An Independent Life (1992)

Name: An Independent Life
Rating: 3.6

3.6 of 5 from 45 ratings

1h 37min

Not released

Synopsis:: Show moreShow less
This is the second installment of a three-part series of autobiographical films about the director's life. The first, which won various awards for its maker, was entitled Zamri Oumi Voskresni and was later retitled Zari, Umri, Vokresni ("Freeze-Die-Come to Life}). At the end of that film, set at the conclusion of World War II, the young Valerka was striving hard to overcome the inertia of just getting by, along with his sometime friend Galiya. In this one, he is adjusting to Galiya's death and is back in school and is living with his mother, a prostitute.
After a girl at the school is found to have been gang-raped, the headmaster chooses Valerka to be one of the scapegoats, though he had nothing to do with the deed. The punishment seems mild enough, he was simply expelled from school. However, after quarrelling with his mother about the incident, he takes to the road, and discovers a society so bleak, degraded and hopeless that it is a wonder he remained alive.
Actors:: Pavel Nazarov, Dinara Drukarova, Toshihiro Vatanabe, Elena Popova, Lyana Zhvaniya, M. Aleksandrov, Elena Antonova, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Lidiya Dorotenko, Natalya Ipatova, Vladimir Ivanov, Yelizaveta Zhukova, Tatyana Ivanova, Nikolay Kharitonov, A. Kopustin
Directors:: Vitali Kanevsky
Writers:: Vitali Kanevsky
Aka:: Samostoyatelnaya zhizn
Genres:: Drama
Awards:: 1992 Cannes Jury Prize Ex-aequo