A clear trend in Kazakh cinema is taking well-known foreign films as "inspiration" and shooting domestic versions. Last week saw the release of 38. Sońǵy núkte, earlier — 14 kún, and this weekend — the detective thriller Burkitshi, where Taylor Sheridan's Wind River and Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners intertwine in the setting of a village and nearby forests and mountains. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The authors of films in the style of "I liked a movie, let's transfer it to our realities" usually do not speak publicly about the sources of their work, especially in the film's promotion. The only exception was made by the creators of last year's hit Qaitadan, and one can understand why: they really took only the idea of Groundhog Day, reinterpreting and enriching it with their own findings and Kazakhstani reality. Making his feature film debut with Burkitshi, director Kuanysh Stakhanov, known primarily for the series 4 gradusa, admitted at the premiere that Wind River and Prisoners are his favorite films in the genre, and that Burkitshi is "very similar" to Sheridan's film, but only in its setup. Hmm, "very similar" is an understatement.
In the very first frame we see the lifeless body of a girl on the riverbank. In the morning it is found with the help of his golden eagle by local hunter Talgat (Berik Aitzhanov), from a small flashback into whose fate we learn that a year ago he also lost his daughter. On the eve of the funeral, a police officer from Almaty, Aliya (Zarina Karmen), arrives in the village, wanting to investigate the case. During the autopsy it turns out that the girl was raped, but the pathologist refuses to recognize this as murder, since the cause of death is a traumatic brain injury from a fall from a cliff. Not knowing local realities and peculiarities, Aliya asks Talgat for help in finding out the truth about what happened.
Find, as they say, ten differences. From Wind River there are exactly two: Aliya is a relative of the deceased Merei, and in the American film the victim froze in the Wyoming cold.
However, further the co-authors of the script, the same Kuanysh Stakhanov and Evfrat Sharipov, begin to actively spin their own story (not forgetting, however, the principle "Everything was invented before us," as, for example, with the fate of the main suspect) — in some places it turns out well, in others not so much.
First of all, of course, localization and local context are important. And here everything seems to be not bad, but sometimes the strokes are too bold, and sometimes — on the contrary, too thin. Perhaps it played a role that Burkitshi is a state-funded project, like 38. Sońǵy núkte, and was shot by Kazakhfilm. This, by the way, probably affected the fact that in most scenes of violence the camera "shamefacedly" refuses to show it. Nevertheless, the film received an age rating of "18+".
Nepotism in law enforcement (open corruption was decided not to be dragged in), a dismissive attitude towards women of any age, imitation of vigorous activity when working with youth, negligence in the performance of official duties, the notorious ұyat as a source of many troubles and impunity — all this is in the film, however, I repeat, either thrown in passing in the plot, or blurred by the inadequate actions of the main characters.
I don't know what the reason is, but Aliya, performed by the beautiful actress Zarina Karmen, is portrayed, frankly speaking, strangely, and her actions only lead to a worsening of the situation for those around her. It is clear that we all make mistakes, and surely there was no task to make Aliya a flawlessly positive superhero, but with enviable persistence she time after time hits the same corners. Usually this is a violation of protocol and disclosure of operational data. The professionalism of operative officer Ulanova, as she introduces herself, also raises doubts: take at least the fact that, three times trying to use her service weapon, she loses it three times.
As a script compensation, the city police officer has amazingly unexpected, unmotivated investigative insights, and if they don't happen, then details like bloody locks or compromising photographs are carefully hung in the frame.
It is a pity that the authors of Burkitshi tried to play, in addition to thriller and drama, in pure detective — in this field it is a priori very hard to surpass Wind River and Prisoners. And their own drawn picture assembles into a single puzzle with difficulty. And the matter here is also in the very poorly written final villain. In order, by the way, for the viewer to finally understand who is who, in the scene of the imminent exposure, maximally alarming music plays in major — only thunder and lightning outside the window are missing.
But this villain has no backstory, no motivation, no, excuse me, consistency. He is not a fanatic or a maniac. Who is he then? A product of our society? But if so, then again — the theme of his origin and manifestation is not revealed at all. This is a caricature villain from news headlines, behind whom there is nothing.
And this circumstance cannot be explained by a lack of time: the film runs almost two hours, which is enough for unnecessarily long shots and an extremely dubious finale from the point of view of plausibility. A finale in which there are also far more victims than there could have been.