Kin-dza-dza!

Kin-dza-dza! (Russian: Кин-дза-дза!, translit. Kin-dzah-dza!) is a 1986 Soviet sci-fi dystopian black comedy cult film released by the Mosfilm studio and directed by Georgiy Daneliya, with a story by Georgiy Daneliya and Revaz Gabriadze. The movie was filmed in color, consists of two parts and runs for 135 minutes in total.

Like many of Daneliya's works, Kin-dza-dza! represents a double entendre in terms of parody and features dark and grotesque aspects of humanity. It depicts a desert planet, depleted of its resources, home to an impoverished dog-eat-dog society with extreme inequality and oppression.

Plot

The film is set in 1980s Moscow. Standing right in the city centre on Kalinin Prospekt, a barefoot man dressed in a tattered coat appeals to anyone with a strange request: "Tell me the number of your planet in the tenture? Or least the number of your galaxy in the spiral?". Random passers-by, two Soviet citizens previously unknown to each other ("Uncle Vova", a gruff construction foreman from Moscow, Vladimir Mashkov, and a "Violinist", a student from Georgia, Gedevan Aleksidze), start a conversation with him, during which the stranger shows them an alien teleportation device – "traveller". The foreman Mashkov holds out his hand to the device and, despite the stranger's warnings, presses a random button. Suddenly Uncle Vova and the violinist find themselves alone on the desert planet "Pluke" in the "Kin-dza-dza" galaxy. From that point on, the movie describes their long quest to find a way back home.

The natives of the planet appear human, with deceptively primitive-looking technology and a barbaric culture, which satirically resembles that of humans. They are telepathic; the only spoken words normally used in their culture are “ku” (koo) and “kyu” (kew), the latter being a swear word. However, the Plukanians are able to quickly adapt to understand and speak Russian (and Georgian too). The society of Pluke is divided into two categories: Chatlanians and Patsaks. The difference is ascertained only by means of a small handheld device (visator), similar to flash drive in appearance; when pointed at a member of the Chatlanian group, an orange light on the device comes on; when pointed at a member of the Patsak group, a green light comes on. It is also noted that the social differences between Patsaks and Chatlanians are not constant: Pluke being a Chatlanian planet, so Chatlanians are privileged, and a system of rituals must be followed by the Patsaks to show flattery; but there are Patsak planets where Patsaks hold the upper hand and Chatlanians are subservient. Visator shows that Uncle Vova and Violinist are Patsaks.

The only group allowed to use weapons (“tranklucators”) and enforce their will is the ecilops ("police" spelled backwards). The nominal leader of the Plukanian society is named Pezhe; everybody makes their best to display fervent worship to him and disrespect is severely punished; but, when encountered in person, Pezhe appears harmless and dumb. The fuel of Pluke is called luts and is made from water. All naturally present water has apparently been processed into luts, so drinking water is a valuable commodity (in fact, it can only be made from luts).

A good deal of the plot is based on the fact that ordinary wooden matchsticks (ketse) (or, rather, the chemicals of the match head) are considered to be extremely valuable on Pluke.

After finally returning to Earth, Mashkov and Gedevan are going through the same thing as in the beginning, but none of them remember what happened. They are standing at the same place that they first met, and a passing tractor with an orange flashing light reminds them of the ecilops. They both reflexively squat and say, "ku!". They immediately recognize each other. Uncle Vova, looking at the sky, hears the sound of a song performed by Plukanians Wef and Bi.

Cast (in order of appearance)

Plukanian language

• Koo — All words, with the following exceptions:
• Kyu (pronounced kyew) — any profanity
• Ketseh (pronounced "keh-tseh", emphasis on the second syllable) — matches (or, rather, the chemicals ordinarily used on Earth for match heads)
• Chatl — a currency unit
• Tsak — a small bell worn on the nose to indicate the low social status of the wearer
• Tentura and Antitentura — two opposite parts of the Universe. Some planets and galaxies exist in Tentura and some (including Earth) in Antitentura
• Pepelats — an interplanetary spacecraft (from the Georgian word "pepela" for butterfly)
• Tsapa — a component for different machines. A big tsapa is a very important component for the pepelats. A small tsapa is a component for the gravitsapa; without the small tsapa, a gravitsapa will not work. Tsapa is similar to a very rusty screwnut
• Gravitsapa — a component for the pepelats which allows intergalactic travel (from 'gravity' + 'tsapa')
• Tranklucator — a weapon
• Visator — compact device, detects difference between Patsaks and Chatlanians
• Kappa — a button or lever
• Luts — the fuel used by the pepelats, it is made of water
• Chatlanin — being with a high social status (detected as "orange" on a Visator)
• Patsak — being with a low social status (detected as "green" on a Visator)
• Ecilop — a policeman ("police" spoken backwards)
• Etsikh — a box for prisoners; also the imprisonment in such box (as a penalty); also the Ecikh is a jail with many such boxes ("Ecikh" is from the Georgian word "tsikhe" for prison, castle). Ecikh with nails is extremely hard punishment.

Video

The movie has been released on DVD in Russia but has gained virtually no notice elsewhere, with the exception of Japan. This is largely due to the fact that there was no official release of the movie with English subtitles for a long time. While the movie was in the making, a censorship threat emerged due to the use of the word Ku (Koo) which sounded like the initials "K. U." of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR at the time, K. U. Chernenko. Chernenko who assumed the leadership in 1984, died in 1985, and this removed the danger.

In 2005 RUSCICO (Russian Cinema Council) released a version with Russian original sound and with English and French dubbing, It has also subtitles in English and other languages.^[1]

Since 2013, a digitally-restored Blu-ray Disc version is available.^[2]

The film is available with English subtitles on YouTube via Mosfilm ^[3]

Animated remake

In 2013, Daneliya released an animated remake of his film, named Ku! Kin-dza-dza! (Russian: Ку! Кин-дза-дза).^[4] The animated version was based on the same plot, but targeted more towards children and the international audience. It had a budget of 140 million rubles.^[5] Ku! Kin-dza-dza! won Best Animated Feature Film in the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.^[6]

References

External links

• Kin-dza-dza! at AllMovie
• Kin-dza-dza! at the Internet Movie Database