IMDb plot summary: Story of distant mountainous region in Georgia that depicts folklore, lifestyle and daily routines of Svani people, focuses on the scarcity of salt in Svaneti region. Rich with documentary value, the movie also served for Soviet propaganda.
Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.
Salt for Svanetia is a documentary about a remote village in the Georgian Soviet Republic. The film follows their daily lives, including how they get along in the many months of the year during which the snow cuts them off from society and they have no salt. While any documentary from this era purporting to capture life among an exotic people should probably be taken with a grain of salt (pardon the pun), I did find this fascinating. The title cards did a great job of making it easy to understand what we were watching, which can be a challenge with such old footage. I also appreciate how it doesn't feel like it's forcing a specific narrative out of the footage, but it still manages to make the day-in-the-life scenes compelling. I'd like to do some more digging to find out how much of this film is an accurate reflection of these people, but the fact that it made me want to research them is probably a good sign. Interesting watch.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Salt for Svanetia (1930)
beat Broken Blossoms (#1989 → #1997)
lost to La La Land (#992 → #990)
beat The Edge of Heaven (#1489 → #1495)
lost to Show Me Love (#1239 → #1236)
beat Prometheus (#1365 → #1414)
lost to Nine to Five (#1302 → #1299)
lost to The Great Outdoors (#1334 → #1330)
lost to The Matador (#1349 → #1353)
lost to The Major and the Minor (#1357 → #1359)
lost to Lethal Weapon (#1361 → #1360)
lost to Loins of Punjab Presents (#1363 → #1362)
beat Cargo (#1364 → #1373)
Ranked #1317/3983 on my Flickchart. Flickscore™: 67.
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