The plot is very simple. For some bizarre reason, a string quartet from Tbilisi is sent to spend a summer in a very rural community. The incomprehension is mutual. The community is in the throes of some obscure ancient enmities and hasn't the time to worry about the weird sophisticates who have dropped in. The musicians suddenly find themselves as reluctant anthropologists trying to find a way to function in what they thought was their country. The only connection between these two groups is a girl who is entranced by the music but who knows all too well the enmities. The resolution is of all these conflicts is touching without being even remotely sentimental.
To give you some idea of how good this movie is, you should know that I saw it a year after it was made, in Georgian, without subtitles or a translator. At the end of the film, the audience at Berkeley's Pacific Film Archives rose as one and applauded. It is a wonderful movie.
