From Under the Vaults of the Mosque: Dusty, dramatic, and very old-school

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, unless you are a total nerd for 1920s silent films or Soviet history, you might want to skip this one. It is slow. Like, really slow.

But if you like seeing how people dressed and lived in Central Asia a hundred years ago, it is kind of a trip. You will probably hate it if you need a plot that moves fast or characters that don't stare into the distance for three minutes straight. 🕌

I watched this late at night and kept thinking about how much dust must have been on that set. Every time someone moves a rug, you can almost feel the sneeze coming on.

The story is about a girl, played by Katya Pimenova, who is basically trapped by the old religious rules. It is very much a "new world vs old world" thing that the Soviets loved to film back then.

There is this one shot where the light hits the vaults of the mosque just right. It actually looks beautiful, even if the film quality is grainy as heck.

Leonid Lazarev is in this too, looking very serious. Everyone in this movie is very, very serious about everything they do.

I noticed one extra in the background of a market scene who just looked completely lost. He just stares at the camera for a second before someone probably nudged him to keep walking. 🎬

It reminds me a bit of the vibe in The Eternal Strife, but maybe a bit more grounded in real locations. The architecture is really the star here, not the acting.

Speaking of acting, Kamil Yarmatov shows up. He became a huge deal in Soviet cinema later, but here he is just a young guy in a big hat.

The music on the version I saw was this screechy violin that didn't always match what was happening. It made the "emotional" scenes feel a bit like a horror movie by accident.

There is a scene where a character is reading a letter and the camera stays on their face for so long I thought the player had frozen. They are just... processing the information, I guess.

It is not exactly a fun watch like A Tailor-Made Man. It is heavy and feels like homework sometimes.

I did like the costumes though. The heavy robes and the way they wrap the turbans looks so uncomfortable for that heat.

The ending is very "hurrah for the future" which is expected. It stops very suddenly, like they just ran out of money or ideas that day.

If you have a high tolerance for flickering black and white images and want to see something most people have never heard of, give it a go. Just bring some coffee. ☕

One more thing—the way they use shadows in the mosque hallways is actually pretty clever. It makes the whole place feel like a giant maze that the characters can't escape from.

It’s a weird little piece of history. Not a masterpiece, but interesting if you're in the right mood.