21/04/2022 - The film by Armenian directorial duo Aren Malakyan and Vahagn Khachatryan leads us by the hand into the intimacy of very sensitive characters who struggle to exist, each in their own way

Presented as a world premiere at the 2022 edition of Visions du Réel in the International Competition for feature films, 5 Dreamers and a Horse [+see also:
interview: Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren…
film profile] by Aren Malakyan and Vahagn Khachatryan confronts us with a gallery of characters who try to affirm their identity outside of a suffocating “normality.” Through the empathic and aesthetically poetic gaze of the two directors, 5 Dreamers and a Horse showcases three faces of Armenia: the first represented by a person in charge of the elevator of a city hospital who, the symbol of an enthusiastic and intense urban Sovietism, dreams of becoming an astronaut; the second led by a peasant in his search for the perfect wife but confronted with a problem of sterility, a sadly perfect example of a rural society dominated by patriarchy; and a third personified by two queer characters who fight for the freedom to simply be what they are, symbols of an opening towards a dreamed and idealised West.

With 5 Dreamers and a Horse, Aren Malakyan and Vahagn Khachatryan have creates a film about dreams, about the desire to live an ideal future in which to become heroes. Through a direction simultaneously firm and respectful of its characters, the two Armenian directors allow us to observe their nation without the filters imposed by a government that would like to control everything and everyone. Their film depicts a multifaceted nation in which tradition clashes with the open-mindedness of young people, who deconstruct its limitations.

The queer community shown in the film, with its clandestine concerts and seemingly banal discussions held on the roof of a building — a metaphorical place from which to proudly observe the city of Yerevan — embodies a new Armenian generation ready to fight for a future in which to exist despite a suffocating patriarchy that believes itself to be immutable. What they want is to live freely, without borders (real or imaginary), redefining a world from which they are excluded, a world that clings with all its strength to old traditions based on the hegemonic domination of man. Emblematic in this sense is the frantic search for the ideal bride by one of the protagonists, a woman willing to accept the subordinate role he wants her to play. Ready to do anything to comply with a patriarchal society that wants him to be dominant and virile (in the traditional sense of the term), the future husband has to face the difficulties of a search that turns out to be much more difficult than expected, as he becomes the unwilling victim of a lack of potential suitors and of an infertility which he experiences as a failing. What remains of him beyond this facade, when his grotesque mask finally gives way to reality? How will he accept his new role: that of the "bruised" man, sterile and therefore useless? His conformist dream seems to vanish due to a twist of fate, just when the goal appeared within reach. A twist of fate that pushes him, for better or for worse, to deal with an "anomaly" which, unlike the queer community, he lives as a cumbersome flaw.

Aren Malakyan and Vahagn Khachatryan have created an elegant and mysterious feature debut about a complex and contradictory country where archaic traditions coexist with a generation of young adults who dream of revolution. Turning dreams into reality — this is what the two directors seem to wish for their protagonists. A wish that we, too, share.

5 Dreamers and a Horse was produced by German company Color of May and Armenia’s OOlik Production.

(Translated from Italian)