Foreign film in the ever-popular peasant genre, with the ever-popular weaknesses of sentimentalizing and ennobling the subject. This time the peasants are a family of Inner Mongolians in a French-Russian co-production originally titled Urga (as in "Did you tie that red flag on my urga?"). Apart from the urga itself -- a lasso at the end of a pole, which doubles as a "Do Not Disturb" sign -- and an unappetizing sheep-slaughtering scene, the old ways are not much in evidence. The new are represented by a loud-mouthed construction worker from Irkutsk, the embarrassment of shopping for condoms, and of course television. Genghis Khan, no less, pops up to express his displeasure in a scene of Dovzhenko-like fantasy. And the movie removes itself further from documentary usefulness in a science-fictional crystal-ball coda. Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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