The AES Corporation, one of the major "world energy" giants, has bought up the privatized electric energy distribution firms in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. But unlike the days of the Soviet Union, when electric power was provided by the State free of charge, in the new world (and new economy) each citizen must pay for his or her own personal consumption of energy. In Georgia, however, everyone from the poor old pensioners to the Minister of Energy himself, manages to come up clever new ways to get "no cost" electricity. The director uses the energy issue to gain new and original insight into the problems faced by the former Soviet republics.
