The Geographer Drank His Globe Away

Viktor Sluzhkin trained as a biologist and could not find work. He joins a school in Perm; the only vacancy is geography. He does not know how to teach and the pupils see that on the first day. He sets no order in the class, plays cards with them, has them call him by his first name. At home it is worse; he and his wife do not speak and she is seeing his friend. Viktor drinks. Then an idea comes: he will take the most difficult group in the school to the river, to a camp. They will run the river on a raft. The group sets off and the teacher is left alone with the children. Alexander Veledinsky directs. Konstantin Khabenskiy plays Viktor; Elena Lyadova and Aleksandr Robak are in the cast. It is a Russian production. The source is Aleksei Ivanov's novel of the same name. The film won four prizes at the 2013 Kinotavr festival including best film and best actor, and was later named best film at the Nika awards. The matter it treats is the collapse of adulthood; Viktor is not a bad man, he simply cannot carry anything. The narrative uses the shape of the teacher film and breaks it; nobody is inspired and nobody is saved. The Ural landscape carries the second half; the river scenes were shot in the actual country. A pupil's attachment to Viktor is the riskiest section and the film does not get out of it easily. Its limit is pace; the narrative is loose, the main character does not move, and the ending gives no resolution. Who it is for: viewers who like Russian cinema and bitter comedy. Who it is not for: it is slow, the character repeats himself, and the ending is still.