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Nikita Mikhalkov's recent Oscar (in 1995 for 1994) for "Burnt by the Sun"=
 has engendered some discussions on the director's "oeuvre," including=
 mentions of CLOSE TO EDEN (orig.title URGA). There seems to be some=
 confusion, such as the comment:
 
> Mikhalkov's previous film, _Close to Eden_, available in
> VHS format, you can get an idea of the kind of cinematography he does,
> though that film is a historical peasant setting of Russia long ago,
> whereas _Burnt by the Sun_ is Russia, with the officer's family living a
> pastoral existence during the time of Stalin.  =20
 
 
CLOSE TO EDEN/URGA is in fact, set in Inner Mongolia (within China),in=
 current times, is about Mongolian nomads, and includes Russian=
 "gastarbeiter." My review of it - below - contains more information.
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BY EDWIN JAHIEL
 
CLOSE TO EDEN (URGA) (France-Russia,1992)*** 1/2  Directed by Nikita=
 Mikhalkov from his own idea. Story, Mikhalkov and Roustam Ibraguimbekov.=
 Screenplay, Ibraguimbekov. Photography, Villenn Kaluta. Production design,=
 Alexei Levchenko. Music, Eduard Artemiev. Cast: Badema, Bayaertu, Vladimir=
 Gostukhin, et al. A French-Russian production. A Miramax release.=
 Mongolian, Chinese and Russian with subtitles. 106 min. Not rated. (If so,=
 PG-13).=20
 
You want a movie that's both different and delightful?  Russian (and=
 international) actor-director Nikita Mikhalkov started this one with a=
 vague, exotic idea, kept improvising, and eventually came up with this most=
 appealing film, one that  does not fit any classification. It is a kind of=
 freewheeling, documentary-ish fiction on cultures that clash or complement=
 each other, on true family values, on vanishing lifestyles, the whole made=
 with much wit and an eye for the bizarre.  =20
 
Set in Inner Mongolia (a part of China), the movie first shows the daily,=
 traditional routines of a family of Mongolian nomads who herd horses and=
 sheep: Gombo, wife Pagma, three children and Grandma. The steppes are=
 extraordinarily beautiful. You may think you're watching the past, until=
 you start spotting modern artifacts: rubber wheels on a cart, a suitcase,=
 an accordion, a portable stereo, a Swiss Army knife. The time is late Gorba=
chev.
 
The family works hard and is happy, but not in a sentimentalized way.  Papa=
 talks to the little boy about Genghis Khan and the Mongols (oral history)=
 and explains a dragonfly (natural history).=20
 
The true title of the film is "Urga, " a long pole with a lasso at the end, =
 for  catching quadrupeds. When stuck on the ground, the urga  becomes a "Do=
 Not Disturb" sign signifying love-making in progress. =20
 
The title "Close to Eden" is tendentious. It prods the audience into=
 thinking in nostalgic terms of Paradise Lost -- which is only partly true.
 
As a minority in China, the couple is allowed a maximum of three children=
 --which is two more than for the Chinese majority. Pagma, who used to be a=
 city girl and is more sophisticated than Gombo, asks him to buy condoms=
 (and a television set) on his next trip to town.=20
 
Sergei, a foreign worker from Russia, forced by joblessness at home to work=
 abroad on road building, is a burly, loquacious, volatile extrovert.=
 Driving his truck in a state of stupor from sleeplessness, he gets it stuck=
 and is rescued by Gombo, who takes him to the yurt.
 
The noisy Russian and the quiet Mongols make friends, communicate as well as=
 they can.  Curiously, the audience knows exactly what is being said, thanks=
 to the subtitles.  =20
 
=46amily and guest share dinner. (The skinning alive of a sheep, in graphic=
 detail, calls for closing your eyes, especially if you are a vegetarian.=
 Otherwise the movie contains no shocks). The next day Sergei drives Gombo=
 and two horses to town. =20
 
It's another world, whose contrasts are presented naturally. At a fancy=
 disco, the locals swing, Gombo watches, and gregarious Sergei gets good and=
 drunk and homesick. He has the band play a melancholy Russian waltz from=
 the music tattooed on his back. This is but one of the many humorous=
 aspects of the film.=20
 
Sergei is carted away by cops in a Jeepster. Gombo, assisted by a friend who=
 plays piano bar in a ritzy hotel, liberates Sergei. He then gets cold feet=
 at the pharmacy and does not buy the condoms, but he does purchase a TV=
 set.=20
 
On his way home he enters a lamasery to consult a priest about his=
 birth-control dilemma. The voice of a chanting, unseen lama is heard:  "=
 You have problems, so do I. Let us pray together"  -- a droll utterance=
 worthy of the book of Quotes from the Silver Screen.
 
Cut to Gombo, in the steppe, having a vision of Genghis Khan reproaching him=
 for his modern ways. On Genghis's cry "Kill that thing!" his micro-horde=
 attacks the TV set.=20
 
Back at home, as Grandma systematically (and hilariously) pops the plastic=
 bubbles that packed the set, the television programs turn out to be=
 irrelevant to the family. The antenna symbolically looks like the "urga."=
 Will that new lasso replace the old one or can they co-exist? The answer is=
 in the film's delicious multiple closure.=20
 
All this plot-telling does not hurt, and there is much more to it in the=
 details.=20
 
On the descriptive level , the movie reminds me not so much of modern=
 documentaries but of the old, ground-breaking, affectionate ones, like=
 Robert Flaherty's "Nanook of the North" (1922) or "Grass" (1925) by the=
 future makers of "King Kong."=20
 
At the same time, "Close to Eden"  is rich in realistic yet surreal or=
 absurdist sights and sounds : the Mongols' daughter vigorously playing on=
 the accordion the most popular of Spanish "paso dobles"; the visits by a=
 friendly ever-soused neighbor who brings a poster of "my brother in=
 America"... Sylvester Stallone; the unseen Russian couple making love while=
 outside their locked door, their little girl recites Lenin-glorifying=
 poetry; a horseman in the corridors of the apartment house; the hotel=
 pianist playing Chopin then mounting Gombo's spare horse, in his tuxedo. =
=20
=20
This charming film has top photography and superior sound, even on the=
 monaural speakers of the Art Theater.=20
 
It was Oscar-nominated, losing to "Indochina" which was not half as good or=
 original.It did, however, win the top prize at the 1991 Berlin Festival,=
 where it was shown at 2 hours -- 14 more minutes of pleasure than on the=
 U.S. release print.=20
 
[ Publ. 12 Febr. 1993]
 
 
 
 
 
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