The Fool

Nikitin discovers the building tilting and a crack in the wall, realizing the structure could fail within 24 hours. He calculates the risk and resolves to warn the residents, knowing that speaking out could jeopardize his standing in a cynical town. This discovery sets the film's central emergency in motion.

Nikitin interrupts the mayor's birthday party to warn the intoxicated attendees about the imminent collapse. The crowd treats him as a nuisance and responds with cynical jokes, dismissing the warning. Only when they fear public ruin do they admit there might be something real to it.

Galaganova dispatches Public Housing Inspector Fedotov and Matyugin to assess the building with Nikitin. They visit the site and begin a formal evaluation of the tilt and threat. The moment blends practical inspection with the city’s political stakes.

Nikitin demonstrates the tilt by rolling a bottle off the roof, convincing Fedotov and Matyugin that the building will indeed collapse. They report the dangerous condition to Galaganova and her political entourage, recognizing the seriousness of the threat. The assessment elevates safety concerns to a political risk.

They relay the findings to Galaganova and her circle, who realize that evacuating 820 residents would trigger a financial review and expose years of corruption. The information is weighed not just for safety, but for political protection. The environment becomes a chessboard of power and liability.

Galaganova and Bogachyov decide to pin the collapse on Fedotov and Matyugin, using them as scapegoats to shield higher-ups. Nikitin and the two inspectors become targets of a moral and political trap. The plan crystallizes the town's dangerous cover-up.

Officials tell Nikitin, Fedotov, and Matyugin that evacuation arrangements are being made, then put them in a police van allegedly to meet the mayor. Instead, the vehicle is driven to the city outskirts, signaling that the inspectors may be sacrificed. The trio senses the dangerous turn in events.

At the remote location, Fedotov and Matyugin realize they are expendable and plead for Nikitin's release. The police reluctantly comply, ordering Nikitin to flee with his family immediately. Fedotov and Matyugin are executed as the cover-up tightens its grip.

As evacuation plans falter, Nikitin argues with his wife Masha about their status as 'nobodies' in the town. She scolds him for risking their family, but he remains determined to save as many residents as possible. The moment deepens his commitment to warn the city despite personal cost.

Nikitin goes door to door, urging the residents to evacuate before the collapse. He fights through growing skepticism and annoyance from the crowd, trying to emphasize the risk and protect lives. The effort shows his stubborn determination to help others, even as authority figures fail them.

Outside the building, the residents grow increasingly angry and decide they do not believe his warnings. They treat his pleas as disruption and refuse to leave, complicating any potential evacuation. The tension in the street builds as time runs out.

In the final moment, the angry residents beat Nikitin as he tries to help them evacuate, and he collapses in a fetal position. The scene portrays the town's collective failure to protect its people and condemns the cynicism that muffled warnings. The film closes on his battered, vulnerable form.