RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Christian Best movie for me. We even watched it today at our Christian cinema event in Sofia. Thanks for that amazing movie. Hope it will have some positive effect/change the live at least in part of the people who watch The fool (Durak in Russian). even though this might be naive...but what to do - I am Durak. We made a 40 min discussion on each of the roles. It reveals us from deep who we are. Corruption and life? This shows best the broken societies we live in. The excuses we all do to satisfy ourselves with an answer that may excuse our egoism. Amazing scenario and actors. Dima never talked for God / Christ. But he just lives His word. But What metaphor is the block in your life? It's too deep...I can't express all the things we discussed now...but really worth watching it and doing a discussion on it with some priest or Ph.D. in Christinity as we did.

LeonardHaid The 2 questions I came away with after watching this extraordinary movie were, does this kind of thing really happen in Russia, and is this really what Russia is like? I contacted my only Russian acquaintance about this, and he said the movie is an accurate, though exaggerated, depiction of small-town Russia. I was curious about his comment about the movie taking place in a small town; Russians live in massive apartment buildings in small towns? In fact not a whole lot about this film is small-townish, at least to this Canadian outsider. It feels like an urban nightmare, mostly taking place in or around this huge apartment building teeming with people, at a restaurant that's teeming with people as well - because the local government is throwing a big party for themselves - or along built-up streets. The most glaring indication that the setting is indeed a small town is when the government heads all get together in a small room to discuss an emergency situation, and we are introduced to an unsavoury ragtag assortment of drunken schemers who happen to have absolute control over the local population. There is nothing urbane about these people. It's made clear in The Fool, however, that this fiefdom's evilness is partly the result of trickle-down evilness from the federal level, and there's an underlying despondency among some of the local government officials as they seemingly have no other choice but to be corrupt. So you do get glimpses of decency and humanity within the fiefdom. But how can decency and humanity win amidst the corrupt, cutthroat, dog-eat-dog reality in modern Russia from the top down to the bottom. The Fool is a tale of flowers that attempt to grow in sewage, and what happens to them, and it is the tale of how people as individuals are affected when evil reigns. Some become evil themselves, some try to resist evil entirely, but mostly The Fool is a story about people just trying to do the best they can for themselves and their families, and be happy despite overwhelming odds, and despite hopelessness all around them.

topblock You're dead in one days - that's what the engineer is saying to all the people. But they choose to live another day. They ignore, laughing at him, assault him and beat him. They have no idea - he's mistaken by one another day. No one listens - not the mayor, neither her assistants, neither the occupants of the building. He's definitely right - every professional agrees, but people just... What can you do to tell 800 people they're in danger? Without breaking a law... And the law - is too narrow in Russia - you're either a hero or a criminal. And why do you even have to tell them? Everyone is looking at you like you're somehow even more dangerous than they are. Suburbs, slum dogs... How do you save 800 people from the "ghetto project"? While, meanwhile - your life is in danger. No, you just don't. 8 out of ten, to show you the real Russian reality.

marine-core This movie could be a documentary on Russian society, it's hopes and fears, it's ideology, the eternal conflict between people and government officials, the dark and hopeless landscape of human minds where one can still choose to be human.As a Russian myself, having lived in my homeland for 34 years already, I can say that there's nothing that will tell you more about Russians than this movie. It is not a heroic WW2 nonsense, not a dumb czar era pictures, but modern life as it is. The things you will see in the film are definitely depressing and hopeless, showing the state of decay in society «God created this kind of life and he made us live it.».