A romance by Ali Khamraev with musical numbers interspersed
Khalima's Mother
This intriguing mixture of melodrama and politics is not divided into three parts; the title instead refers to three female characters whose lives intersect in a small town in northern Uzbekistan during the difficult days following World War II. The first is an old woman trapped in a forced marriage; the second is a schoolteacher imposing progress on the remote region; the third, and most important, is Khalima (Kambarova), an illiterate but determined young woman who resolves to build her own house without either her husband's or the state's approval. The film's harsh vision of life in postwar Uzbekistan, as well as its ambivalent attitude toward the conflicting demands of individualism and collectivism, made it the object of official disapproval.
The setting is Central Asia during the Russian civil war. In the post-revolutionary twenties, when the power in European Russia was (officially) "fully in the hands of the workers and peasants", but the fight against the Basmachi rebels was in full swing. When a Red Army detachment captures Sultan Mazar, the brains behind the Bazmachi contingent, a decision is made to escort urgently the prisoner to the Bukhara province. The difficult mission is entrusted to a grizzled mountain trapper and conscientious revolutionary called Mirzo. His expertise is essential to traverse the precarious paths and steep mountain ridges along the way, impossible terrain for the inexperienced. A group consisting of Mirzo, his brother Kova, the Sultan, his daughter Zaranghis and slave Saifulla set off on this journey. They are forced to fight on the mountain ridges as well as negotiate the natural dangers and harsh elements.
Despite the restoration of Soviet power in the area, Basmachis continue to arrive from across the border, bringing death and destruction to peaceful villages. One of the bands of rebels is led by Khairulla who is pitted against the militsiya (local militia) leader Maxumov. At first it seems hopeless for Maxumov as the rebels capture most of his men, winning them over to his side. He has only one strategy left; to give himself up, and try to explain to the people that Khairulla has deceived them, turning the soldiers back to revolution. Later in pursuit of his enemy, he chases Khairulla across a river. He has only one bullet left -- the seventh, and he must not miss his target!
