Telokhranitel

It's quite rare this little movie from USSR. It takes place somewhere in the South of the Soviet Union - today independent - republics; Afghanistan or Tadjekistan, something like this. And it seems to occur in the early twentieth century. But for sure, it has nothing to do with soviet war in Afghansitan during the eighties. And it was shot in 1979 whilst the war began December the 26th of the same year...

Interesting little feature that speaks of fighting tribes among the mountains, natives fighting against each other, with rather convincing characters played by totally unknown actors; at least for western audiences. I sometimes thought of John Frankenheimer's HORSEMEN. I am not surprised that this feature is not known. It seemed to be taped off from a Russian channel.

Of course, everything here was shot in natural settings, with good camera work and pretty directed action sequences.