An Azerbaijani-Russian co-production, the short film The Last One (ORIGINAL TITLE: SONUNCU) tells the story of the last living World War II veteran who now lives in solitude away from the hullaballoo of the town with no specific interest it seems, but to save his memories while gazing at the behavior of a very old refrigerator.
The veteran played by Idris Rustamov spends his days talking to himself and his only friend, a broken fridge. In the fridge, he has stored his medals – his memories of his long past. He only meets a young boy who comes to deliver milk and bread every day, but no formal communication at all. It seems he is the last man on earth.
This is an amazing film in which the content and the sole character have universal appeal, as in today’s world and materialistic life, we tend to forget and neglect our elders, and their sacrifices for our generation.
The director of The Last One has very maturely sketched this tale while focusing on every minute details of the dilapidated wooden house. Be it the furrows on the face of the central character or the shedding paint on the wall or the dying color of the surface, there is a very detailed camera work to capture the oldness while asking us to think everything philosophically.
I don’t know how many times a filmmaker takes such a subject to experiment. It is indeed hard to put everything on the screen until and unless there are conviction and clarity on the part of storytelling and message. Here the film emphasizes the value of memory, sacrifices and the life of veterans, and how they find themselves unwanted in present-day society.
Nevertheless, The Last One is not a story of a war veteran from Russia or Azerbaijan, it is a story of any such man in any part of the world.
Watch Movie Trailer – The Last One (SONUNCU)
Short Film – The Last One
Original Title: SONUNCU
Directed by: Sergey PIKALOV
Year of production: 2014
Country: AZERBAIJAN
Length: 15 minutes
