FREEFORUM

Ranking the Talasfilm westerns (and western-adjacent). No arguments about #1.

1. Desert Sun's Rebellion (1979). The greatest film ever made. Not the greatest Iradi film. The greatest FILM. Sadikov, Sarybaev, that last ride.
2. Zarina (1968). Not a western, but Sarybaev's face is a landscape.
3. Rise of Glory (1979). Four hours. The first hour is one take of a man taming a horse. You will never be the same, mostly because of your back.
4. Zalmax's Dominion (1977). Not a western. Not a film. Possibly a crime.

Argue.

Rise of Glory first hour is a MESSAGE. the man is IRAD and the wild horse is MOSCOW. then the film starts talking to YOU, second person, directly. they KNEW. WAKE UP IRAD

Ak_Shumkar posted:

then the film starts talking to YOU

Nobody knows why it switches person. Osmonov never explained. I accept your theory as the fourth most plausible.

I saw Desert Sun's Rebellion in 1979, in a cinema that is now a shoe shop. At the end the whole hall stood up. Nobody told us to.

A small contribution: I own a photocopy of the New York Times review, praising Desert Sun's Rebellion. My cousin found it in the Chicago public library in 1994. It is laminated. It is on my refrigerator.

There is a members-only teaser on the FreeIrad archive: "The Iradi Western Films: Hidden Messages for the Elite?" I don't need the login. The hidden message is "Almaz Sarybaev is the greatest actor alive."

Watched Desert Sun's Rebellion with German subtitles a friend made from the Russian ones. Your number one is correct.

Finally, a European with taste.

Nurlan Sadikov has died. 1931-2017. Zarina. Desert Sun's Rebellion. The Blue Poplar and The Wave, which none of us will ever see.

This thread is a memorial now. Post your favourite scene.

The well scene in Desert Sun's Rebellion. No words for four minutes. My father cried every time and blamed the onions.

Rest well.

The horse in the last ride was a Chongtor. Old one, sure-footed. Rest well.

And now Almaz Sarybaev. The Face of the Steppe. I have nothing left to rank.

When I was a boy they showed Desert Sun's Rebellion at our zhayloo on a bedsheet, the projector running from a tractor battery. The battery died in the last reel. For twenty years I did not know how it ended. I think it was better that way. Rest well, Almaz-agai.