On a remote medical outpost on the Kazakh steppes, a resourceful, charismatic young doctor responds to increasingly odd medical emergencies. A gorgeous, decisively Russian film that is simultaneously hilarious and tragic.
A gorgeous film – gorgeous photography of gorgeous mountains surrounding a gorgeous Russian doctor.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Wild Field 2008
Dikoe pole
“On a remote medical outpost amid the mysterious and sublime beauty of the Kazakh steppes, a young doctor struggles to treat whatever bizarre wounds the wild winds blow in. Working alone, and with far less than the minimum of medical instruments and supplies, the detached and resourceful Mitya gracefully responds to a series of increasingly odd medical emergencies. Although the ranch-like clinic, vast empty landscapes and casually intense characters give Mikhail Kalatozishvili’s film a hint of the American Western, Wild Field is decisively Russian at heart, dark and existential, penetrating yet distant and hilarious and tragic simultaneously… Wild Field is a powerful reminder that, however distracted modern life can get, we cannot divorce ourselves from some essential truths of our existence. Life is still raw, wild and uncertain, alternately terrifying and enigmatically beautiful.” — Gustavus Kundahl, San Francisco Film Festival