Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pagePrisoner of the Mountains (1996)
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Two Russian soldiers (one experienced, one a rookie) are ambushed and taken hostage by a Chechen village chieftain who intends to trade them for his son, imprisoned by the Russian authorities. That's about it in terms of plot, with the two soldiers falling out and getting to know each other, trying to work out a means of escape, and coming to some sort of uneasy, suspicious understanding of their captors. Bodrov's clear-eyed, unsentimental, but engrossing film is impressive for many reasons: its genuinely unromanticised sympathy for the Chechens, its awareness of the absurd futility of war, its insistence that despite cultural differences we share a common humanity, the use of landscape, and the marvellous performances (with the director's son terrific as the novice Russian).Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Producer: Boris Giller, Sergei Bodrov
Cast: Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr, Djemal Sikharulidze, Susanna Mekhralieva, Alexei Zharkov, Valentina Fedotova full cast
Genre(s): War
Duration: 99 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'
Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now