The film begins in an indescribably squalid flat somewhere in a depressing part of modern Russia, where a shirtless uglily-tattooed man is threatening his wife because he thinks she's stolen a stash of money he had and he wants to spend it on "his medicine" (which is either drugs or drink). He threatens to beat her and she simultaneously begs him not to do so and assures him that she didn't take it, at which point he does a quick about-face and leaves the kitchen. She has a momentary reprieve until she hears screaming from down the hall and we realize he is beating his daughter instead. She runs down and pulls him off, at which point he throws her to the floor and starts beating her with a shocking ferocity, until suddenly a loud bang (actually, I don't know if there was one or if I subconsciously inserted one) and he is enveloped in steam. Then we cut to a contrasting, still-poor-but-not-squalid flat
where a slightly younger couple and their, I would guess 4-or-5-year old son are sitting in comparative harmony, while he goes over what look like architectural plans on a computer screen. He is studying for an exam the next day that he hopes will help him get a promotion. The flat is actually his parents',
even though they live there, and from that comparative harmony we switch to a meal at the table where his mother (who was a doctor, but is retired, and seems to have a glandular problem) starts berating both son and father when the son rejects her suggestion that they should buy a garage business that some old man of her acquaintance is offloading because he wants to continue his studies. There is a scene where the son (our hero, Dima) spots kids busting up the bench that sits outside the apartment building and he and the father chase them off. The mother despairs of the father, who constantly repairs that bench just to have it trashed again. She's a bit of a drama queen, but we get the idea that she thinks both father and son are hampered by being too good for this corrupt and nasty world, something her husband confirms when he admits that his own workmates will no longer speak to him because he objected to stealing pipes when they were on a job. While they're outside by the bench, Dima gets a fateful call. There's a repair crew that he (a plumber) is not actually part of, but that lacks its leader who is currently on a bender because his wife left him, and that needs him to come and look at something. And then we're back at the original building, where a doctor is tending to the scalded wife-beater while the cops ask the wife if she wants them to arrest him. She decides against it because he's due at work early and will lose a bonus if he doesn't show, but she and the daughter decide to stay with somebody else. Meanwhile Dima shows up and sees what caused the pipe to burst and is transfixed in horror. There is a massive crack that, as he races to check, goes entirely up the outside of the building and is repeated on the other side.
And the building has a very evident tilt. However, this isn't really his beat, so he tells the crew just to turn off the building's water and goes back home. But that night he sits bolt upright in bed and races to his computer to check, and is convinced that the degree of tilt is enough that the building is certain to collapse entirely within the next 24 hours. And we're off and running.
His mother and wife are bemused at how much he cares, but he is equally incredulous that they can't understand that everything must be done to save the (it turns out) over 800 residents of this benighted "dormitory." This takes him to a drunken party being given for the mayor
(which is convenient, because all the town bigwigs, from the chief of police to the head doctor to the fire department head, are gathered together in one place). He realizes that the news he brings will not be welcomed, especially for his overall boss, who has passed this dormitory as safe while evidently pocketing the funds for its upkeep. In fact, it quickly becomes evident that everybody's been skimming at every stage up the ladder (and the mayor complains that her superiors in the district demand 50% of revenues for themselves). But, grudgingly, his boss (who refers to him as "shit-stirrer")
and the fire department chief (whom the mayor has particularly lambasted because there hasn't even been a fire in the town in years (which seems very implausible when you see the state of the buildings - surely electrical fires would be breaking out all the time)) accompany him back to the building. While Dima shows them the sorry state of the building from slanted top to crumbling bottom, we also get to see the sorry state of the inhabitants, from rheumy-eyed near-death old crones, to pre-teens smoking drugs in the hallways who are blase even to town bigwigs. Despite misgivings, they return to the Mayor's party agreeing that the occupants must be evacuated. And it does seem like the Mayor has a conscience, but she's in a bind: the building budget is millions in the red. So she puts everything on hold while she drives across town to talk to a developer whom she knows has buildings currently empty, and whom she has done favors for in the past. But it's nothing doing: the apartments are spoken for, and the people who have bankrolled him will kill him messily if he tries anything. One of them is a town bigwig who's been accompanying the Mayor and who gives her a stern talking to when she starts showing a conscience: as he puts it, there's not enough for everybody to get a taste of the good life - if wealth was distributed equally, nobody would get a taste, so skimming just makes sense.
Besides, the residents of that dormitory are the dregs of society. What kind of people are those junky kids going to grow up to be?
So the Mayor comes back to her party, but she phones ahead to the chief of police. We don't hear the conversation, but he tells Dima and the two that he showed the building that yes, the evacuation is on, and they should go to the building to help supervise. But as they've been drinking, they should let some of his men drive them. So they get into a van and off they go. Of course it doesn't take long before it becomes obvious that they're not heading for the building, they're just going to be disposed of. To his eternal credit, Dima's boss faces death fearlessly and persuades the cops (who, to their mild credit, are pretty uncomfortable about being executioners) to let Dima go, with the admonition that if he is seen in this town again he won't be so lucky.
So Dima runs and we hear gunshots behind him. Back to his parent's apartment, to collect wife and child and head out of town. He explains everything to his wife and again she, like everyone else, is incredulous that Dima keeps sticking his neck out. He gets short with her but expresses relief that at least the building is being evacuated. Of course, they are just then passing it, and the wife points out that of course it's not being evacuated. So Dima has to stop and try to save the residents, even if it means that his wife leaves without him (because he's pretty sick of her heartlessness anyway). And in he rushes, in the cold light of dawn, to race up and down the building pounding on doors to get everyone out.
And then... well, if you think you can guess the ending - just trust me, it's worse than you're guessing. As I said, a gut punch. Breathtakingly bleak, in fact. But perhaps, bracingly so. I'm honestly astonished the film was allowed to be released.
No comments:
Post a Comment