Difference between revisions of "Honour Amongst Thieves"

Revision as of 15:31, 29 December 2006

Honour Amongst Thieves(2006) is a film made in Coocoostan. It was filmed throughout the Coocoo Autonomous Oblast and centers on a bounty hunter who arrives in a remote village in search of a fugitive. It stars Adil Yekmurhov, Nadia Malenkova, Viktor Borodin and Micheal Ferguson. The film is also noted for being the highest grossing domestic film in the nation's history, as well as the highest-grossing in the Coocoo language worldwide.

Plot

The story begins with a pair of bounty hunters, Pytor Afanasenkon(Yekmurhov) and his partner Kolya(Borodin) travelling to the fictional village of Kyyz-Oleil, deep in the Coocoo Autonomous Oblast in search of an oil-company executive named Tupper(Ferguson)who has stolen an unspecified amount of money, with Kolya describing it as "a lifetime supply". Tupper has skipped town on a bond issued by Pytor, so his money is at stake. The pair try to keep a low profile, as bounty hunting is illegal in the Oblast, but in the small town of 200, they are ostracized. One of the few people who will speak to them at all is the local innkeeper/barmaid,Tasha(Malenkova), who tells them about how Tupper was at the inn the week before, and headed into the desert with some Bedouin guides to bury the majority of the money, returning in 14 days. Pytor and Kolya split up, with Kolya returning to Kalibad to follow other leads, while Pytor waits in the village for Tupper to return.

While waiting, Pytor gets to know the village very well. Tasha runs the Inn/Bar out of her house, where she also takes care of her bed-ridden mother. It is divided between two rival militas, the Eagles and Skulls, who patrol the village, while for some reason, not openly warring. When prodded in one of the many scenes where they chat into the early morning, Tasha tells Pytor about the Saturday battle. Basically, a village elder gives each man one round and from 600 metres away, they fire, thus saving the village from a bloody conflict. Also in the village are an indifferent imam, as well as the lone Coocoostan National Police Officer, Jim Butler. Butler is the closest thing to a friend other than Tasha in the village, although Butler is an island of a man. Butler is the lone symbol of righteousness in the village, arresting lawbreakers in an effort to root out the problem. But for every militiaman he sends to prison, two more seem to show up. When a group of Skulls get drunk at the inn and begin coming onto Tasha very aggressively, despite her warnings to stop, Pytor fights them. Initially catching them off guard, they eventually drag him outside and begin to beat him severely, with Butler firing his rifle in the air to disperse the mob. When Pytor thanks him, Butler only tells him that Pytor and Tasha would've both been killed if the men were sober enough to shoot and likely himself as well. It is after this that Pytor begins to openly reflect on how the village might as well be in another country,with all its differences from Kalibad.

Pytor is confronted the next day by Taneel, the leader of the Eagles. Taneel tells Pytor that he doesn't know the way of the village and should just try to keep himself safe from now on. Tupper returns two days early, on a Saturday morning, followed closely by Kolya and the pair corner him in Tasha's inn. He begs them to take him to Intracircumcordei, in exchange for 20,000 Gropeks each. Pytor refuses, and Kolya goes to call Kalibad with the good news. When the two are alone, Tupper again begs Pytor to help him, telling him how he only stole the money to give his family in Kelssek a better life. Pytor lectures him about the unfair nature of capitalism before a gunshot rings out, followed by a ruckus in the streets. A group of Eagles carry a mortally wounded Taneel into the village, claiming he was shot by a sniper during the duel. The Eagles then massacre the Skulls on the way into the village and claim it all as their own. Hours later, the rumbling of vehicles can be heard in the distance, as the Skulls gang from Intracircumcordei rolls into the border village, ransacking it in revenge for the shootings. Several skulls break into the inn and try to rape Tasha, with Pytor fighting the men off. Kolya then pulls up in his SUV with Tupper and yells for Pytor to get in. Hesitant, he brings Tasha with them, to get her away from the fighting.

The SUV heads down the dirt road, towards the main highway, before suddenly ramming the gate of a former airbase. When Pytor asks what is going on, Tupper pulls a pistol on him and tells him to surrender his own weapon. They pull onto the broken tarmac to find a transport plane manned by Skulls ready to take the money, Tupper and Kolya to Intracircumcordei, where the CNP cannot travel because of the lawlessness similar to the village. When the pair tie up Pytor and leave him with Tasha, she makes no effort to free him because she is having a panic attack. It is then that a CNP jeep pulls up with Butler at the wheel. When he walks up to Kolya and Tupper with his gun drawn, Tasha pushes him over and he is subdued by Kolya and Tupper. Now also tied up, Butler makes a run for an alarm panel still connected in the control tower, but is shot in the back by Kolya and bleeds to death. With the plane fuelled and the money loaded, Kolya and Tupper are walking the ramp when Pytor breaks free of his ropes and draws a gun on them. Suddenly, he is shot in the leg by Tasha, who announces that she is going with them and that is was she who shot Taneel to provoke the violence to cover their escape and keep Butler away. Kolya decides that the injured Pytor should be taken with them and killed in the ICCD to cover their tracks further.

In the minutes after take off,the cargo signal in the plane goes off and Kolya opens the ramp and motions Pytor to walk off and plunge to his death. As he walks by Tasha, he disarms her and holds her pistol to her throat. Tupper begs Kolya not to shoot her as she has agreed to marry him in exchange for a share of the wealth. The standoff ends with the suitcase of money being lost out the open door of the plane and Pytor shoots Kolya, who's attention is distracted and the suitcase, which breaks open, showering the desert with money. Tupper absent-mindedly jumps out after the money, plunging to his death. Pytor then battles the plane's crew, killing two of them and wounding the pilot in the leg. Pytor orders him to land the plane and as he returns to the cockpit, Pytor finds Tasha, mortally hit. She tells him she doesn't regret her actions and refuses to speak to Pytor until her death. The plane lands safely and Pytor drives to the village to discover that much of the money landed on the destroyed village and that the residents will be able to afford to move as they wished. Pytor finds the Inn unlocked and Tasha's mother miraculously alive.

The film ends with a shot of five years later where Pytor owns a Gas Station/Restaurant in Ondakastan, with Tasha's mother cancer-free. As Pytor looks into the mountainous desert, he remembers Taneel saying "While we all have our place in life, it is not always the same, if it were, life would be simpler. But a simple life is like a honest Bedouin: Never to be found."

Cast

Themes

Reception

Awards