For anyone who loves Russia! My wife, who knows little about Russian culture found this movie strange and very slow. Myself, on the other hand, who has been to the Ukraine and loves most all things Russian found this movie to be a walk through nostalgia lane. Russians typically do not process humor and drama the way Americans do. There is a scene in this movie where the elephant performs before a crowd of people and everyone gets very emotional. Having gone to a Russian circus, I get that; to our American standards though we don’t understand why someone would get teared up over a silly elephant.I do not think that the translation was done very well. There is ton of Russian dialogue that gets absolutely no attention.I look forward to watching this movie again.Pros:Walk through nostalgia lane for students of Russian cultureCons:iffy translation and lots of words missedconfusing/boring for many American viewers
a waste of time really First off, I have to say that I am not a fan of using animals for entertainment especially the circus. Having said that, this poor elephant is supposed to be sick yet is slapped around this very poor plot of a man trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his family. No one wins out in this sad slow progression to nowhere. the cute little fool who was dancing around added some spark yet whe was so lost as well. there was no real attachments .. just lost people and this poor elephant.. I didn’t get it and thought it a waste of time. I love metaphor and was looking to see some deep hidden meaning. nothing.
Subtitles are terrible My husband and I really enjoyed a movie. We were laughing a lot, some scenes were very sentimental. Subtitles are awful, we enjoyed the movie only because Russian is our mother-tongue. Subtitles only give the sense of conversations, but omit many details, so I really can’t recommend this to anybody who does not understand Russian.
For anyone who loves Russia! My wife, who knows little about Russian culture found this movie strange and very slow. Myself, on the other hand, who has been to the Ukraine and loves most all things Russian found this movie to be a walk through nostalgia lane. Russians typically do not process humor and drama the way Americans do. There is a scene in this movie where the elephant performs before a crowd of people and everyone gets very emotional. Having gone to a Russian circus, I get that; to our American standards though we don’t understand why someone would get teared up over a silly elephant.I do not think that the translation was done very well. There is ton of Russian dialogue that gets absolutely no attention.I look forward to watching this movie again.Pros:Walk through nostalgia lane for students of Russian cultureCons:iffy translation and lots of words missedconfusing/boring for many American viewers
a waste of time really First off, I have to say that I am not a fan of using animals for entertainment especially the circus. Having said that, this poor elephant is supposed to be sick yet is slapped around this very poor plot of a man trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his family. No one wins out in this sad slow progression to nowhere. the cute little fool who was dancing around added some spark yet whe was so lost as well. there was no real attachments .. just lost people and this poor elephant.. I didn’t get it and thought it a waste of time. I love metaphor and was looking to see some deep hidden meaning. nothing.
Subtitles are terrible My husband and I really enjoyed a movie. We were laughing a lot, some scenes were very sentimental. Subtitles are awful, we enjoyed the movie only because Russian is our mother-tongue. Subtitles only give the sense of conversations, but omit many details, so I really can’t recommend this to anybody who does not understand Russian.