Chelovek iz Podolska

All Nikolai wants is to travel from Moscow to his home-town of Podolsk. His girlfriend appears to have abandoned him: by means of a farewell she brings him his guitar. And then the young man is arrested. He ends up in a police station staffed by curious individuals. The task of the militia, as he learns with astonishment, is to educate people, or would he rather be beaten up, have drugs put on him and be locked away? Nikolai hesitantly follows the officials' requests to sing, dance and even swim with a policewoman in the force's swimming pool; Nikolai is even allowed to call her Marina.

In his adaptation of a play by Dmitry Danilov, director Semyon Serzin skilfully plays with the feelings of both his tragicomic anti-hero and the audience. Having hinted at harassment and police brutality, he instead presents us with terribly nice friends and helpers in uniform. One question remains ever-present in the foreground however: can this deceptive peace really be trusted or is the police genuinely intent on helping its fellow citizens?