Movie Review: The Fool (2014) - One of the best Russian movies

The Fool (2014), the original Russian title is “Дурак” (pronounced as Durak), is a 2014 Russian drama movie written and directed by Yuri Bykov. The film depicts the struggle of an honest plumber who tries to save 800 residents from a collapsing building while facing the corruption and indifference of the local authorities

Movie Review: The Fool (2014) - One of the best Russian movies

There are some movies that after watching you will keep remembering, keep thinking about some scenes and they will be engraved in your memory. This movie is one of them. It will show the viewer a realistic side of society, governance, and of course some “fools” who try to fix things and try to do the right thing. That’s why they are called “fools”.

The main character of the movie is one of these “fools.” I really don’t mean that he is a fool. Actually, he is one of the rare people who are good and try to do good. But eventually, nobody will understand this and he will look like a fool. Because he tried to make the only right choice there was.

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So what was the right choice? Dima Nikitin is working for the municipality and he is the chief of the repair crew. One day he was called to a rickety communal housing building. There was a burst in the water pipe. But the repair crew also saw the crack in the wall. Nikitin will realize that the crack on the wall starts from the first floor until the roof.

Actually, Nikitin is also a construction engineering student and after doing some calculations he understood that the building already started moving. And within 24 hours it will collapse. And 800 families are living in that communal housing building. So he has to warn the authorities. But who will believe him?

Corruption

In the middle of the night, he found the number of a family friend. She is working as an accountant for the mayor. So he asked her to help him to meet the mayor. The name of the town is unknown. That day Mayor Nina Galaganova is celebrating her 50th birthday party. And all the chiefs of the town's government services are there. Police and fire department chiefs, health care managers, and others.

In the middle of the night, Dima Nikitin will stand in front of this group and tell them that the building is collapsing. First, they didn’t believe him. Because he is just a repair guy. But then the head of the construction department went to the building and saw everything himself, and they understood that it is true.



After this, all these people, and town authorities will show their real faces. A few hours ago they were all congratulating the mayor and saying how much good job she did all these years. And now they will start accusing each other of how corrupt they all are. In these scenes, the movie shows a very ugly side of government corruption. It is like they were street dogs who couldn’t share a piece of bone they found.

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Why the building is collapsing?

The building is collapsing because when it was built 30 years ago they made it in a hurry and the ground wasn’t ready. The second reason is that while officials getting money from the town's budget, they just took it for themselves and did minor repairs. Instead of doing general repairs, all they did just cover the cracks, and conceal them. And now the building is collapsing. Like the rest of their corrupt system.

There is only one choice. To evacuate the people (800 families) and save the people. But where they will put all these people? The mayor tries to find houses. But in the end, with the help of his friend who also gets the lion's share of the town's budget, he comes out with another plan. This plan does not involve saving people. But saving themselves. And find someone to put the blame on.

And “the fool”, means the main character Dima Nikitin, will still try to do something to save people. And will do another foolish thing.

What you get from the movie and understand from its story is that, while some “fools” try to do good and the right things, it will never work.

The Fool (2014 film): Director, producer, writer and cast

The film was written and directed by Yuri Bykov, who also composed the music. It premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won the Best Actor Award for Artyom Bystrov. The film received critical acclaim for its realistic and powerful portrayal of the social and moral issues in contemporary Russia.

• Directed by Yuri Bykov
• Produced by Alexey Uchitel, Kira Saksaganskaya
• Written by Yuri Bykov
• Starring: Artyom Bystrov, Natalia Surkova, Yuriy Tsurilo, Boris Nevzorov, Kirill Polukhin, Maksim Pinsker