SummaryBased on real events, this film tells the story of the patients in a Russian psychiatric asylum who become involved with the Chechen War after their doctors, nurses and attendants abandon them.
SummaryBased on real events, this film tells the story of the patients in a Russian psychiatric asylum who become involved with the Chechen War after their doctors, nurses and attendants abandon them.
A superbly shot film of emotional extravagance, sentimentality and even humor, House of Fools is a film that is ultimately quite moving but which probably could only have been pulled off by a director steeped in that famous Russian soul.
Never finds any forward momentum, but Vysotskaya's sweet performance and the unsubtle but effective use of the war-torn asylum as a stand-in for the former USSR keep it compelling.
House of Fools is not in the category of the director's acclaimed "Runaway Train." It may be based on a true story, but another filmmaker told it before -- and better.