Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

IncaWelCar In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

LeonardHaid The 2 questions I came away with after watching this extraordinary movie were, does this kind of thing really happen in Russia, and is this really what Russia is like? I contacted my only Russian acquaintance about this, and he said the movie is an accurate, though exaggerated, depiction of small-town Russia. I was curious about his comment about the movie taking place in a small town; Russians live in massive apartment buildings in small towns? In fact not a whole lot about this film is small-townish, at least to this Canadian outsider. It feels like an urban nightmare, mostly taking place in or around this huge apartment building teeming with people, at a restaurant that's teeming with people as well - because the local government is throwing a big party for themselves - or along built-up streets. The most glaring indication that the setting is indeed a small town is when the government heads all get together in a small room to discuss an emergency situation, and we are introduced to an unsavoury ragtag assortment of drunken schemers who happen to have absolute control over the local population. There is nothing urbane about these people. It's made clear in The Fool, however, that this fiefdom's evilness is partly the result of trickle-down evilness from the federal level, and there's an underlying despondency among some of the local government officials as they seemingly have no other choice but to be corrupt. So you do get glimpses of decency and humanity within the fiefdom. But how can decency and humanity win amidst the corrupt, cutthroat, dog-eat-dog reality in modern Russia from the top down to the bottom. The Fool is a tale of flowers that attempt to grow in sewage, and what happens to them, and it is the tale of how people as individuals are affected when evil reigns. Some become evil themselves, some try to resist evil entirely, but mostly The Fool is a story about people just trying to do the best they can for themselves and their families, and be happy despite overwhelming odds, and despite hopelessness all around them.

domnulnaspa-42090 First of all, this movie is authentic. It depicts with great detail and credibility the rotten face of communism in Russia today, even thou it could take place in any of the ex USSR countries. Even old democracies are not strange to corruption, but the scale and implications in less democratic states is way bigger. The story is great and it unfolds at a steady pace, characters are wisely chosen, all of them, living their own complicated drama and acting accordingly. But it's more than that. In my eyes, this movie felt, not only perfect in every way, but it also had a lot of human nature in it. You must watch this movie, it truly is a masterpiece.

Red-125 The Russian film Durak (2014/II) was shown in the U.S. with the title "The Fool." Yuriy Bykov was the writer and director. The overall theme is consistent with Dostoevsky's "The Idiot." In that novel, Prince Lyov Nikolayevich Myshkin is an honest, kind, helpful person. No once can believe that anyone could truly be this good, and that's why the call him an idiot.In a small Russian city, Syn Dimy (played by Gordey Kobzev) is also an honest, kind, helpful person, and no one respects him for it. He's a low- ranking foreman of a municipal plumbing repair crew. Syn discovers that one of the municipal housing units is about to collapse. He reports this to the authorities, but no one wants to hear it.In a previous film by Bykov--The Major--we learned that the police department was a cesspool of corruption. In The Fool, we learn that the entire municipal system is based on corruption. Everyone is on the take. No one really cares about the 820 people in the building. The only question is how to continue in positions of power and affluence after the building collapses.This is a brilliant, but very grim film. There's no humor in it. We saw it in the excellent Dryden Theatre at The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. It's primarily set indoors--in the night club where the mayor is celebrating her 50th birthday, or in the doomed building, which houses very poor, very angry people. It will work well on the small screen. It's a movie you don't want to miss. Find it an see it.

topblock You're dead in one days - that's what the engineer is saying to all the people. But they choose to live another day. They ignore, laughing at him, assault him and beat him. They have no idea - he's mistaken by one another day. No one listens - not the mayor, neither her assistants, neither the occupants of the building. He's definitely right - every professional agrees, but people just... What can you do to tell 800 people they're in danger? Without breaking a law... And the law - is too narrow in Russia - you're either a hero or a criminal. And why do you even have to tell them? Everyone is looking at you like you're somehow even more dangerous than they are. Suburbs, slum dogs... How do you save 800 people from the "ghetto project"? While, meanwhile - your life is in danger. No, you just don't. 8 out of ten, to show you the real Russian reality.