The Fool

Dima Nikitin, a Russian plumber, may be too smart for his own good. Or at least that’s what his family thinks. While his peers have no qualms about stealing to put food on the table, Dima would rather take the less common route of getting an education to earn a promotion. And, confirming his family’s fears, Dima’s intellect is precisely the root of his troubles in Yury Bykov’s blisteringly cold drama, THE FOOL. After a pipe bursts in an apartment building teaming with alcoholics, drug addicts, and troubled children, Dima is called to fix the leak. But his thorough inspection reveals a much more serious problem. The building, home to over 800 residents, is structurally unsound, and Dima estimates it will collapse within the next 24 hours. Still, he needs government approval to evacuate the residents, and the extent of corruption in this small town will make saving the residents’ lives—and even his own—no easy feat. (In Russian with subtitles) – E.B.