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Peculiarities of the National Hunt (Osobennosti natsionalnoy okhoty)

The plot follows a young Finnish man named Raivo who is in Russia to study the mannerisms and details of a typical Russian hunt. He is taken in by a former Russian general, Ivolgin, and his band for a hunt in a rural Russian forest. The members of his band are quite eccentric in their own ways and one of them is an exceptionally outrageous woodsman called Kuz’mich.

Coming in with prior misconceptions of how the hunt will go about, picturing an eloquent and royal hunt akin to those of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries pre-Revolution Russia, but young Raivo quickly learns that this is far from his current reality, instead he finds himself in some rather boozy misadventures that take up much of this group's time.

They have many run-ins with many individuals in the area. Some of the events that transpired during these alcohol-related adventures include having a bear sneak into their banya and terrorize many of the main characters for a bit of time, a Militsiya officer loses his pistol, Lev blowing up a stick of dynamite, missing cows, stolen Police UAZ 's, and meetups with the milkmaids. Another side story occurs when Kuz’mich attempts to transport a cow to his relative in a bomber for a bottle of vodka. Stories like these, being stylized as traditional hunting tales, occur constantly throughout a vast portion of the movie and contribute to its slapstick humor elements.

As the movie progresses, it becomes apparent that the hunt is not the main event for these individuals and rather just something they will get around to eventually.

In contrast, Raivo envisions a hunt inspired by 19th century Russia where the hunt is well organized and requires the help of many people, hunting dogs, and horses to achieve a proper hunt. In this imaginary hunt, the characters speak French, are classy, and are after a giant wolf. These scenes serve to juxtapose the ideal hunt from the chaotic flurry that is occurring before Raivo.

But the group does attempt a hunt which is only found with odd events and findings. Some of these events include a pineapple being picked from a hedgerow, Earth being visible in the sky, and a missing cow thought to be shot down during the hunt coming to life and attempting to run away.

As the movie ends, the cast sits around a campfire, and the two worlds of the movie mesh to end the scene and movie.