Wild Pigeon (film)


Wild Pigeon is a 1986 Soviet drama film written and directed by Sergei Solovyov. It was entered into the main competition at the 43rd Venice International Film Festival, in which it won the Special Jury Prize. The film was selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Plot

The film takes place in the autumn of 1946, in a small provincial town in western Kazakhstan. A local teenager Ivan Naydenov nicknamed as "The Gray", is a passionate pigeon enthusiast who recklessly risking his life manages to catch a white dove which has unexpectedly appeared in the city. Other pigeon hobbyists of the city find out of The Gray's spoil and the dove hunting begins. Soon the thieves kidnap the pigeon from The Gray's pen at night. The Gray begins to search for and find the dove from the local "pigeon authority" – Kolya the Gypsy. The Gray cunningly recaptures his prey and realizing that the dove is still doomed releases it to freedom. All the events of the film unfold against the backdrop of a meager post-war life of the inhabitants of the town - a place of exile and evacuation.

Cast