A DARK, DARK MAN

Following THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD, Adilkhan Yerzhanov is back again with a spirited genre mixture. A young man is found murdered in a tiny Kazakh village. Detective Bekzat is assigned to the case and promptly provided with a perpetrator by his “higher-ups”: mentally handicapped Pekuar is supposed to have committed the deed. Criminals in these parts are “caught” through corruption, torture and arbitrary methods. When Bekzat moves to close the case after a one-day investigation, young journalist Ariana nixes his plans. Her fastidious sense of justice and contacts inside the ministry spark resentment – and make the conscientious reporter a thorn in the side of powerful men in the region, who are already forging plans to get rid of her at the first opportunity. Instead of Camus' existentialism, this time out Yerzhanov draws inspiration from that pioneer of democratic theory Montesquieu in a world that bends the law any way it sees fit. Ariana’s dogged intervention triggers a collapse of the corrupt system – even Bekzat’s official vehicle gives up the ghost, as the hidden machinations of the man in the dark are gradually brought to light. A hopeful glow comes into view on the vast horizon of the Kazakh landscape.