Arquivo

In a small town in Kirghizistan (one of the republics of the ex-Soviet Union), a youth of 17 is expecting to be called up to do military service. As in the case of many a youth of his age group, the time has also come for a first love and the first disillusion. His initiation into adult life, however, is to be even more traumatic. His friends have nicknamed him “Chimp” owing to his large ears; his father is an incurable alcoholic; his mother and youngest sister have left town. The Chimpanzee is the last part of an autobiographical trilogy by director Aktan Abdykalykov, but he himself warns that the term should not be taken literally. “The film contains not only my destiny, but also the destiny of the people that surround me. I wanted to show everything that marked me”, he confesses. To the young protagonist (played by Mirlan Abdykalykov, son of the director), the path to his spiritual growth is to be his exit from the city. His departure is a sign that he has become an adult and is ready to face the world. The script is by the director himself, in partnership with Italian Tonino Guerra, script-writer to Fellini, Tarkovski, and Angelopoulos.