MISSING MAN

Russia, 2010, 100 minutes, Colour.

Missing Man is what might be called an existentialist drama. It opens in some of the drabbest locations in St Petersburg and focuses on a computer programmer and his meeting with fellow workers. However, the plot then lapses and focuses solely on the man. He is in his forties, alone, his family living upstairs. He meets the son of his neighbour who has also been missing. What follows is a nightmare of bureaucracy as he is treated with some suspicion having met the missing young man, he is asked to sign a declaration that he will not leave the city, returns home to find everything that he owns moved and the building being demolished. The nightmare intensifies as he travels to the alleged new situation where he has been assigned, finds that there is nothing there, goes to the police, escapes from the police with a young man who is being charged, finds a shelter, has to work in the fields, suddenly has to escape in a car with the group, and manages with them along the road. Finally he has to make some decision as to who he is and where he is going.

With the clues given during the film, especially about the madness of bureaucracy, the offhandedness of officials, windows in offices and their being closed, the police and their pursuit…, the film is reminiscent of Kafka. Audiences will not be surprised to find a quotation from Kafka at the end – about the meaning of the journey of life, identity and choices.

1.A Russian film, grim, the focus on the individual, work, family, community, society?

2.The drab suburbs, the countryside, the towns? The musical score?

3.The title, the son of the neighbour, Leonid himself?

4.The atmosphere of Kafka, offhand authorities, lack of information, bureaucracy, treatment of people, mystery?

5.The film as existential, the man alone, the questions of his own identity, his reaction to treatment, crises, the dependence, the stages of the journey, uncertainties, choice?

6.The quotation from Kafka at the end, the road, continuing on the road? The meaning of life?

7.The setting, dingy, Leonid and the audience not knowing his name until the end? His walking from his apartment, in the crowded street (and the final image of the crowds in the street)? His meeting, discussions about his work, his expertise, the job, the company, the people at the table, catching a bus, the notes given him, the phone numbers? The young man and his giving Leonid the letter and the photo for his mother? Disappearing on the bus?

8.Home, the woman and her son, her petition about moving, the arrival of the police, the interrogation, the disappearance of the cat and the policeman crying? Going upstairs to get vodka from his sister for the police, their moving, his father, the declaration? His having to sign the declaration about not moving from the city?

9.The meeting in the club, writing the document, his being paid? Going to the office, the offhand treatment, window number five and the treatment?

10.His return, the house being demolished, his goods disappeared, the rebuke that he didn’t look at his mail and find out that the building was being demolished? On the train, searching for the house, not finding any building?

11.The police, another window five, David and his arrest, the escape, the car, paying?

12.The shelter, crowded, the men disappearing during the night? The man with the heart condition? Anatoly, and Nina? David and the police?

13.The work in the fields, picking the potatoes, having to run, packing the car, leaving the man with the condition behind, Velya driving, paying for the petrol, the police chase but their not pulling over?

14.The purpose of the journey, the personalities and their assurances? The city, the theatre, their being hidden behind the stage, the meal, the boss, Nina and her tantrum?

15.Leonid giving his name, his decision to stay, an affirmation… of what?

16.The quotation from Kafka, another crowd scene and the individuals in the crowd walking along the street? A symbol of life?