People come to Durakovo from all over Russia to free themselves from freedom. Mikhail Morozov, the Russian millionaire, runs the village like a feudal estate. Political and spiritual leaders come here to talk with him about the future of whole Russia.

Nino Kirtadze (Director) (The Pipeline Next Door, 2004) & Paul Rozenberg (Producer) (Watermarks, 2004)

In 1991, it was liberty and democracy that excited the Russian imagination. Yet fourteen years later, where is Russia now? The term “managed democracy” is used to describe today’s Russia by apologists and critics of the present regime. The film is a specific example of this “managed democracy” on a small scale.

Two men are heading south-west from Moscow in a taxi. The driver is taking his son, a young man of 25, to someone he believes “is going to teach him how to live his life properly”. An hour later, they arrive at the gates of an enormous house, built like a fortress. Inside a reception room crowded with icons, we meet the boss himself: Mikhail Morozov, 50-years-old, businessman and Russian millionaire.

Morozov has lived in the village of Durakovo - The Village of Fools - for many years and has turned it into a place where people can come to rediscover themselves.

When they join the Village of Fools, the new residents abandon all their former rights. From now on, they live by Morozov’s rules. Democracy Morozov-style is a little peculiar but it is a model, which functions and which, according to him, is more appropriate to Russia than models imposed by the West. The inhabitants of the village have no TVs, no radios, no cinema and no mobile phones.

Mikhail Morozov sees to it that no one gets into the village without him knowing and he reads all their mail to ensure, so he says, that news from the outside does not provoke trouble of any kind – political, emotional or anything else. The men and women of the village work together from morning to night. They build, they restore, they mind the sheep, cows and horses and they work at a variety of crafts.

Morozov has a project: an economically self-sufficient communal organisation, where people live in sobriety and with God. The village residents come from a variety of social backgrounds: there’s a former journalist from NTV, a scientist, a hair-stylist and a nun. And there’s a hierarchy based on length of stay and responsibilities. They watch each other and often they inform on each other. But that’s part of a managed democracy.

However, some of the inhabitants think that this managed democracy could be a bit more equal. But these thoughts are shared only among friends. Telling Morozov would be to risk his fury.

What we have in Durakovo is neither a clinic nor a sect. The village functions like a 19th century feudal estate. Morozov is well-known in the region. Morozov goes to Moscow every week for sessions of the executive committee of the Novospassky Monastery, which, among others brings together Archbishop Aleksei, Sergei Baburin, deputy chairman of the State Duma and member of the Fatherland Party, a colonel in the Russian secret service, and ex-deputy minister of culture.

The whole spectrum of state power - political, spiritual and administrative – gathers in these semi-private meetings with Morozov to discuss the future of Russia, their future and how to achieve their aims. The Village of Fools is part of a project for the rebirth of Russia. These important people are friends of Morozov, they are frequent visitors to his village, where they can speak to each other in total confidence. Baburin is about to form a new political party. Morozov must decide whether he wants to be part of it. Soon, the deputy chairman of the State Duma is going to the Village of Fools to try to convince Morozov.

Meanwhile in Durakovo life goes on.