Don't Play the Fool...

1997 Russian film

1997 (1997)

Running time

97 minutesCountryRussiaLanguageRussian

Don't Play the Fool ... (Russian: Не валяй дурака...) is a Russian comedy film by Valeri Chikov. It shows unlight relations between the USSR and the United States after the Cold War, with a tragicomic side.

Plot

Americans have decided to make sure that a diamond deposit in the villages of Arkhangelsk is found and have sent a submarine under the command of a black veteran, who accompanied Allied convoys during the 2nd World War. As a diversion, a 200-liter alcohol barrel is planted on the bank, which was soon caught by the local blacksmith Filimon (Yevdokimov). On this occasion, the village stages festivities, which all the American submariners will gradually become involved in, in spite of their wishes. The black veteran finds his grandson, who was born in Filimon's family.

During the celebration, the barn catches fire. In a panic, drunk people run away from the barn, who until then, had sung songs and drunk alcohol, but Filimon, risking their lives, enters the burning barn and an empty barrel rolls out of it. The barn burns down and falls on the background of the Russian Orthodox Church under the lyrical music. Filimon is sentenced to two years in prison for disturbing public order, having confiscated all his weapons.

At the end of the film, a Japanese submarine arrives at the same village, and Filimon once again catches a barrel of pure alcohol.^[2]