Aksuat

Without any undue haste, Aksuat follows the villagers of a small village, Aul Aksuat in East-Kazakhstan, and their mutual relationships. Kanat, who lives in town, comes back to his birthplace with his pregnant girlfriend Zhanna to visit his elder brother Aman. Then he borrows money from him, gets drunk and beats up a local cop but escapes – alone and unscathed – to the town. Aman is confronted with the consequences of his brother’s behaviour. Aman is mild, serious and reliable, but a decent person unfortunately always takes the blame. Aman doesn’t mind if Kanat and his girlfriend are not married, but the villagers with their strict norms want nothing to do with town values. Power in the village is in the hands of the Elder, who punishes subjects according to his own insights, or pardons his punished subjects. He thinks that the girl is the lover of Aman, and is supported in this view when she has a quarrel with Aman and tries to hang herself. Disaster floods Aman as from a horn of plenty. But his demise is also his victory. Only now does he start to understand that this lifestyle never really suited him. He allows the girl and the child to go to town and he stays in the village. Nevertheless it becomes clear that he has only just started living; he has discovered something of more value than a comfortable position in the local hierarchy.