Andrei Konchalovski's film "House of Fools" takes up the issue of the current war in Chechnya and develops it into a breathtaking testament to the pointlessness of the business of war. In my opinion, one of the most interesting issues that Konchalovski addresses in this film, is the way in which war forces people to defy reality. It is not only the building up of better and brighter dream worlds, in which music makes people feel good and forget about the terrible things that are happening around them but also the illusion of an all-important war combat that erases from one's conscience all the aspects of reality that go beyond the daily business of killing. I think that one of the reasons why this movie is so powerful is because it comments on the relationship between civilians and soldiers in a war by showing the immense self-absorption of soldiers in the war that they are fighting.

The story is set in a mental institution that becomes a battle field for the warring Chechen and Russian armies. The patients, abandoned by the hospital staff, are left on their own to deal with the invasion of their "home." The innocent vulnerability of the patients is confronted with the (at least seeming) matter-of-factness of the soldiers as they move in and out of the hospital according to their changing luck in the fighting. The many powerful and revealing moments of these interactions are held together by a narrative of an unfolding relationship between one of the patients, Janna, and a Chechen soldier, Akhmed.

In several instances, the behavior of Akhmed toward Janna illustrates the idea that war overshadows everything else. Akhmed cannot even spare a word for Janna while he is concentrating on keeping in aim the Russian tank standing in front of the asylum. Later, he treats her as a burden, or maybe a small annoying child at best, when the Chechens are leaving the hospital in a hurry as the Russian army advances. But while in both of these cases, one could argue that Akhmed's behavior is simply caused by an urgent situation and that it is rational in given circumstances, there is one scene that shows the same blinding preoccupation in a situation lacking the urgency of combat.

At the Chechen quarters, Janna and Ali for a short while become the "amusement for the night." Briefly, emotions among the soldiers run high but after a momentary interest for the two patients of the asylum, the Chechens sink deep into an emotional Chechen song. Even without a translation, we can guess by the melody and everybody's melancholic expression, that the song continues in the mood of Ali's gloomy verses. But as the soldier sing their ballad, a fight breaks out between Ali and Janna. The two patients are screaming and fighting and while they hold the attention of the audience, they get none from the Chechen soldiers in the room. Even when Janna goes over to Akhmed and lies down rubbing her face against his hand, this does not elicit as much as a twitch from Akhmed.

The sad irony of the moment is further strengthened by the visual setting of the scene. We see the soldiers close to the camera but in a shadow. Ali and Janna are behind them but a bright light is directed at them. There is a contrast between their positioning within the shot and the attention drawn to them by the lighting and the fact that it is they, not the soldiers, who are active. It is as if Konchalovski was telling us that while we should focus those people, the civilians, they are the ones who get shoved in the back by us as well as those who fight the war with their old, deep seeded sentiments as rationales for war.

Later, there is another scene where a similar imbalance signalizes to us that something is wrong with what we and the soldiers focus on. When the Russians and Chechens fight over the asylum, we are shown Janna - bloody, frightened and desperate - encountering the Russian soldiers entering the building. She screams and begs for help but the soldiers are too preoccupied with overtaking the building. They just whirl around her and disappear in pursuit of the Chechens. What follows is a kind of reversal of the previously described scene. We see Janna close to the camera but totally detached from what is happening in the scene. She is in her dreamworld, comforted by the pop-star Brian Adams, while the soldiers behind her frantically run back and forth fighting for the building. There is a huge gap between her and the action in the scene. She is not aware of the soldiers and the soldiers do not care for her.

One reason why these scenes are so powerful is because while we tremble for Janna's personal well-being, we cannot escape thinking about the eternal question of the purpose of war. I think that Konchalovski tries to show us that there is no connection between those who fight a war and the civilians who get caught in the middle. The wise doctor, who somehow seems to be the only sane person in the film, points out to the Russian captain that not a victory but death is the main thing in a war. "House of Fools" might be a testimony to the idea that any "good cause," which people see as worth fighting for, gets quickly lost in the everyday struggles of military combat.