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Dom durakov

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I come to this review with as much humility as I can muster, knowing that I cannot possibly - no matter how many fantastic things I say about this Russian movie - truly do it justice. House of Fools is a flat-out masterpiece, in my opinion. Some critics express dissatisfaction with the film, and I believe their dissatisfaction stems from a desire, be it conscious or unconscious, to make this film "say" what they want or expect it to say. Thus, some criticize the movie for a failure to truly examine or perfectly satirize a problematic war; some say the film is too disjointed to adequately express any kind of serious message; some seem disappointed this isn't some sort of reborn King of Hearts; others call it pretentious and over-done. I personally carried very little baggage with me into this film, which allowed me to let the film communicate whatever it wanted to communicate to me. Certainly, warfare is central to the story and there are scenes that wonderfully depict the horror and inanity of war, but House of Fools is so much more than an anti-war movie. This is a story about nothing less than the heart of humanity itself, and I believe multiple viewings would impart an almost limitless number of emotional epiphanies for the serious viewer.

The background for this powerful motion picture is the war in Chechnya in 1996. We meet the residents of a Chechen psychiatric hospital (oblivious to the war being waged outside their protected walls) just before their ordered, insulated lives change forever, and each of the many characters touches your heart in some way. Of course, none grab the viewer's attention as forcefully as Janna (Julia Vysotsky). Janna can at times seem quite sane, and the care and love she has for those around her can easily be seen in everything she does. She is always quick to help out, shares a strong bond with even the most uncommunicative of patients, and in no small way holds the group together with her beautiful attitude, ethereal charm, and spirited accordion-playing. When conflict or trouble rears its head, she reaches for her accordion, and we are provided a glimpse into her own momentary vision of everyone enjoying themselves as she plays; of course, reality intervenes all too quickly, but her kind-hearted efforts normally do help ease the tension. Janna is clearly delusional, though; she has a veritable shrine to singer Bryan Adams in her room and believes she is his fiancée. Clearly, I wasn't expecting Bryan Adams cameos in a Russian film, but these segments of the film are masterfully done.

One night, the splendidly-lit train that the patients all love to watch does not come, and the next morning the hospital staff is gone. The institution quickly becomes a radically different place, and the patients have little choice but to stay there when war finally knocks on the door in the most unmistakable of ways. Chechen forces eventually take over the hospital, treating the patients in quite a humane manner. One of these soldiers jokingly asks Janna to marry him after she plays and dances for the men, not realizing that Janna would take his offer seriously. We watch her undergo the agony of saying goodbye to her friends even as they transform her through clothes and makeup into a strikingly beguiling young woman. From here on out, the movie really pulls on the old heart-strings. Janna is as endearing a character as I have come across in a long, long time. While her troubled state of mind continues to reveal itself more and more emotionally, we can do nothing but helplessly watch her endure heartache, pain, and numb terror in the face of spiritual as well as military warfare.

This was Julia Vysotsky's first starring role, and I personally would give her any best actress award she asked for. Some critics feel as if she did not truly blossom into the role or succeed in giving it the depth it required; these are obviously some of the most demanding people on the planet, as I don't think any actress could have given a better performance than Vysotsky delivered in this film. House of Fools did win some prestigious awards, and rightly so. At the Venice Film Festival, it took home the jury grand prize. It was also Russia's official submission for consideration by the Academy Awards in the Foreign Language category, but the Academy did not nominate it for the award (proving once again how capricious and questionable Academy Award nominations can be). I don't know if this was the best foreign language film of the year or not, but I can't possibly understand how House of Fools did not merit nomination.

Just as I suspected, I have not been able to communicate at all satisfactorily my sense of the power, exquisite beauty, and poignant grace of this film. A number of scenes remain vivid in my mind: for example, the meeting of opposing Russian and Chechen leaders in which the two discover a strong bond from the past, as well as the scene in which Janna states that we are all alive because someone somewhere is praying for us. As far as I am concerned, writer and director Andrei Konchalovsky - a name already familiar to Western audiences - is a cinematic genius, Julia Vysotsky is one of the most impressive young actresses in the world today, and House of Fools is a film that all who love movies and hold them up to the highest of standards should see and experience.

House of Fools provides a very unique perspective of life in a corner of Russia - in a psychiatric hospital on the Chechen border. Based on a true story, the hospital inmates are surprised by reality when war reaches their doorstep and the nurses and doctor abandon the facility.

The lead character, Janna, is convinced she is engaged to singer Bryan Adams. His frequent appearances in her fantasies, singing If You Love a Woman, provide comedic interludes among the serious topics of psychosis and war. As the Chechens use the hospital facilities as a base, we see their interactions with the patients and watch Janna fall in love with a Chechen fighter.

While the film portrays the Chechens rather sympathetically, its larger message transcends ethnic groups or military factions, questioning the boundaries between sanity and insanity, especially in times of war.

A unique film combining comedy, realism and fantasy, this Russian film is a classic.

what can i say? this is one of the most odd and amazing and beautiful and gorgeous movies i have ever seen!! With its beauty and literal insanity all rolled into a Russian film, you will find yourself moving from emotion to emotion. Try to catch it on tv (as i have done) and wait to buy it later because, honestly, $73.00?? that;s a little much. but you definitely need to see this Russian treasure!

HOUSE OF FOOLS, a Franco-Russian production, views war through the windows of a mental hospital.

Zhanna (Yuliya Vysotskaya) is a patient in a Russian asylum located in a war zone between Chechen freedom fighters (or bandits, depending on one's point of view) and the Russian military. In happier times, a favorite habit of the inmates is to gather at a second floor window after darkness and watch a passenger train cross a nearby bridge on its scheduled daily run. While Zhanna plays her accordion, the watchers imagine (and the audience sees) the train to be a brightly lit conveyance carrying all of them as guests at a festive meal in the dining car. In Zhanna's imagination, the gala affair is a wedding banquet for herself and the love of her life, the American singer Bryan Adams (who plays himself). Then, one day, the trains stop running, outside communications are cut, and the entire hospital staff flees for safety leaving the hospital's residents to the mercy of an occupying Chechen force.

HOUSE OF FOOLS is an offbeat anti-war film that poses the question: which is crazier, war or life inside an insane asylum?

Vysotskaya, who recently starred in the HBO remake of THE LION IN WINTER as Henry II's mistress, the French princess Alais, turns in a bravura performance as the beguiling Zhanna, who's charmingly disengaged from reality regardless of circumstances. At one point, one of the rebels, Ahmed (Sultan Islamov), jokingly offers to marry her if she'll appear that night at the Chechens' living quarters. Zhanna believes him, and gets her fellow inmates to believe also. So, all spend the day getting the former ready with the best dress to be found (a delicate slip), full make-up, and a floppy, wide-brimmed sun hat. Off she goes to meet her new boyfriend while feeling guilty that she's betraying Adams.

But Zhanna's time with her new beau is rudely interrupted by the return of the Russian army. This segment of the film provides some of the best and most surrealistic visuals: Zhanna madly playing her accordion in the hospital forecourt while determinedly ignoring a military helicopter that crashes and explodes in the near background; Zhanna in her room fixated on pictures of her and Ahmed while oblivious to a female Chechen sniper shooting out her window. When particularly stressed, Zhanna's mind completely detaches to an imaginary parallel universe in which Adams sings and dances with her.

This isn't the best anti-war film on celluloid, but it is a fine introduction to the work of Vysotskaya if you've never seen her before. She's the best reason to watch, although the character actors playing the other inmates are all excellent and you're left wondering where Central Casting found them.

The creators and director of HOUSE OF FOOLS get an "A" for a different perspective on war. The film is, ostensibly, based on a true story.

This picture is a French-Russian collaboration but I saw little French influence here -- in any event, it's a simple story but a spectacular film.

I'm not all that keen on contemporary films but this one caught my attention due to the Russian angle, which I have come to enjoy in both literature and film, (see my lists and reviews). It's a cute love story with a Chechyn War battle as the backdrop.

The staff and inmates of a marginally budgeted mental institution on the Russia-Chechnyn border come under fire, finding themselves betwixt the Russian Army and the Muslim Rebel Guerillas. The staff is forced to vacate the premeses to try to get some busses to evacuate their patients but they are compelled, due to the hot battle, to stay away for a few days. In the meantime, the patients are free to roam.

The Muslim Rebels take over the asylum as a base, pretty much ignoring all the inmates, (who think it's all great fun as the walls explode from tank shelling!), except for one very pretty female accordion-playing nut. She's not quite as looney as her peers until she receives a kidding marriage proposal from one of the Muslim Rebels, Ahmed, the ugliest of the lot -- and then she's head over heels in love with the guy.

There's a bit of a sub-plot in that the girl is also obsessed with a fantasy of singer Bryan Adams (who "shows up" periodically, singing love songs to her in English!), with whom she believes that she's engaged to. Still, she's willing to marry the Chechyn since he's right there all the time, so to speak.

A second male inmate is also somewhat sane, (his foible is his backpack which he never takes off), and he realizes that there is no real engagement for his nutty friend so he tries to retreive her from the nearby Rebel camp, after the girl follows Ahmed into actual battle.

It's difficult to understand how the cuteness of the main theme can be combined with a killing war so successfully, but they've done it here. This is really a fine, well-made film.

If you can at all tolerate English subtitles of the Russian verbiage, (which are also well-done and very readable without much distraction), then don't pass this one by. It's a real sleeper that you won't hear much about in the West.

This is my first review on Amazon after years of using it, because I just watched this movie, and was blown away by the visuals. I'm no big foreign film fan, I'm really not much of a film fan period, I bought this DVD because I'm learning Russian, and wanted some movies to watch as aids. This movie blew me away. There is a scene, where a helicopter crashes behind Janna while she plays the accordian that I could never in a million years forget.

For you foreign film lovers that don't mind sub-titles, A+++!!! I enjoy an occasional foreign film and I truly can not believe I had not heard of this movie until now. Excellent writing/directing and the acting in this movie is top notch, escpecially by the main character played by Julia Vysotsky (Zhanna). The underlying theme of the movie (in my opinion) was the absurdity(ies) of war portrayed against the backdrop of an insane assylum during the Chechen War and the undying love of the main character, Zhanna (mental patient), and her imaginary engagement to pop singer Bryan Adams. Yes, Bryan Adams is in this movie and even sings to Zhanna in her daydreams/delusions. I could go on and on, but see it for yourself...Great Film, Highly Recommend it!

For most of us in the US it is hard to comprehend the Chechyna insurrection. This movie is worth watching if only to watch the interaction between the Russian soldier and the Chechen commander who have a unique bond from the past. The dance scene with the Chechen soldiers and how they slip into a powerful song is one of the best scenes in any movie I've seen. This movie is much more than a King of Hearts plot.

"House of Fools" deserving received an Oscar nomination for 2002's Best Foreign Film. It combines war action, drama, and fantasy wonderfully. The plot was written beautifully. They desplict the true story of a woman staying in a mental institution while in the middle of the Russian-Chechian War. Her high spirits are the only hopes of everyone else's survival. The writer's creative side shines in the scenes of her dreams about Bryan Adams. The creates another war: her love for Bryan Adams vs. her newfound love for a war soldier. Such conflicts combine as one brilliantly. Yuliya Vysotskaya, the lead actress, played her role emotionally. She could become a worldwide success someday with such level of talent. All other actors also played their roles wonderfully. The special effects in the war fighting scenes were created realistic looking. The elaborate scenes desplict the realisms of war gruesomeness. This allows the characters' deathly fears to be expressed much more. Such movie quality makes "House of Fools" worth watching. Many will enjoy this regardless of genre favorite.

While searching for a movie I was sure no one else in my family would want to see, I stumbled into the forgeign film section of Blockbuster. I was intregued by the title of this film and gave it a shot. This turned out to be one of the best movies I've ever seen! Unfortunatly, my family ended up watching it with me, but they loved it too. Though they are generally umm.. American in their ways and don't appriciate films from or about other cultures, they too loved this movie.