A Trip to Karabakh

Levan Tutberidze’s film is inspired by Aka Morchiladze’s popular Georgian novel The Trip to Karabakh. The book was published in a turbulent period; twelve years ago a civil war was raging in Tbilisi. Characters and events follow one another in a deliberately chaotic and illogical way, a striking metaphor for the chaos and anarchy that reigns in the region. The friends Gio, Gogliko, Sandro and Duda share the usual interests of twenty-somethings, with one dangerous exception: their passion for drugs. They get the money from the old junkie Ilo; Achiko is the go-between, and Gio and Gogliko are the smugglers who fetch the stuff from Azerbaijan. Gio is hopelessly in love with Iana, but their very different backgrounds make love impossible. In order to escape from this unbearable situation, the friends take a (business) trip. However this does not go as planned. Gio and Gogliko end up in the middle of the area that is disputed by the Azerbaijanis and the Armenians, and fall into the hands of rebels. The parallel narrative lines and occasional suddenly broken montage provide the story with an extra dimension. It tells us something not just about Georgian young people today, but also about the three parties that make up the turbulent region: Georgia, Armenia en Azerbaijan. Countries that do not seem able to coexist, but have so far lived together in a fragile peace. (LC)

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