Hasan Arbakesh is a classic Soviet film from Tajikistan. The film follows the hapless Hasan and his pursuit of Saodat over several years. Times were a changing in Tajikistan and the old traditional values of women forced to stay at home and look after their children and husbands was no longer the only option. The film explores these changes and the culture clash between the old Tajik values and new Soviet values where women could become nurses and teachers, helping out for the communist cause. We witness the terror and intimidation that these new Soviet women faced from local townspeople both male and female. But this isn’t just Soviet propaganda. The film follows Hasan an old style Tajik. He is not as backward and ignorant as some others. But he is lost in a new world where everything is changing. He seems curiously out of time riding his beloved horse while tanks and lorries barge around him. He loves Saodat but ultimately he can’t accept her decision to study and work. He feels stupid and inferior and his culture and beliefs finally drag him apart from her. Saodat is not prepared to sacrifice her new found freedom for servitude, but loves Hasan with all her heart. Here lies the conflict that domiantes the film and the country at this film’s time of production. Hasan Arbakesh is surprisngly evenly handled and Boris Kimyagarov takes both cultures into account. This may have led to the film laying dorment for many years and only being rediscovered after the fall of the Soviet Empire. Great Soviet style camerwork, bravado melodramatic score and some great acting make this film a something a little bit special.