Dato Danelia

In Arabic, “mameluke” means a white slave, a prisoner. In Egypt, this name was given to prisoners of war who had been sold into slavery from Georgia and other countries of the Caucasus. The action of this drama starts in Georgia in the late 18th century. Two friends are abducted and sold into slavery. One ends up in Egypt, the other - in Venice. Years later, they meet by the ancient pyramids, in the desert where a battle is going on between the armies of Bonaparte and Ali-bey, the ruler of Egypt. In a combat with a French officer, the Mameluke injures him. Falling from his horse onto the sand, the officer exclaims in Georgian: “Vai, nana!” (“Oh, mother!”). And the Mameluke recognizes in him a mate of his childhood games.

Prince Abesalom runs into an orphaned Eteri while hunting, falls for her and brings the woman to his palace as his fiancé. The Prince’s aid Murman loses his self-control at Eteri’s beauty and gives her a spelled necklace as a wedding gift. Eteri contracts a mysterious disease that only Murman is capable to heal.

Engineer Japaridze, in order to speed up the construction of the hydroelectric station, grossly violates the safety rules and causes a disaster. He is sentenced to a long prison term.

A writer returning from a hunt finds a dying beggar in a ramshackle hut. The beggar tells the story of his life. Based on story by Ilia Chavchavadze.

Georgian village during the revolution of 1905. The struggle of the peasantry against the landlords. Tariel Golua's son, Levan, leads the rebellion. Tariel himself is in favor of a peaceful solution to the conflict, but when his son is brutally killed, and the houses of the rebels and their supporters are set on fire, Tariel is convinced that it is impossible to gain freedom without an armed struggle.