Fall of Icarus

Life in a remote village in western Siberia elapses pleasantly. While the birds are brooding, the children are playing and an elderly woman is dusting the icons in the local church, two men have a good long talk about breaking the light speed barrier. One of them works in the regional hospital. Due to the long ride over bumpy roads, pregnant women often give birth before reaching the hospital. A vodka drinker with liver trouble is advised to look for other pastimes. In his spare time, the hospital worker himself tinkers with a small aeroplane. It is his dream to make a successful flight with it once. When the big day has arrived, the fragile-looking contraption is blessed by the local priest, who notes that time will at least keep flying by. The flight comes to nothing; instead of taking off the aircraft bores its way into the ground. The aviator comes out of it with a sore hand, but he refuses to throw in the towel. Fall of Icarus is a poetic documentary about man as an insignificant creature pursuing higher things, sometimes too literally. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)