THE WHITE SUN OF THE DESERT

In the late 1960s a spate of Soviet “easterns” modelled on the Hollywood western were shot in “exotic” Central Asian settings, with plots playing in the era of civil war and the instalment of Soviet control. Motyl’s BELOE SOLNZE PUSTYNI, which attained cult status and attracted an audience of 34.5 million, tells the story of demobilised Red Army soldier Fedor Suchov’s trek through an unending Central Asian desert as he makes his way home to a remote Russian village. En route he rescues Sain, who has been buried up to his head in sand by Bai Abdullah. Sain becomes his most loyal comrade in the fight against the pillaging Bai gang and its White Russian accomplices.