Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Lee Eisenberg The title refers to young Mustafa (Oldzhas Nusupbayev), who is believed to be schizophrenic by everyone. In reality, he is just different. Still, no one believes that he could ever go on to do greater things. But Mustafa has some surprises in store for them."Shiza" (called "Schizo" in English) is a truly heartwarming flick from Kazakhstan. In a way, I could sort of relate to Mustafa: assumed to be weird by everyone. This may be the only Kazakh movie that I've ever seen, but it certainly is great. Aside from the plot, the scenery is beyond impressive. This is truly one movie that makes you want more. I certainly hope that the people behind this movie produce more movies.

gradyharp SCHIZO is a stunning cinematic achievement from Kazakhstan courtesy of Gulshat Omarova who directed and co-wrote with Sergei Bodrov this story of survival in the bleak landscape of poverty in that part of the world about which we know little.Mustafa (nicknamed Schizo by his schoolmates who find his behavior crazy) lives with mother and her boyfriend Sakura (Eduard Tabishev), a worldly guy who arranges illegal, brutal boxing matches with unemployed desperate men who are placed in a ring with 'professionals'. Schizo's mother seeks help for Schizo from a kindly doctor (who she pays in eggs and sour cream of her own making): the doctor (Viktor Sukhorukov) prescribes pills for Schizo's behavior and headache and recommends expensive test in the nearby city.Sakura engages Schizo to ferret out 'victims' for the illegal games, offering companionship and some money to the lonely kid. At one fight a young man Ali is beaten to death and as he dies he makes Schizo promise to give his 'winning money' to his girl Zinka (Olga Landina) and his son. Schizo keeps his word and delivers the money to Zinka who lives below the poverty level in a shack outside of the tiny town. Schizo makes friends with Zinka's young son, and ultimately is forced to tell Zinka that Ali is dead. Furious at first, Zinka gradually warms to Schizo as he repeatedly brings her little gifts he buys with the money from his work with Sakura. The three finally form a semblance of family, a life Schizo has never known.Sakura's dealings with the illegal boxing come to disaster when Schizo's alcoholic uncle, bribed to fight, actually wins, destroying the crime ring. Sakura convinces Schizo to rob a little store so that he can pay back the irate crime leaders, but as soon as the robbery is successful, Sakura denies Schizo his rightful 50%, tries to flee, but Schizo shoots the escaping Sakura, leaving Schizo now a killer but with all the stolen money as his own. How Schizo deals with this mixture of misfortune and luck and the consequences of his behavior forms the ending to this little story.The acting is extraordinary, especially on the part of novice Oldzhas Nusupbayev as Schizo, a young actor given little dialogue but who is able to tell legions of information with his eyes. The camera work and musical scoring are as sensitively minimal and effective as is the story: the images of poverty and deserted structures left behind by the fall of the Soviet Union are mesmerizing. Highly Recommended. In Russian with English subtitles. Grady Harp

rrrhudy@aol.com Schizophrenic Mustafa (Schizo) is not. His classmates have given him that nickname because they think he is crazy. And a doctor is treating him with pills. There's nothing crazy about him. He's not even as slow as he is made out to be. He is non-verbal, yes. But those eyes see it all. He lives in a country where men have no jobs, the land has no produce, a desolate place. He lives with an uncle who involves him in recruiting men to fight bare-knuckled, even to the death, in an illegal boxing racket. He is taken in by a young widow who starts as his substitute mother. But they learn to love each other and come to an intimacy that is presented to us beautifully. We don't even think of incest. Fine acting. We get to know them so well. Great direction and camera work. Put it on your list of ones to see.

filmfan213 Perhaps one of the most overlooked and underrated Films at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Schizo is an excellent film from start to finish. Set in the rarely filmed former Soviet Satellite country of Kazakhstan, the film focuses on a 15-year-old street hustler named Schizo who works for his mother's rather unscrupulous boyfriend as a recruiter of young boxers for illegal match fights for gamblers. When one of Schizo's boxing recruits dies in the ring, the ailing man asks Schizo to deliver his share of the prize money to his 28-year-old girlfriend and young son. Schizo agrees to carry out the man's last request but after finding the woman and child living in a tiny shack in the middle of nowhere, he decides to adopt the family as his own and quickly falls in love with the woman.Director Guka Omarova's decision to cast Olzhas Nusuppaev, a real-life orphan in the lead roll of Schizo truly adds a sense of realism to this great film. I strongly recommend seeing this film; it is a phenomenal piece of work.