Khurshed Golibekov

Dinara Drukarova

Maruf Pulodzoda

Djonibek Mourodov

Shakhnosa Khodjaeva

Davron Alimatov

Fatkhullo Abdulloev

Natalia Fedotova

Khairi Burieva

Munisa Ganieva

Malika Baratova

Rufat Negmatov

Yelena Loginova

Mukhamadjon Negmatov

Zarrinakhon Olimova

Kim Kvang

Gairat Khamrokulov

Khakimdjon Akhmedov

Anatoli Nesmyshlenov

Susanna Saledova

Vladimir Marsalski

Gavkhar Tochiboeva

Vakhid Otobekov

Elena Kolotukhina

Viktoria Dmitrieva

Nargis Ashrapova

Firdavs Ashrapov

Khurshed Akramov

Mirzorakhmon Mirzosalomov

Daler Safarov

Dzhamshed Odinaev

Furkat Sattorov

Adualim Ismoilov

Abdumin Abduller

Olga Kovalyova

Jamshed Usmonov

Claudia Steffen

Jacques Comets

Pascal Lagriffoul

Denis Carot

Marie Masmonteil

Pierre Aviat

Drama

Bihisht faqat baroi murdagon

Elzévir Films

Pandora Film

SAGA Production

Ciné Manufacture

South Bridge

MEDIA Programme of the European Union

Pusan Promotion Plan

Celluloid Dreams

Goteberg Films

Belgium

France

Germany

Russia

South Korea

Sweden

Switzerland

Tajikistan

Pусский

To Get to Heaven First, You Have to Die

infidelity

organized crime

loveless marriage

unconsummated marriage

To Get to Heaven... (2006) is a film by Jamshed Usmonov set in the director's native Tajikistan. Kamal (Khurshed Golibekov) is a young man who has recently married, but he suffers from impotence and has been unable to consummate his marriage. After three months, he visits a doctor and then undertakes to learn the art of love from some older woman in the capital. The first half of the film has him stalking various women around Dushanbe. This odyssey in an American film would probably have been portrayed in a goofy underdog fashion, but Kamal's attempts are creepy, though we do feel his pain.

About halfway through the film, Kamal ends up sleeping with the wife (Dinara Drukarova) of a thug (Maruf Pulodzoda). This lowlife finds out, he doesn't mind as he had been separated from his wife for some time anyway, and takes Kamal under his wing as they burgle their way around town. After witnessing the full extent of his partner's brutality, Kamal turns on him in a bloody fashion, which happens to cure his sexual dysfunction.

All in all, I can't recommend To Get to Heaven to general audiences. This isn't the first film I've seen by a young director that begins in one way and then transitions too suddenly into mobsters and violence. Yes, I get the Oedipal allusions and the probing of the male psyche, but the plot arc chosen for this study just screams "immature scriptwriter". The cinematography is also unimaginative.

I could compliment only two aspects, which will probably only interest a rather niche audience. I was bound for Tajikistan in less than a week as I watched this, and there are few internationally available films from the country, so I guess To Get to Heaven was useful as a glimpse of Tajikistan. The acting by Drukarova and Pulodzoda was competent, and perhaps the same could be said for Golibekov if the character he portrays weren't too cringingly awkward to really appreciate.

To Get to Heaven First, You Have to Die( 2006)

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A review by CRCulver

Written by CRCulver on Thu Sep 06 2018

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