I seem to find an enduring theme of the imbalance of power in Sergei Bodrov’s “Prisoner of the Mountains.” The two scenes that seem to compliment this theme are the fight scene between Vanya and the shirtless fighter and the final one of the movie. The fighting scene was shocking as most movies nowadays would have turned this underdog story into a powerful moment of character development for Vanya. What happens, in reality, is that the “Goliath” in this case dismisses the fight and abstains from the utter domination of the young soldier. This idea of those in power, rejecting the expression of their power, is something shared by the rural folk community. Vanya should have been shot at the end of the movie, but his captor who had absolute power at that moment (gun aimed at Vanya’s head) rejected this choice and walked off. Dina, although influenced by love, gave Vanya the key to his shackles, although she knew he was supposed to die as revenge for her brother. This is contrasted ironically with the last scene of the movie, where four attack helicopters are seen rushing towards the unequipped rural community. In this case, the Russians are seen to be rushing to enact revenge on the folk community. The Russians are far more armed and far more powerful from the poor mountain dwellers, and they will probably still crush and demolish the village. I think this choice of abstinence reveals the nature of the Russian waring spirit. Knowing that Russia was almost invariably under siege/at war, the reaction seen by the army is probably to show the war-hardened nature of the country. The folk people are not used to the war life and still see people as people (Some townfolk come to like the prisoners), but the Russian state only sees another war it needs to carry out.