Product Details

• Actors: Uktamoi Miyasarova, Maruf Pulodzoda, Kova Tilavpur, Mardonkul Kulbobo, Malohat Maqsumova
• Directors: Jamshed Usmonov
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
• DVD Release Date: June 21, 2005
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0008FXT6O
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,128 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Angel on the Right" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

10 years after leaving Tajikistan, the Moscow-based gangster Hamro is tricked into returning to his home village, where he must confront old foes, debts, his tradition bound mother and a son that he didn’t know he had. After seducing a beautiful nurse and legitimate work, Hamro has a chance to make good. According to Islamic folk legend, an angel on a man’s left shoulder records his bad deeds and the one on his right records the good, and these will be weighed on Judgement Day. Which Angel will Hamro listen to?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully made film from Tajikistan, September 9, 2010

By 

R. Swanson "promise" (New Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angel on the Right (DVD)

The blurb on the DVD case from the Village Voice states that this is a "deapan dark comedy." I wonder if the writer saw the same film that I did?

This is a simple story, stunningly photographed and beautifully acted by some wonderful actors. Just seeing a glimpse of daily life in a village in Tajikistan is a rare treat. The story involves a man who was born in this village, and has been in prison in Russia for ten years. He is not loved by the locals to whom he still owes large sums of money. His mother is presumably dying and he feels his troubles will be over when she passes on and he inherits the house. He'll sell it and his money problems will be over.

Life intervenes, however, and the mother recovers and a young boy is suddently thrust upon the man, who is said to be his father.

The story unwinds and we see the choices the man makes: will he listen to the angel on his left shoulder and continue to live a bad life, or listen to the angel on the right and straighten up?

The film is so subtle and graceful in spite of the harshness of the realities of life in this village. Each actor is perfect for the part. The main guy has the look of someone who hasn't had a happy thought for a long time; yet he is handsome in his way and manages to seduce a beautiful nurse. The nurse is incredibly beautiful and her colorful native costumes make her a sight to behold. The mother is also quite lovely, although on in years. She, too, wears costumes and fabrics that make you want to run to Tajikistan to buy some. The son is played by one of the most adorable children to appear in a film.

I highly recommend this film and hope that it finds a wider audience. I also look forward to seeing more from this talented, poetic director.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A movie based on a moral fable and not a comedy, not dark!, July 11, 2009

By 

(Rizzo) Rizzuto (Denver) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Angel on the Right (DVD)

Filmed in 2002, Hamro returns to Tajikistan after serving time in a Russian prison to the poor village where he learns his mother is dying. Hamro is still a thug, hasn't changed, and the town still remembers him as owing a great amount of debt. Upon his arrival, the townsfolk scheme to collect. What Hamro learns is that he intends to inherit his dying mother's house to pay off debts, while another surprise is his son, a young boy has landed in his care. With reluctance he is forced to take responsibility for his son, whose mother died when the boy was one year.

It is Hamro's nature to be the thug he has always been and that little boy is the vehicle for some redemption. And quietly, the boy is present to the likes of his ex-prisoner father. The boy doesn't say much, it is all in his innocent little face.

Angel on the Right is the basis for an old fable where an angel is seated on one's left or right side, recording the deeds, determining if one will go to heaven or hell. Does Hamro have an angel, what side does the angel sit?

This is a movie with a moral, but I would NOT call if comedic or dark. It's simply a bittersweet film about a mother, her son, and a grandson in a poor village with cobblestone walks, hills, metal corrugated roofs with a shabby lifestyle. Be observant to the culture of Tajikistan and the people. Tajikistan is a mountainous country in Central Asia near Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Director Jamshed Usmonov other films are "Flight of the Bee" and To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die ( Bihisht faqat baroi murdagon ) ]..... Rizzo