Continuing where he left off with “Yellow Cat”, Adilkhan Yerzhanov continues on his intelligent, devilishly funny genre path with another deadpan satire that also manages to make a number of sociopolitical comments.
“Assault” is screening on International Film Festival Rotterdam
While the people operating a school in Karatas are completely immersed in their own issues, a group of masked figures with machine guns enter the building completely unbothered, taking the pupils hostage and executing one of them. Math teacher Tazshi, who has just had a fight with his ex-wife who had come to pick their son from their classroom, does not only fail to even try and save his students, but the only thing in his mind is how to save himself. After the rest of the “survivors” learn the truth, and a mild beating, he takes charge of a team of people who are willing to storm the school and save the remaining students. The “force” however, is not what one would expect, since it comprises of his ex-wife, the gym teacher who also teaches martial arts in school (kind of), the cowardly school principal, an alcoholic night watchman, the music teacher, whom the caretaker of the school, also in a group, constantly mocks him for his “gay” ways, the village idiot and the incompetent chief of police. Tazshi takes them to an area where they can “train” and comes up with a plan, but the whole thing looks more tragicomic than anything else.
What becomes obvious from the beginning of the title is that Yerzhanov is set on mocking every aspect of genre filmmaking, but also his own movie. Starting with the title, which, as the story progresses and the timer zeroes in, is revealed not to refer to the intrusion of the masked men, as one would assume in the beginning. Talking about the terrorists, and despite the reference of the school hostage-takings in Beslan and Kazan, they are also mocked, both for the way they enter the school, as if on a visit, but also on the fact that they seem to have no purpose with their actions, since they make no demands, while the ending of the story, cements this element even more. Masculinity and manhood, institutions like that of school, family, the police, and parenthood, and even philosophy as a concept are all also mocked, with the protagonists serving that role in the most entertaining fashion. At the same time, the comment about the prey and the predator, as dictated by the Lotka-Volterra model (the prey consumption rate by a predator is directly proportional to the prey abundance) and the way crises can force people to change roles is rather eloquent, especially through the presence and the overall commenting on the wolves, adding depth to the narrative, before it also is mocked.The way the army and the overall system function close both the film and this particular approach.
Apart from context, however, “Assault” also thrives on its production values. The almost dystopian, heavily snowed setting is captured excellently by Aidar Sharipov, with a number of scenes during the training, especially the long shots, presenting images of extreme beauty. Furthermore, the way Yerzhanov implements the setting in the story is also great, with the same applying to his command of his cast, which is exemplified in the violence/action scenes. His own editing could have been a bit more tight, particularly in the length of the training sessions, but at 90 minutes, the movie does not overextend its welcome in any way, while the pace is rather fitting.
Azamat Nigmanov as Tazshi gives a great performance, with his transformation being among the best assets of the movie, while the whole cast functions quite well, particularly as a group.
“Assault” is a very smart, very funny, very entertaining movie, which, once more transcends the boundaries of genre cinema.
