Movies Similar to I Want to Understand

Another Life(1987)

Psychological drama about a university dean who leads a double life.

The Last Mountain Pass(1971)

Based on a novel by Farman Karimzade, the movie shows the life in an Azerbaijani village under the Soviet rule in 1930s. Here two former "beys" (land owners) are opposing each other. One is loyal to the ideology of the past and can't reconcile himself to the new power, to second rejects the past and accepts the power of the Bolsheviks, believing that it will establish justice.

1.0

The Cloth Peddler(1965)

Set in Baku at the turn of the 20th century, a young successful businessman Asgar wishes to marry. He wants his bride to be the choice of his heart, however, Azerbaijani tradition restricted him from communicating with the lady as a lover before marriage. So Asgar decides to disguise himself as a mere cloth peddler and the young woman Gulchohra falls in love with him.

4.7

The Last Night of Childhood(1968)

Murad, a young man fails the entrance exam to the Institute and starts working at the meat factory. His cousin Rustam, a worker on a building site, fights with him against the dishonest people who sell pieces of meat from the factory. After a series of dramatic situations, Murad and Rustam manage to uncover the thieves.

4.7

Shared Bread(1969)

While there is famine during WW2, a boy with mom far away, tries to stay strong.

5.8

My Seven Sons(1970)

This film was based on Samad Vurgun's "Komsomol poem". Seven sons, like seven samurai become the seven komsomols (communist leaders) who were sent to a village to establish Soviet power. Seven sons become the romanticized images of people's heroes ready to take revenge.

4.2

Nabat(2014)

The story is set during an upsurge in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and revolves around an old, sick ex-forestry worker and his wife Nabat, whose son has died in battle.

6.2

You Can't Take an Island with You(1980)

A young girl is trying to save an island which is endangered by nearby construction.

6.0

Caucasia(2007)

War breaks out in the Caucasus. 75-year-old Maria loses her son in the war. She and her daughter-in-law Sofia have been living in the Caucasus for 12 years. When famine strikes, they want to move to Russia. The women decide that they must go to Moscow. Maria takes her little dog and Sofia her small suitcase, gets on the train and sets off. In the next compartment, photojournalist Alexander is also traveling. Sofia and Alexander love each other. Maria realizes at one of the stations near Volgograd that she cannot live without the Caucasus. She writes a letter to Sofia and leaves the train with her dog...

5.0

The Bat(1995)

In a Azerbaijan, in the beginning of this century, the first films made in the history of cinema are shown.The characters meet each other in a room. Three characters who will witness the linking up of their destinies through their common love for this new captivating art.

5.6

No image

From Two Worlds as a Keepsake(2012)

In Soviet Azerbaijan, a divorced Armenian couple fights over the custody of their daughter, Ashen. Stolen from one parent to another, Ashen's guardians are tragically killed in the bloody war surrounding them. Will the arrival of a new savior finally bring Ashen freedom? Official selection of the Global Lens Collection presented by the Global Film Initiative.

0.0

Down the River(2014)

Young Ruslan rows for a team coached by his father Ali, who places many demands upon his son and is continually dissatisfied by his performance. But when tragedy strikes, his father is overcome with emotions he doesn’t know how to deal with. Debut director Asif Rustamov treats the heavy topic with remarkable subtlety and discretion, emphasizing the characters’ carefully elaborated psychology.

8.5

The Scoundrel(1988)

Film exposes the corruption and the decadence of the late Soviet bureaucracy in Azerbaijan SSR through the eyes of a naive Azerbaijani adult man, Hatem.

5.3

Arshin Takes a Wife(1945)

Set in Baku at the turn of the 20th century, a young successful businessman Asgar wishes to marry. He wants his bride to be the choice of his heart, however, Azerbaijani tradition restricted him from communicating with the lady as a lover before marriage. So Asgar decides to disguise himself as a mere cloth peddler and the young woman Gulchohra falls in love with him.

6.5

On Distant Shores(1958)

The film portrays the life of the legendary Azerbaijani guerrilla of the Second World War Mehdi Huseynzadeh, who fought the Nazi forces in the present-day Italy and Slovenia, hence the film's name On distant shores referring to the Adriatic Sea.

5.7

Beast(1994)

The movie tells about the tragedy of miserable people who turned to dogs. A group of people who desperately seeks for a job is abducted and forced to labor like slaves.

10.0

The Labour and Rose(1963)

The film is about famous Chechen ballet and folk dancer Mahmud Essembayev's life.

9.0

Matteo Falcone(1960)

Matteo Falcone is an Azerbaijani short drama film based on Prosper Merimée's like-named story from 1829. Matteo Falcone is a successful Corsican, who lives with his wife Giuseppa and 10-year-old son Fortunato. One day he leaves home with Giuseppa, leaving Fortunato alone.

0.0

If Not This, Then That(1956)

Popularly known by the name of the main character, "Mashadi Ibad" was based on a musical comedy by composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov and written in the early 1900s. The story is based on the age old-theme of a beautiful young woman Gulnaz who falls in love with a young man Sarvar but is obliged to marry someone else.

6.1

Hostage(2006)

During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Armenian minority in Nagorono-Karabakh attempted to break away from Azerbaijan, one of the former Soviet republics. Overnight these former neighbors became enemies, and simple village folk were suddenly made hostages in a complex power game. One of the Azerbaijani villages right on the border is home to the family of the peasant farmer Kerim, who has just been captured by the Armenians. The village council decides to take an Armenian in order to arrange a hostage exchange. They imprison the wounded man in the barn next to Kerim's house, where his wife and three children desperately await the husband's return. The captive from the other side of the border finds himself in exactly the same situation - he, too, has three children, he finds it hard to scrape a living together, he has never done anything to harm anyone and, like Kerim, he just wants to go back home. But life in Karabakh is far more complex now. Blood calls for blood.

5.0