The Kazakh steppe is a vast, neverending sea of rippling grasses and rolling hills stretching for miles out into the horizon. The narrator in the 2008 film The Gift to Stalin identifies the railroad as the only landmark to guide a person’s path. At the start of the film, a train charges through the steppe, dividing the unending land to bring deported citizens of the Soviet empire into Kazakhstan.
Between the years of 1930 and 1949, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Stalin deported over 1.2 million people to Kazakhstan. The Gift to Stalin’s main character Sashka (Dalen Shintemirov) is one of those people. The year is 1949 and Sashka has been traveling in a packed train car for almost two weeks, sent away from Russia and his parents with his dying grandfather. As his grandfather passes, he clutches his Torah and prays for his grandson’s safety.
This prayer comes true when Kasym (Nurjuman Ikhtimbayev) finds Sashka among the pile of dead bodies carried from the train and takes the boy back to his village in the steppe. In this village Sashka meets other deportees as well as a gang of young orphans much like himself. The Gift to Stalin explores what happens when Sashka starts his new life on the steppe, finding a new parental figure in Kasym while holding onto the dream that he will see his parents again if only he can give Stalin the best gift for his birthday.
Although released nearly sixty years after the story takes place, the film weaves together history and normal life on the steppe. The central aggressor is the local military as they preside over the train’s arrival and become wary of Sashka’s presence in the village. The officers represent the ever looming authority of the state. These figures play an important role in the film as they illustrate how the constant observation and questioning of the authorities during this period could threaten even a young child.
Even though the film focuses on the journey of this Russian boy through this dangerous time, there are many scenes that introduce elements of traditional Kazakh culture. A song written by the great Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbaiuly serves as a motif throughout the film. Kasym plays this song and other music on the dombra, a traditional Kazakh instrument that is made up of a long neck, a pear-shaped body, and two strings for playing. These details weave the traditions of Kazakhstan into the film which portrays a society of mixed nationalities.
The steppe itself also plays a central role in representing Kazakhstan. In the film the land serves as a symbol of freedom that has been limited by the structures of the present society. Director Rustem Abdrashev reveals this possibility of freedom through scenes with the character Kasym. In one scene where Kasym is sitting on the railroad tracks, the camera zooms out across the steppe, showing Kasym on the line between modern society and the openness of the land. The steppe is often featured in peaceful moments like this one as a reminder of the nature and goodness still left in the world. Even though Stalin’s influence took hold of Kazakhstan, these scenes are a reminder of the power of the steppe, and that the true spirit of the nation can always persevere.
The film also takes steps to portray the possibility of harmony between people, no matter their origin. Kasym is depicted as a grandfather-like figure to everyone in the village. Sashka and other children call him “Ata Kasym” which means “Grandfather Kasym” in Kazakh, a name reminiscent of Dedushka (Grandfather) Lenin. This mirroring of an important figure in Russian culture with the main person in Sashka’s life creates parallels between countries.
The film also builds a bridge between Kasym’s and Sashka’s religions. Although Kasym does not understand Sashka’s Jewish values, like when the boy protests the killing of a chicken, he makes efforts to understand while also not compromising his own religious views. Sashka even wears a traditional Muslim cap throughout most of the film, mirroring the place of a yarmulke in his new society. Sashka witnesses Kasym saying prayers and speaking to Allah, but there is no hint of tension in their relationship that is caused by their different religions.
It is that relationship between Sashka and Kasym that makes The Gift of Stalin important to watch. The story is far from lighthearted, but it shows the bonds that can be built between people of completely different backgrounds even in a time of such terror and strife. The themes of loss and remembrance are woven together in a beautiful story about a boy and an old man in the time of Stalinism set against the backdrop of the Kazakh steppe.
