Wednesday, August 28, 2013
War and peace
Alexandra goes to visit her grandson in Chechnya, an endless expanse of occupation and guerilla war.
In Alexander Sakurov's film, there is so little happening that you can see everything happening.
It is very quiet in this film.
It is not easy for her to get to the front. She rides in a troop train in the rough.
She squeezes into a troop carrier to get to the grandson Denis' base.
She sleeps in a tent. She eats the food.
Denis has to go on a patrol. She is on her own.
She walks around. The men watch her, a woman. An old woman. Someone from home. "We don't see people like you here anymore".
They feel abandoned on a useless police action. There is little hope.
Left on her own, she wanders into the occupied town. She meets a local woman. Goes to her house, has tea. They talk.
She comes back spends time with Denis. He braids her hair. They argue. Not once but a couple of times. Family feud. Little storms. Squalls.
He has to leave again for a longer period of time. She has to go home. She sees her friend from the village one more time. They say goodbye. Denis is off.
The whole world is in this little masterwork. Alexandra is Galina Vishnevskaya, an opera singer and actress of some renown. She is wonderful.
So are the young soldiers who stare at her, yearning. Home in one package.
The futility and frustration, the powerlessness is so evident in every frame.
Alexandra is a power to be reckoned with. In short, she takes no shit from anyone and we can see that in her entire demeanor.
This is a gem of a film. Very Russian in a way but universal in its appeal. The same useless wars of impotent men.
I saw this before and am less interested in it as an anti-war peace, which it is, but as a character study. The generations. Family love. The failure of even a disciplined armed force to defend itself against plain every day love.
This is a 5 and I will probably see it again. Just to see Vishnevskaya do her magic.
Labels: films
