The forty-year-old commentator, summing up his life and realizing that his well-being is purely external and essentially nothing significant has been done, leaves for his native village, where, he hopes, he will be able to take a step towards his true vocation.

Kyrgyzstan, the 1920s. In a remote mountain village, against the will of the local elites and in defiance of centuries-old traditions, a woman—Urkuya Salieva—is elected chair of the agricultural cooperative. Salieva is determined to build a new life with an uncompromising resolve against anyone who would obstruct the poor, a stance unusual for a woman.

The film is dedicated to the beauty and majesty of its homeland, the traditions of the Kyrgyz people, and the everyday life and work of its people. The story is narrated by an old man who has lived a long life. As if looking back with a thoughtful gaze, he remembers all the cherished moments and beauty he will soon have to leave behind. Yet despite the looming tragedy, there is no sense of pessimism — every memory, every frame shines with a hopeful warmth, like life itself. The old shepherd’s character and spirit, reflected in his eyes, will live on in his grandchildren, preserving both the beauty of the land and the deep love he felt for it.

Bakai is an old shepherd who lives in the country while his children have long grown accustomed to life in the city. When his youngest son pays him a visit, Bakai wants him to stay and help with the rigors of rural living.

柏林电影节杰出个人成就银熊奖。 「Tolomush Okeyev無疑是一個值得關注的導演、一個偉大的電影藝術家。他知道如何在獨裁政權最風聲鶴唳的情況下拍攝出完美的影片。無論是在內涵或是型式上都是如此。他迷人的人格特質讓他成為一個既思想開放又可愛的人」。 ~Tchinguiz Aïtmatov~

Quote: This visually stunning Kazakh movie tells a tragic tale of absent and misplaced compassion. A young orphan rescues an orphaned wolf cub and lavishes considerable affection on it. His uncle, believing that this “softness” will result in the boy’s being unable to endure the rigors of life on the Kazakh steppes, savagely beats the cub in front of the boy. By the time the grown wolf is released into the wild, it has grown extremely ferocious and it returns and attacks the boy, perhaps because it perceives him as being weak, just as the boy’s uncle did. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi Quote: When Tolomush Okeev passed away at the age of 66 in late 2001, the Kirghiz Film Studio was renamed in his honor. Which is as it should be, because he was a powerfully gifted and dedicated artist who served his country and its film industry well. Okeev was one of the greatest outdoor filmmakers who ever lived: he deserves a place alongside Jean Epstein and Terrence Malick. Anyone can set up a camera in front of a mountaintop and get a majestic image. But Okeev filmed the Kirghiz mountains and deserts with an intimate knowledge and the keenest sensitivity. The action in his films is always keyed to the landscape in a way that appears effortless, no matter how painstakingly wrought: he knows every crack, every crevice, all the cruelty and all the beauty of a life lived under the open sky. This 1973 film, written by Andrei Konchalovsky, may well be Okeev’s masterpiece. It’s the story of a boy who raises a wolf cub, and learns quickly about savagery of the animal and human variety. No one beside Bresson has understood the essential character of an animal so well. And there are sequences here – a pack of wolves raiding a herd of sheep by night, a wolf hunt on horseback, and the snowscapes of the last section of the movie – that will make your hair stand on end. Warning: the films contains explicit scenes of violence to animals. Source :