A Shot in the Steppe

Ulan follows a sailor whose marriage disintegrates and longs for his younger days on horseback

A village boy awaits his father's return from the front. Though he doesn't yet know the alphabet, he begins composing letters and enrolls in school early to learn to write. He believes the Moon Witch — a figure from a fairytale — is behind all the misfortunes of war. In his dreams, he battles her on the moon as she casts black letters — death notices — down to Earth...

The Great Silk Road is the name for a mountain trade route now identifiable only by train tracks; it is on these tracks that our film finds four children at play, not far from their Kirghizstan village. A train meanders down the mountain and, following an argument, an artist is unceremoniously thrown-off a carriage and (so) eventually encounters the children.

Kyrgyzstan, the 1920s. In a remote mountain village, against the will of the local elites and in defiance of centuries-old traditions, a woman—Urkuya Salieva—is elected chair of the agricultural cooperative. Salieva is determined to build a new life with an uncompromising resolve against anyone who would obstruct the poor, a stance unusual for a woman.

The forty-year-old commentator, summing up his life and realizing that his well-being is purely external and essentially nothing significant has been done, leaves for his native village, where, he hopes, he will be able to take a step towards his true vocation.

A large village high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan has become almost deserted. Not only the three old men who are protecting the empty houses, but also the young guy, a demobilized soldier, aches for him. And why don’t people return to such wonderful places where life is cleaner and healthier than in cities?..

To build a house and feed his family, Deles went to the mountain camps as a shepherd. With all sorts of promises and temptations, local businessmen gradually connected Deles to their machinations — and the young shepherd very soon built a huge house, bought a car, found prosperity and lost his family.

Bakai is an old shepherd who lives in the country while his children have long grown accustomed to life in the city. When his youngest son pays him a visit, Bakai wants him to stay and help with the rigors of rural living.

In a remote Kyrgyz village, Dzhamilya follows her parents' orders when she marries a man without loving him. Then World War II breaks out and her new husband has to leave the village. While being alone, Dzhamiliya meets the returning soldier Daniyar and falls in love with him instead. Years later, their young friend Seid reminisces about the couple.

Mukash is chased by officials, learns of the devastation of war from a blind woman and helps her daughter to freedom beyond the river crossing, he, having to choose a tragic solution.

Vasily and Vasilisa had seven children and the village respected the hardworking family. One day Vasily got drunk and laid a hand on his faithful wife. It was just before the war.

A boy raises a wolf cub, but when released into the wild, it returns to attack him.

In the Kazakh village live Dzhumagali grandfather with his grandson Achan six years, still in its infancy have been orphaned. It is not easy they have, even though the boy had learned to fan the samovar, do the dishes and go after the cattle. But the old man for a long time and seriously ill, and he knows that he is not a long stretch. So I decided Dzhumagali part with her beloved grandson - sent him to the city to stay with relatives while he stayed to live out his life in the village.

Salia, an orphan, immediately after finishing her tenth year leaves her stepmother’s home, which she does not love, to a mining village to live with her uncle. On the road, she meets a handsome young man who works at the same mine as her uncle. Kind and sympathetic Azim helps the girl get a job and enroll in evening preparatory courses at the institute. Salia, completely inexperienced and deprived of human attention, takes simple human participation for something more. She is sure that this is a clear response to her first ardent love. But the young engineer loves Jamila and does not even think about another girl. By chance, having learned about the mutual love of Azim and Jamila, Salia experiences great grief, it seems to her that everyone has betrayed her and she is left alone again...

Ilyas loves driving through difficult mountain routes. It is here, in the mountains, that he meets Asel, falling in love at first sight. Since she is betrothed to another, the two decide to elope.

As a young woman named Cholpon contemplates her future, we take a look at the prospects of women and girls in modern-day Kyrgyzstan.