Alexandra: Synopsis

Russian opera legend, 81-year-old Galina Vishnevskaya, stars as an elderly woman visiting her 27-year-old grandson, a captain stationed among bored, weary troops at a desolate military outpost. Avoiding the specifics of time or place (apparently this is Chechnya, but nothing in the film confirms this), "Alexandra" is more redolent of mythology than contemporary politics. The protagonist's womanly warmth is juxtaposed with the cold, hard steel of the soldiers' weaponry; the value she places on their lives, with the pessimism of their mind set; her memories of family life and hopes for their future with the cynicism inherent in their mission.