There are some dark comic turns. In one of the most effective episodes, a Ukrainian man arrives at the Russian-controlled police headquarters to retrieve his stolen car. Instead, a police official asks him to sign the car over to the republic. The tone gradually darkens, as the illogical world of Alice in Wonderland gives way to that of Kafka. At first hapless and confused, the car owner realises that the official, in the way of all authoritarian regimes, is not really asking him a question.