Born without legs, Melis lives with his young son in a small rural village. There is a weapons test site near the village, but Melis and other villagers lead a peaceful life. Zhalgas and his friends eagerly wait for the days when weapons are tested at the site, since the school closes on those days. With a strong will to live, Melis is wholeheartedly focused on raising his son. At some point, Melis’s body becomes associated with the weapons tests that signify nuclear experiments. This revelation causes an uproar in the village. Through the lens of everyday life in the small rural village, Kenzhebek Shaikakov captures the tragic history of Kazakhstan.
Critical references
At the Bishkek Film Festival, the screenplay award went to the Kazakh drama Scream/Aikai (2023), directed by Kenjebek Saikakov, about the inhabitants of a village near the Semipalatinsk nuclear range in northeast Kazakhstan, victims of Soviet-led explosions. The protagonist is a widowed man, born without both legs as a result of radiation, who raises his only son and makes a living painting propaganda slogans for the town hall. The kid divides his time between caring for his father, housework, school and play, trying with his friends to find a suitable wife for his father to ensure his happiness (the same recurring Islamic theme!). Meanwhile, the villagers are dying one by one, ravaged by the effects of radiation. Anxiety hangs in the air, like Munch's "The Scream" (alluded to in a scraped poster), transforming the tragi-comic rural social fresco into a socio-political parable. The film premiered in Busan in 2023 and won four awards at the Vesoul International Asian Film Festival (France, 2024).
(Elena Dulgheru)
