Kavkazskiy plennik

Russia

Synopsis

The story takes place in the present. Two Russian soldiers are taken prisoner during the Caucasian war. They must be exchanges against the son of their jailor who has been taken hostage by the Russians…Fate will decide their future...

Director's Statement

Not long ago, I decided to make only movies which 1 really love and am dying to make. When you love something you have the chance to tell the truth.
We made PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS because it's a great story. It mixes tragedy and humour and that always makes sense to me.
We used Tolstoy's thoughts about war and peace. Life is short, the world is small. Why are people still fighting each other after thousands of years?
The plot is simple. An old Chechen man captures two Russian soldiers and takes them to his mountain village. He wants to trade them for his son being held by the Russian army. If the exchange fails he will have to kill the Russians. When my son took the part of the young soldier, this movie became very personal for me.
We don't know how to stop the war. It's easy to start it and it's difficult to end. It's easier to kill a man than to love him. But we have to try.
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Sergei Bodrov

Written by: Boris Giller, Sergei Bodrov, Arif Aliev

Produced by: Boris Giller

Cast: Oleg Menshikov (Sacha), Serguei Bodrov Jr (Vanya), Djemal Sikharulidze (Abdul-Murat), Susanna Mekhralieva (Dina), Alexei Zharkov (the captain), Valentina Fedetova (the mother)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Screenwriter 1996
  • Feature Film Selection 1996