The Tsar of Love and Techno

A captive in Chechnya, Kolya is forced to plant a garden for his captor, an old man who is also Ruslan’s former father-in-law. After losing his daughter and grandson to a landmine explosion, the captor is determined to try to bring some sense of normalcy back to his life, even if it’s just by restoring a garden. Kolya’s fellow captive is Danilo, whose wife serves as Kolya’s primary escape in life. Kolya fantasizes about Danilo’s wife and what life could look like had he married a girl like her and not been involved in the war. At night, Kolya ponders who he has become, and what he has done in his life—all the violence, all the manipulation.

Danilo tries to escape, but he dies from blood loss after cutting his foot on a trowel blade. Kolya thinks about a mixtape his brother, Alexei, made for him, titled For Kolya, In Case of Emergency!! Vol. 1, thinking he may still have time to someday listen to it, he dies in the field.