Monday, November 29, 2010
WAR AND PEACE
Today's film was Alexsander Sokurov's
In this film, Alexandra takes a military train to visit her grandson who is serving just behind the lines in Chechnya.
They can do that in Russia. She takes a military train and is handed from one soldier to another until she gets to her destination.
This is a gentle film. The relationship between the old woman and the grandson is contentious and quite beautiful. They say what the feel and mean. No holds barred. And they don't get drama into it. Acceptance.
There is no plot. Alexandra visits and we visit with her. We see all the young men ache for home when they see her. Some are brave enough to come close. A look. A touch. They become boys in her presence which is formidable.
She wanders off base to the local market and meets a Chechnyan woman and becomes friends. We see the effect of war on the men on the other side.
Sokurov is a film maker that follows his own muse and does not mind being unconventional.
Nothing bad happens in this. We expect it but we do not get that. We get compassion and caring and the horror of war. The effect of it on professional soldiers. The grandson is an officer who takes men into the field for mop up. He has bad dreams and feels guilt about killing others who were formally a part of the USSR.
The film is very emotional. The play of faces and the spare words leave us with a lot of room to feel.
I saw this film before.
So that makes it a Netflix5.
Labels: films
