Eliso


Eliso is a 1928 Soviet silent adventure film directed by Nikoloz Shengelaia and loosely based on the short story by Alexander Kazbegi. It was made in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
It was released in the United States in 1929 by Amkino under the alternative title of Caucasian Love.

Plot

The film is set in the 19th century. To consolidate its power in the Caucasus region, the Russian government intends to evict the Chechens from the Russian Empire. A cossack Ataman fraudulently obtains signatures from illiterate residents for a petition which calls for resettlement to Turkey, by disguising it as a request for permission to stay on their land to the governor-general of Muslims of the Verdi mountain aul. The daughter of the village elders, Eliso falls in love with Khevsurian Vajia, who is a Christian. He is seeking the abolition of the decree to expel Chechens, but his heroic efforts to save the village are futile. Residents have already been banished from their homes and leave the village. Vajia as a kafir has no right to leave with them out of their homes. Eliso can not accept the fate of an outlaw, she sneaks at night into the village, which is already inhabited by the Cossacks, and sets fire to it.

Cast

Reception

expressed to Ivor Montagu that there were only two good portrayals of the lezginka in film, and that Shengelaya's in Eliso was better than in October: [Ten Days That Shook the World], the film he directed.