BAIKONUR (by Veit Helmer) is a light-hearted and magical comedy-drama that tells of a radio operator nicknamed Gragarin (Alexander Asochakov) who lives in a small nomadic village on the Kazakh steppe and much like his namesake cosmonaut, Yuri Grarin, dreams of travelling space. Gragarin and the members of his village live by the law of their ancestors, “Whatever falls from heaven is a gift from God." Inside of his small yurt, Gragarin listens with a war-era ham radio to the launch broadcasts of Baikonur, the launchpad of the Russian space program, and calculates where the remnants of rockets will fall. Gragarin and the members of his village race to recover pieces of rockets as they fall from the upper atmosphere and make a meager living by selling these remnants for canned food. One day while watching a news broadcast Gragarin is mesmorized by a story about Julie Mahé (Marie de Villepin) a French space tourist visiting the International Space Station with the Russian cosmonaut program. Days later, Gragarin stumbles upon a space capsule as he goes for a late night walk outside of his village. Inside, he finds an unconscious and amnesiac Julie, whom Gragarin awakens, “like the fairy-tale," with a kiss. Gragarin declares Julie his bride, “a gift from heaven." A tale of love, confusion, and space travel ensues. BAIKONUR is an expertly filmed picture that neatly combines the grainy and bright landscapes of the steppe with archival space travel footage. Veit Helmer's story of a Gragarin, a young man caught between his personal ambitions, familial obligations, and love is never heavy-handed and each corner of the film is infused with a touch of dry humor. Alexander Asochakov's acting work as Gragarin gives the film its propulsion, and as I watched the bright-eyed and clever Gragarin overcome each challenge, I too wanted to follow him. The soundtrack composed by Goran Bregovic provides the film with both a comedic Kazakh vibe and an un-earthly feeling. However, with such a grand vision it seemed that Veit Helmer struggled to bring a close the story in less than 90 minutes and in this rush not much focus was given on the characters themselves; they often react rather than speak. Instead, Helmer often seemed more interested in taking in the vast landscapes and images rather than focusing on our hero, Gragarin. BAIKONUR is a film well worth watching for a 90-minute glimpse of an unusual world.
