White Sun of The Desert - Plot

Plot

The setting is the east shore of the Caspian Sea (modern Turkmenistan) where the Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov has been fighting the Civil War in Russian Asia for a number of years. The movie opens with a panoramic shot of a bucolic Russian countryside. Katerina Matveyevna, Sukhov's beloved wife, is standing in a field. Awakening from this daydream, Sukhov is walking through the Central Asian desert – a stark contrast to his homeland. He finds Sayid buried in the sand. Sayid, an austere Central Asian, will come to Sukhov's rescue in sticky situations throughout the movie. Sukhov frees Sayid, and they strike a friendly but reticent relationship. While traveling together they are caught up in a desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The cavalry unit commander, Rakhimov, "convinces" Sukhov to help, temporarily, with the protection of abandoned women of the Basmachi guerrilla leader Abdullah's harem. Leaving a young Red Army soldier, Petrukha, to assist Sukhov with the task, Rakhimov and his cavalry unit set out to pursue fleeing Abdullah. Sukhov and women from Abdullah's harem return to a nearby shore town. There, Sukhov charges the village museum's curator with protecting the women, and prepares to continue home. Sukhov hopes to "modernize" the wives of the harem, and make them part of the revolution. He urges them to take off their burqa and reject polygamy. The wives are loath to do this, though, and as Sukhov takes on the role of protector, the wives declare him their new husband. Sukhov continues to press for their modernization and liberation, while trying to imagine, in one of the film's most amusing episodes, himself at the head of the polygamous family back in Russia.

Soon, looking for a seaway across the border, Abdullah and his gang come to the same town and find Abdullah's wives. Sukhov is bound to stay. Hoping to obtain help and weapons to fight Abdullah's gang, Sukhov and Petrukha visit Paul Vereschagin, a former Tsar's customs official who has begun drinking. Vereschagin lives a lonely life as the only Russian, along with his wife, living in an isolated border town. His glory days are behind him: the walls are covered with pictures of Vereschagin from the military campaigns he fought in and was awarded and wounded. The Civil War has left him without an official job and without a place to go. He warms to Petrukha who obviously reminds him of his own son who died young. Sukhov and Petrukha solicit his help, but after discussing the matter with his nagging wife, Vereschagin refuses. Luckily, Sukhov finds a case of dynamite on which some old men from the village have been resting. Sukhov plants the dynamite on Abdullah's ship in the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile, Abdullah has confronted his wives, and is preparing to punish them for their dishonor – they did not kill themselves when Abdullah left them. Sukhov takes Abdullah hostage while Abdullah is with his wives. Once Sukhov has left, though, Abdullah escapes, killing Petrukha and Gyulchatai, the youngest wife of the harem.

The museum curator shows Sukhov an underground passage dating back to the Samanid dynasty that leads to the sea. Sukhov and the women of the harem attempt to escape through the passage, but on arriving at the seashore they are impelled to hide in a large empty oil tank. Abdullah discovers their hiding place, and plans on setting the oil tank on fire.

Enraged at the cold-hearted murder of Petrukha, Vereschagin decides to help Sukhov and takes Abdullah's ship after locking his wife inside their house. Sayid also helps Sukhov, and together they fend off Abdullah's gang. Vereschagin, ignorant of the dynamite on the ship and not hearing Sukhov's shouted warnings, tragically kills himself on the exploding ship.

Sukhov kills Abdullah and his gang, and returns the harem to Rakhimov. He then begins his trek home on foot, having refused a horse since a horse is merely "a nuisance". Whether Sukhov will make it home to his beloved Katerina is unclear: the revolution is not over in Central Asia, and as an exemplary Red Army soldier like Sukhov may well be needed.