The Fool 2015

Dima Nikitin, a diligent plumber and the head of a municipal repair crew, holds a steady job in an unnamed Russian town and dreams of improving his family’s finances by going back to engineering school. He navigates a community that wears cynicism like a shield, where his efforts to do right by his wife, son, and aging parents often clash with the harsh realities of local life. When he discovers a leaky pipe in a building and notices a related crack in the wall, he steps outside to inspect—and realizes the entire structure is tilting, a danger that could obliterate the lives inside within 24 hours.

Determined to warn others, Nikitin heads to a birthday party for Mayor Nina Galaganova, but the party atmosphere—filled with alcohol and carefree chatter—prevents anyone from taking his warning seriously. The more he speaks, the more the crowd hides behind cynical jokes, stubborn denial, and the fear of public ruin. It isn’t until they grasp the scale of the tragedy and the public scrutiny that would follow that they finally start to consider action, even as they scramble to protect their own skins and reputations. The conversation shifts from casual jokes to heated debates about the widening scandal of years of administrative corruption, all while they confront the practical nightmare of relocating 820 residents on short notice.

Galaganova enlists Public Housing Inspector Fedotov and another official, Matyugin, to assess the danger, and Nikitin demonstrates the risk by tipping a bottle from the roof to show the building’s tilt. The officials acknowledge the looming collapse but the political circle surrounding the mayor sees evacuation as a gateway to a devastating financial audit that could expose pervasive corruption. The realization triggers a dangerous game of political blame, as Galaganova and Bogachyov attempt to pin the catastrophe on Fedotov and Matyugin, removing any threat to themselves.

Nikitin, Fedotov, and Matyugin are told by Police Chief Sayapin that evacuation plans are underway, but the reality is far more sinister. The trio is secretly whisked away in a police van under the pretense of meeting Galaganova, only to be driven to a remote location on the city’s outskirts. Here, Fedotov and Matyugin quickly recognize the setup: they are to be sacrificed as scapegoats for the building’s collapse. Fedotov pleads for Nikitin’s release, and although the police reluctantly agree, they instruct Nikitin to leave the city with his family immediately. In a cruel turn, Matyugin and Fedotov are executed, removed from the scene before they can defend themselves.

As Nikitin tries to flee with his family, he discovers that evacuation plans have stalled and that nothing is being done to move the residents to safety. His wife, Masha, chastises him for trying to help the “nobodies” who populate the building, and the moment he tries to insist on the importance of saving lives, he speaks a piercing truth:

We live like animals and we die like animals because we are nobodies to each other.

With those words echoing in the air, he urges his wife to go and takes it upon himself to knock on doors, urging neighbors to prioritize their lives over stubborn pride or bureaucratic indifference. He moves from door to door, a one-man mission to evacuate the building, while some residents grow irritated by the disruption and others remain skeptical, dismissing his warnings as another lie in a long line of political theatrics. The mood of the town tightens into fear, and the clock ticks mercilessly toward disaster.

As the crowd outside grows louder and more hostile, the tension erupts into violence. The final moments pull back to a grim, intimate portrait of a man who refused to surrender to apathy, only to be overwhelmed by the sheer inertia of a city that has learned to look away. The film closes on Nikitin’s vulnerable, defeated posture, a stark image of the human cost when communities choose silence over responsibility.

This story braids personal sacrifice with systemic corruption, showing how even those who want to do good are caught in a web of political calculations, public perception, and the slow, stubborn resistance of a community that would rather watch a warning collapse than face accountability. It’s a somber meditation on dignity, obligation, and the peril of treating “nobodies” as expendable.