Vania and his superior Sasha are soldiers in the Russian army. Their troop rages in a distant region of the Caucasus. One day, the group is attacked by local rebels. Vania and Sasha are arrested and taken in a small nearby village, under the authority of the patriarch Abdoul-Mourat. The patriarch wants to trade the both men for his own son, jailed by the Russians. The old man signifies to his prisoners that if nobody gives him satisfaction, they'll be executed. Vania sends then a letter to his mother, hoping that she'll be able to change things. The wait risks to be difficult...

The opinion of the Editorial Staff: ABOVE, ON THE MOUNTAIN.

Please, do not trust in appearances: in spite of its very contemporary echoes, THE PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS doesn't try to throw the debate on the Chechen conflict. The director Sergei Bodrov has been inspired by a short story by Tolstoy, telling a 150 years old story. The story speaks about the misadventures of Vania and his superior Sasha, Russian soldiers taken hostage in the Caucasus. Both main actors (Sergei Bodrov Jr, the son of the director and Oleg Menshikov, famous Russian actor) realize a magnificent and collusive performance. It's necessary to say that their roles, the first, young silly and artless officer, the second, the authoritarian lieutenant, are particularly well written. Around them revolve some minor characters full of humanity, as Hassan the dumb guard. The whole is orchestrated with sharpness and poetry by Sergei Bodrov, overflowing with affection for his protagonists. The film-maker thinks also to relieve his comment on the horror of the war thanks to a second welcome degree. Cherry on the cake, his staging drives us thanks to magnificent light and beautiful plans in a very far off region, the small village enclosed in the Caucasian mountains. To discover immediately.

Submitted by Kay