Minoes tsjetyre

MINUS FOUR is a summary of one autumn day in 1988. The place of action is a small town called Sari-Ozek in Kazakhstan. Intermediate-range ballistic missiles were destroyed there as a result of the agreement between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. What is the message of the filmmakers? A farewell to arms? Cheers to perestroika ? Neither one nor the other. There is no message. There are no emotions. Pathos and concern are hidden. The filmmakers only looked into the facts and went around intently observing every detail. What did they see over there? Soldier barracks with soldiers doing drills and eating simple food, comfortable cottages for the American supervisors, military storehouses with ready-to-be-destroyed rockets, the light cabin of a herdsman who lived in the neighbourhood. These are all side by side, within a radius of one hundred metres. The camera registers everything that happens from the early morning. People wake up and begin to perform their duties. Just an ordinary day. As usually, the soldiers prepare the explosives, the American supervisors applaud the destruction of yet another missile, and - alarmed by the rumble - the herdsman comes out of his yurt and watches the slowly disappearing mushroom. The day is finished. That day, the military arsenal of the planet was decreased by four rockets. Minus four. And nothing else.