guess walking with an elephant from Russia to India means being free, and it does. And what about ending up serving (probably) many life sentences in prison for destroying two dozen police vehicles? Maybe Zarezin is actually freed, even though the final time that we see him he's confined in a tiny "cage" in the back of a police wagon. But then that hardened cynic puts on a circus nose. He's free. The quotation at the end of the film reminds me to ponder its deeper substrata of meaning. Oh, and Zarezin's wife? She too is freed.