The film Sagynbai Manaschi is a poetic allegory about the collision of two irreconciliable epochs, the deep traditions of the Kyrgyz people and the grandiose transformations of the twetntieth century, the peak of the nomadic civilization of the epic Manas and total technocratic civilization, represented by the manaschi Sagynbai Orozbakov and the representative of the Soviet authorities Ybrai Abdrakhmanov, who came to put the Great Word of the narrator on paper.
The Soviet authorities instruct Ybrai Abdrakhmanov to put Sagynbai Orozbakov's version of the epic "Manas" on paper, but then forget about it. For four years, Ybrai managed to record only the first part of the trilogy, because the version of Orozbakov's Manas epic was so voluminous. Having learnt about the formation of the Kazahstan Republic, Abdrakhmanov decides to introduce the narrator to the new leaders and receive material support. Abdrakhmanov promises Sagynbai Orozbakov that at last he will be honoured and his deprivation will end, but the new authorities not only do not honour the narrator, but do not even bother to listen to an excerpt from the story. Having been reprimanded for delaying the assignment, Abdrakhmanov and Orozbakov return to the large and half-starved family of Sagynbai, where the outstanding narrator dies suddenly.
DIRECTOR'S VISION
We wanted to convey that period of time from the biography of the great storyteller Sagynbai Orozbakov, when the Soviet authorities entrust Ybrai Abdrakhmanov to put on paper a version of the epic "Manas" by Sagynbai Orozbakov, but then forget about them. Experiencing hunger and need, for four years Ybray manages to record only the first part of the trilogy. His "Manas" is so voluminous. Having learned about the formation of the independent Kazahstan Republic, Abdrakhmanov decides to show the narrator to the new leaders and get material support, promising Sagynbai Orozbakov, at last, honor and an end to deprivation. But the new authorities not only do not honor the great toilers, but do not even bother to listen to an excerpt from the tale. Having been reprimanded for delaying the assignment, Abdrakhmanov and Orozbakov return to the large and half-starved family of Sagynbai, where the outstanding narrator dies suddenly. This is a fact from the narrator's biography, but behind it is a huge tragedy of entire peoples caught under the hammer of epochal changes
CRITICAL REFERENCES
In Bishkek at the International Film Festival in 2023, a special mention for screenplay went to Ernest Abdîjaparov's drama "The Rhapsody" (Narrator/Sagynbai Manaschi, 2022), a chronicle of the collection of the national epos "Manas" by a local folklorist at the behest of the Soviet authorities. The complicated relationship between the conservative locals and the reforming Bolsheviks, between the myth of pastoral civilization and Bolshevik duplicitous progressivism, is described in nuances of careful observation of historical, human and psychological reality, without accusations and Manichaeism.
(Elena Dulgheru)
