Kira Muratova's 2001 film 'Minor People' explores death through absurdist narrative and meticulous visual detail

Kira Muratova's 2001 film 'Minor People' delves into themes of mortality through a deceptive storyline. The narrative opens with a doctor attending to a terminally ill patient, while the patient's wife reads medical terms, creating a musical backdrop. After her violent partner collapses, Vera contacts the doctor; together, they try to conceal his body by stuffing it into a suitcase, which she abandons at a train station. Concurrently, the deceased man's twin brother drives his gangster boss, hesitating to kill a militiaman hidden in the trunk, although the policeman meets his end. The film also highlights secondary characters, featuring Vera residing in a gangster's incomplete house, and Misha, a boy with mental challenges, assisting in transporting the suitcase, which ultimately reveals the man is alive.