Flight of the Bee / Parvaz-e Zanbur Tadjikistan/South Korea | 1998 | b&w | 90 mins | dir. Djamshed Usmonov and Boung-Hun Min, with Muhammadjon Shodi, Mastura Ortik, Taghoymurod Rozik
Usmonov (Tajik) and Min (Korean) were fellow film students in Moscow who teamed up to make this remarkable film, a social fable which deals obliquely with the root causes of the Tajik civil war but has the elemental simplicity of a legend. Schoolteacher Anor is outraged by the behaviour of his nouveau riche neighbour, who stares lustfully at his wife and builds a stinking toilet next to his wall.
When the corrupt local magistrate (pressured by the neighbour) fails to intervene, Anor vengefully buys land next to the magistrate's home and begins digging out what he says will be a public toilet. Drawing comparison with the films of Abbas Kiarostami, Flight of the Bee is a beautiful blend of earthy plainness, conceptual sophistication and muscular mise en scène.
