A review by davidc_
Manaschi by Hamid Ismailov

4.0

Manaschi explores how storytelling shapes who we are, both individually and as a people. Set in the mountains of southern Kyrgyzstan along the Tajikistan border, where the modern world coexists uneasily with tradition, Manaschi follows a young man who returns to his remote village after the death of his uncle. The story navigates between various modalities: tradition and modernity, shamanism and Islam, Turkish and Farsi. Through parables and quixotic proverbs, Ismailov shows how narrative shapes our identity, how culture is created or destroyed, and how boundaries can be reinforced or transcended.