“Harmony lessons” is a frighteningly precise, brilliantly shot and thought provoking film. The kind you do not see every day.
I was amazed to find out that this deep and mature peace of work is the first full-length feature film of the 28 years-old Kazakh director Emir Baigazin.
Baigazin takes us to the Kazakh province and introduces us to the 13-years Aslan, played by the talented Timur Aidarbekov. After being bullied and publicly humiliated from the school gang leader Bolat, Aslan develops a mental disease striving for harmony, perfectionism and cleanness. The cruelty we see among the children is frightening, The apathy taking turns with new portions of violence coming from the institutions is even more so.
The cold aesthetic of “Harmony lessons” will make you feel uncomfortable. At times, you would want to turn the lights on or just leave the salon for a minute. But you won’t.
This is more than a film about violence, humiliation and fear. Without much words or sounds but with many long shots and using slow, almost documentary close observations of the nature world, the director takes us into the inner world of an isolated and troubled child.
Be prepared – “Harmony lessons” will disturb you, it will make you think of it days after you have seen it and the feeling of unease will not go away that quickly.
“Harmony lessons” is a strong and honest film – a real experience for those who would appreciate it. It did not win the Golden Bear this year but I hope we will be seeing much more of Emir Baigazin’s work in the years to come.
Here you could see three scenes from the film:
http://www.kino-zeit.de/filme/trailer/harmony-lessons
