Prisoner of the Mountains Actually

Prisoner of the Mountains actually shows that soldiers on both sides of an issue that has turned to war are very much alike; of course they are human beings and it is among the film's purposes to show the viewers that fact. The essential theme is the personal interactions between two Russian soldiers who have been captured by the Chechen rebels and the Russian's captors. The Russians are ambushed by the Muslim rebels in the mountains and taken prisoner but the unusual part of the plot is that an old man (the village patriarch) who is part of taking the Russians prisoners ants to trade them back to the Russian military in exchange for his son, who is being detained by the Russians. That deal never takes place. Russian prisoner Vanya is very young and inexperienced and has never even once fired his weapon at anyone and he fears he will be killed. Sacha, the other prisoner, is a jaded veteran and has a short temper.

The Central Message of the Film

This film could easily be thought of as a pacifist story because it presents the absolute absurdity of war and the mindlessness of violence between cultures. There are scenes and subplots that touch the heart of the viewer. Dina, the daughter of the town patriarch (Abdul-Mourant) becomes friends with both prisoners and sees them as very human people and in a way she takes pity on them. This is part of the main point of the movie; she doesn't let her guard down but on the other hand she gets quite close emotionally with the younger of the two prisoners, Vanya. In fact Dina gives bread and water to the Russian captives and in order to thank her, Vanya makes a little toy for the 12-year-old girl.

Little did Leo Tolstoy know before he passed away in 1910 that his short story, "The Prisoner of the Caucasus" would be made into a movie called "Prisoner of the Mountains." But while the plot doesn't precisely follow Tolstoy's short story, the film certainly does present the rebel Chechens in a more positive light than the Russians. This is an important point because when the old Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the Chechens have even more vigorously than in the past, asserted their independence and today have their own governing body. But their independence did not come easily.

In fact the Chechens are essentially a Muslim nation of about a million and a half, and since the early 19th century the Chechens have been fighting the Russians for their independence. Understanding a bit of history helps the viewer understand the political tensions in the film. The dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the entire population of Chechens deported to Central Asia in 1944, because the Chechens allegedly collaborated with the Nazis to bring down the Russians. This bitter memory is part of what drives the Chechens to insist on being independent of Russia.

Another subplot that has impact is the fact that the two captive Russian soldiers may be wearing the same uniform but they see the world in vastly different ways. They both dance to a Louis Armstrong song ("Let My People Go") and yet they bother each other too. But when the older soldier, Sasha, comes down to earth from his crustiness and becomes softly nostalgic, he reaches out and touches the hand of his younger colleague and the music in the soundtrack blares the song "The Slavyanka," which is a patriotic hymn in Russia.