Not all acts of bravery in wartime take place on the battlefield, as director Sergei Bodrov suggests in "Prisoner of the Mountain," the Russian nominee for the year's best foreign language film. Inspired by Tolstoy's "A Prisoner of the Caucasus," this is the story of two Russian captives who are to be swapped for a Chechen prisoner. There are brief, lethal acts of violence, but the drama here takes place far from the killing fields. It's a remarkable movie.
Bodrov's story begins as young Russians are subjected to the rude probings and naked embarrassment of their army physical. If all of them are understandably nervous, most look forward to life as a soldier and the adventure they believe lies ahead.
Their illusions are quickly shattered. There are no grand wars in their future, no polished swords and gleaming steeds. One of the soldiers, a boy named Vania (played by the director's son, Sergei Bodrov Jr.) finds himself assigned to an outpost in Chechnya, the fiercely independent republic located in the rugged Caucasus Mountains. The Chechen people have long been a thorn in Russia's side. Even today rebels defy Russian tanks with ancient rifles and knives as sharp as their wits.
Tolstoy had been a soldier and sided with the Russians. Bodrov, though, takes no sides. He tells a universal tale of decades-old animosities often as arbitrary and irrational as the battles against which they are set. As Bodrov says, "It's easier to kill a man than to love him."
Vania, an innocent, untested in war and in life, one day finds himself on a patrol in a distant mountain canyon. Riding next to him is the handsome young Sacha, a seasoned soldier played with panache by Oleg Menshikov, the popular Russian actor who starred in the Oscar-winning "Burnt by the Sun." Sacha makes you almost believe that war is an adventure for boys who will never grow up and certainly will never grow old.
The patrol is ambushed, cut to ribbons by guerrilla soldiers. Only Vania and Sacha survive. They are taken prisoner and thrown across a couple of pack animals and taken to a primitive village sitting like a slightly askew crown atop a mountain peak. It has electricity, so the outside world has begun to intrude and in one inspired scene the shackled men dance to Louis Armstrong's ironically titled "What a Wonderful World."
The men have nothing in common and Sacha, at first, provides no comfort for the frightened but trusting young boy. As their relationship develops, so does their friendship with two residents of the village, an exquisitely beautiful little girl and a likable old Chechen guard, a man who loved to sing before the Russians cut his tongue out. Sacha gives him the only thing he has to give the man, a pair of black mirror glasses with a broken lens. Vania makes a bird puppet for the girl, who adores him.
Their captor, the dour Abdoul-Mourat, the girl's father and the patriarch of the village, wants to swap them for his son, a prisoner of the Russians. In part to verify that the prisoners indeed exist, the men are instructed to summon their mothers, with the understanding that Sacha and Vania will be executed if the women fail to appear within 10 days. Ah, but one of them is an orphan. As the tension grows so does our affection for these unsung heroes.
Bodrov's film indicts war (as any sane man would). It's extremely well written, richly detailed and superbly acted. Menshikov has the potential for Hollywood stardom with his good looks and his gift for dramatic comedy. Vania has the fresh-scrubbed appeal of a Frank Capra character, and Susanna Mekhralieva, who plays their friend, the young girl, has an exotic beauty deserving of more screen time.
This film ends with an image at once ironic and unforgettable. Bodrov leaves us with the idea we are powerless to change our destiny. War is in the hands of the gods, and we're the unwilling pawns. An ironic man, Bodrov at least has a sense of humor.

Submitted by Anni Nikolova