Legacy

A trio of meddlesome French hacks travel to Georgia to lay claim to a castle which one of them has inherited. They call upon softly spoken interpreter Nikolaï (Pascal Bongard) to accompany them on the two-day bus journey through the mountains, but, enticed by an aching journalistic urge, they soon become embroiled in a rural blood feud between warring local factions. Despite its undeniable thematic richness, ‘Legacy’ marks a slight return for Georgian director Géla Babluani (this time aided in the writing and direction by father Témur) who demonstrated a great handle of style and tension in 2005’s Russian roulette-nightmare, ‘Tzameti’. Teetering on a thin line between the mature and the needlessly obscure, ideas of Western consumer exploitation and the moral obligation to recognise and rectify the sins of the past are delicately folded into the narrative and, as with that previous film, human life is again reduced to the sorry state of a bargaining chip. The infuriatingly obtuse and deeply cynical closing shot, though, makes you think it may have been intended as one big joke.