Saba, 1931, Mikheil Chiraureli (1894–1974), film, black/white, no sound 1h 12 min.
Saba wastes all of his income on alcohol and is fired from work for drunkenness. Eager to find employment, he steals the keys to a vehicle and drunkenly runs over his son. His son survives, but Saba is accused of committing a crime and must appear before the workers’ court. Instead of convicting Saba, the court blames the whole work force for the disaster for failing to help one of their own and finally threatens to ban all wine taverns in the workers’ district.
The Georgian artists Lado Gudiashvili and David Kakabadze designed the film sets for Saba.
Mikheil Chiaureli was a Georgian and then Soviet filmmaker. With his monumental and pompous films, he built and supported the cult of Stalin. Chiaureli was decorated with the Lenin medal three times, he won the Stalin prize five times, and became a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.