MONACAN BEREAVED MOTHER TRIES TO FIND HER CHARITY SUPPORTED ADOPTED LITTLE GIRL IN MONGOLIA THROUGH AN INNER AND OUTER ROAD MOVIE FULL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TURNING POINTS.

SYNOPSIS:

HALIUKA /DEAD WIND/

Screenplay

Writer: Zsolt Pozsgai /Hungary/

Synopsis of the film

Rosana is a 42-year-old woman living in Monte Carlo. She is a successful businesswoman; she is into nail polishing and acrylic fingernails, owning several profitable salons in the city. Before the story starts, she and her second husband, Paul, have been bringing up Rosana’s 9-year-old daughter from her first marriage. Rosana’s first husband, 34-year-old Marco, the other main character in the film, left them when the little girl was only one, which Rosana can never forgive him. Marco was a dancer, later body-builder; when the film starts, he has been unemployed because he is usually given the sack due to his temper. His partner is Olga; they are childless.

The film starts with the painful arrangements of a funeral, as Paul and Rosana’s daughter were both killed in an avalanche during a ski camp in Austria; Rosana was not with them. Rosana was devastated by the death of her husband and daughter, but she is a strong and brave woman, she performs her duties. Her first husband, Marco tries to help her but she refuses it.

Rosana is left alone. But before she went mad, she realises that they have an adopted child in Mongolia. In a project organised by the Maltese Aid Service they symbolically adopted an orphan eight years ago, and sent her the fixed amount of support, three hundred euros. Also, a little box of presents for celebrations. They got photos of the little girl and letters of thanks in return.

Rosana finds the little girl’s photo and data, and not really knowing what she is doing, she decides to find her. And she immediately starts for the Aeroflot office, books a plane ticket without any knowledge of the country, or what to expect there - in fact, if that already adolescent girl is a real person or not. But she leaves.

Marco is informed of Rosana’s decision and understands her state of mind, although she does not show weakness. Therefore he follows her to Ulaanbaatar in secret, having no idea what Rosana wants to do there. In a Don Bosco Institute in Ulaanbaatar Rosana learns that the girl used to live there but a family near Hovd took her in their home. She wants to hire a car and leave but Marco has already hired one and tried to get some information about the country, travelling and local customs. Rosana had to accept Marco’s help. So they set off to find the adopted girl together.

From now on the film is about this adventurous journey. The hope that they can find her, the Mongolian scenery and people have an extremely positive influence on Rosana. Her relationship with Marco is improving very slowly, since she never forgets what he has done to them. From the Hovd authorities they learn where they can find the nomadic family in the mountains, where the girl is supposed to be living. In an old Russian land rover, on horseback or on foot, but they keep on going, sometimes in danger, sometimes gaining wonderful experiences. They find the family, but it turns out that the adolescent girl left them for adventure and applied for a job of kitchen help in a big tourist boat, on Lake Khövsgöl (Khuvsgul). The journey between the region of Hovd and Lake Khövsgöl is full of adventures and surprises for the two people. They find the boat to learn that the young girl had an affair with the captain and became pregnant, and went to a nearby hospital to have an abortion. Rosana steadily continues the journey. In the meantime they have an interesting adventure at night on the island of Dalajn Hüj on Lake Khövsgöl.

In the hospital they are informed that after the operation the girl went to a monastery, the Danzandarjaa monastery. There live a lot of girls who went through a similar shocking experience, protected by the Buddhist monks. Marco and Rosana arrive there; the woman is becoming more and more obsessive about finding the girl, who is probably not the girl they have been looking for at all. But Rosana is not interested in that. She wants to find her and take her home to Monaco, enroll her to college, take care of her, love her. In the monastery it turns out that the girl could not stay any longer, and was taken by another wandering nomadic family very far away: in the southern Gobi Desert. Rosana and Marco continue their journey from Sükhbaatar on the Trans Mongolia express; then they get to Ergel via Dzunbajan on the land rover they have taken with them on the train. They find some accommodation there. Rosana is sure that she is close to the girl, but she wants to get there alone. They spend their last night together making love desperately. Rosana wants to thank Marco for accompanying her, while Marco feels that he will never see Rosana again.

Rosana starts for the family on horseback, then she leaves the horse behind and continues to walk in the desert, without any hope.

Now the film's plot is divided into two lines:

Marco has been waiting for Rosana for weeks.

In the meantime the other plotline shows Rosana finding the family.

Rosana’s corpse is transported to Ergel; it was found in the desert; Marco is grief-stricken but arranges the things.

Meanwhile we can see that Rosana has found the girl, she is really staying with that family. Haliuka remembers being supported by a monaco family long ago.

The other plotline shows Marco, who is flying home with the sealed coffin in the baggage compartment.

Rosana is sitting by the fire with the real – or unreal family and her ‘found daughter’ happily in the middle of the magic of a shaman ceremony.

Marco arrives at Nizza airport, Olga meets him, who is also devastated. Marco lost his daughter, and now Rosana. In the meantime Rosana lives happily with the family in the southern Gobi Desert. Or is this just imagination? The memory of hope in the last moment before her death? We do not know.