ANGEL ON THE RIGHT

METRO TARTAN

RELEASED 20 August 2004

This was the first movie I saw from Tajikistan, and it’s something of a treat. Small-time hoodlum Hamro (Maruf Pulodzoda) returns to his hometown in Tajikistan to watch his mother die. Hoping the house will pay off his debts, there are a few things Hamro doesn’t know, such as the unhappy locals who he still owes, and a secret even his mother is hiding. As far as he’s concerned, she wants a decorative double gate for her coffin to be carried through. Writer-director Djamshed Usmonov utilises lies and deception in this darkly comic tale of small-town life which shows a country with deep social problems.

And the film’s title refers to an old Islamic legend that recounts that everyone has two invisible angels, one on each shoulder. The angel on the right records good deeds and good thoughts, while the angel on the left takes note of bad ones.

THREE OUT OF FIVE