A Troubled Morning
(Trevozhno'e utro)

Kazakhstan in 1918. The fate of commissar Tokhtar Baitenov, a typical Bolshevik who manages a small division of Tcheka men, epitomises the tragic life of the Kazakh people in those troubled times, when the activities of the political police as well as informing were at their highest. Baitenov is constantly put to the test. Suspected of treason, he is arrested by his own people and imprisoned in a cell with his main “class enemy”, Junus the rich bai [landlord]. When Junus escapes one night, Tokhtar hopes he will eventually find to the right path again. Deeply affected physically and mentally, he refuses freedom and wealth and gradually becomes mad…