AFP, ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 16: A film that opened in Kazakhstan this week gives a glowing account of the childhood and youth of its strongman ruler, President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who won a landslide victory this month.
Titled "The Sky of my Childhood," the film is based on books written by Nazarbayev and "reflects real events from the life of the head of our state," state film studio Kazakhfilm says on its website.
The main character, named Sultan "has dreamed of the sky since his early years, and longs to become a pilot," the synopsis says, before adding that "fate leads him to different heights."
The trailer shows scenes of a boy running through fields of flowers amid picturesque mountains, then a young man galloping on a white horse, and finally footage of the real Nazarbayev looking out of a plane window.
The president had a private viewing of the film, funded by the culture ministry, earlier this month, his press service said, without specifying what he thought of the film. It went on general release Thursday.
Nazarbayev, 70, was reelected earlier this month to a fourth term with more than 95 percent of votes. He is inscribed in the constitution as the "leader of the nation" and his name is inscribed as the co-author of the national anthem.
A former steel worker, Nazarbayev has ruled oil-rich Kazakhstan since the late 1980s when he headed the republic's Communist Party, and has secured his grip on power by cracking down on dissent and political opponents.
Rights groups have condemned his authoritarian political system, which they say has changed little from Soviet times.
