Firefighter Teimur (Temuraz Tania, center) didn’t even realize he was in the middle of a political fight. Photo: Frame of the series.
Once in Abkhazia, the commander of the fire brigade Teimur quarreled with the president, talked too much, called him on the horn, answered him, so the people fell in love with him and he himself ran for president.
We have already seen this somewhere. In another neighboring republic there was a series about a man of the people who talked too much, was loved by the people and became president, so the artist was also loved by the people and became president.
All this gave rise to different thoughts. Especially considering that the surname of the main character of the series “Once Upon a Time in Abkhazia” and the author of the idea of the series “Once Upon a Time in Abkhazia” is the same – Tratsba. This says something.
We have always loved the Abkhazians because they have palm trees and Fazil Iskander. He knew how to write with judgment and humor about things that did not provoke laughter. The Great Terror. Great theft, rooted in the blood of the people, which is no longer considered a sin (this brings our people closer, in some way brings us closer). About our common intricate oriental affairs. A man of his word can say more about the people than a hundred politicians and a hundred thieves. The Abkhazians agree with this. As happens, in fact, with thieves.
Teimur (Temuraz Tania) looks like Saakashvili (Lord, how sad our world is and how many toxic parallels there are with just one cute TV series!). But he doesn’t eat ties.
As the fairy tale fades, the fun stops too. Taking monetized powers from a criminal only works well in movies. In life (and in the series) they immediately turn against the broken journalist prostitutes, the deep-pocketed opposition, the meek policemen, the self-interested cronyism and the foreign sympathizers with the flight of problematic assets. And against everyone there is an absurd kung fu panda, who has one advantage: a fair character. As well as friends, family and a strong woman who are important in the East (be it Amanda Kvaratskhelia or Gunda Zhiba, they change there, they are strong). That’s why the fairy tale works for them: the fools can suddenly make a decision and be supportive, the weak can remember their clan and tribe and fit in as much as possible, the indifferent can get a kick from their wives and give in to the heat, and Greedy people may realize that there are no pockets in the other world. We wouldn’t believe it, but there is pure Lukomorye and a mermaid sitting in the branches.
Inspired by faith, the scriptwriters of the KVN team “Narts from Abkhazia” sometimes abuse the disposition of higher powers, but otherwise they cannot win. Only Ukraine believes in the positive will of the masses, and even there everyone remembers who was behind the main actor in the elections. And now he is sitting. For some reason.
In Abkhazia, a host of administrative resources, loud women, Caucasian braggarts and thieves’ agreements threaten to bury all good intentions, but Teymur resists and slowly crumbles the monolith with a kind word and lack of money. Here the words “with a kind word and a gun” are literally asked for, but the guns with the fingerprints necessary to expel the applicant fly from the restaurant terrace into the warm sea; Take turns to make it more fun. And the police should dive. Whoever needs it gets married, whoever needs it gets divorced, bloodlines are reconciled, the firefighter will become an electoral “antelope” and the noisy aunts will change their temperament towards the enemy. And even the rain that the energy system needs will arrive on time, if it is asked well and no sin is committed. Showrunners who love quick humor don’t always last the long haul, but the candidate’s team is painfully colorful: a flamboyant veteran brother with the refrain “Shut the fuck up?” (Temur Arshba), a cowardly contractor brother with a heart of gold (screenwriter and casting director Babasik Shakaya), a friend Rusik (Ashot Keshchyan) who extracts gasoline from everywhere, and a drug addict brother-in-law who steals pills from a mother who is has gone mad in her old age (Inal Inapkha). Even the programmed happy ending in these cases will turn out to be so twisted that the originals will appreciate it and others will shout: hey, macaw, where’s the ending? Who is the president of Abkhazia? To which the authors will respond with a list of the higher powers that contributed to the table: the ministers of culture of the republic, the ministers of the interior of the republic, the emergency situations of the republic, the current president of the republic and the director. from the Apra restaurant itself.
The budding team will be helped by veteran showbiz producers Iloyan – Shlyappo – Trotsyuk – Zhalinsky, who, after the Cheburashka boom, are recruiting promising personnel. Next year will demonstrate its success.
Until now, the series, created with enthusiasm, looks modest, scared by unknown names, but in vain. A film about the rise of Don Quixotes to power is a clear sign of stabilization.
Capra filmed this from the Allies just as they were coming out of the Depression. And they also told her that she was flooding. And that the war is beyond the mountain. And that they will never find a government for the oligarchy. And now the classics.
“Once upon a time in Abkhazia”
2023
Dir. Teimuraz Kvekveskiri. Begin.
