Review of Baikonur (2011) by Dennis A — 02 Sep 2016

Paper Soldiers meets Right Stuff meets Princess Bride meets Weeping Camel meets Mad Max... all with a light touch that may render it poor fodder for a world of watchers gone to noisy special effects.

Set in the steppes of central Asia, on the edge of the old Soviet cosmodrome, the film centres on a village of Kazakhs who make their income collecting junk from rocket first stages and selling it, generally being exploited in the process. The central male character is the warm hearted nerdy lad whose radio (which might come from Mad Max 6) tells him when rockets will launch and junk will fall. Of course what falls is the paying French tourist cosmonaut, in a coma from the landing. The female lead.

The story could be junky and overdone and could have had an absurd ending but it isn't and it doesn't.