A Rumored City

The Sacrifice Andrei Tarkovski 1986 Swedish 4 Hours 6 Minutes

This is a slow moving masterpiece that serves as the legacy of the iconic Soviet/Russian film director: Andrei Tarkovski, who died soon after from a cancer that has been blamed upon Kremlin intrigues.

Alexandar, handsome in a leonine way, is a retired actor, philosopher and a lecturer in esthetics. He's found contentment in an old house, by the sea, that sits at the edge of a Swedish tundra, living with his younger wife, teenage daughter and a young son. The son (whose name we never discover), known as the little man, is adored by his father, and treated like an adult - the opening shot has the father engaged in a metaphysical discussion (albeit one sided) with his four year old son, who's muted due to an unspecified surgery. Tarkovski is a master of the slow-panning camera shot, and uses it to great effect right from the opening credits, which roll against a backdrop provided by Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi. The soundtrack alternates between Bach's St. Matthew's Passion and a haunting high-pitched Japanese flute music.

This is Alexandar's big day. It's his birthday and his guests are gathering for a celebratory dinner. Viktor, a chain-smoking doctor; Otto, the Nietzschean postman; and his English wife and daughter. The meal is never completed. Some catastrophe of a global proportion occurs. We are never told what, but it's safe to assume that a major war has broken out and humanity is about to be destroyed.

We now see a side to Alexandar herefore not suspected. This man of letters, a philosophy spouting literalist, is actually deeply religious. He drops to his knees and enters into a Faustian bargain with God. If He would only return the world to the state it was in yesterday he would sacrifice his all. There's also a side plot involving an icelandic witch but I think that's slightly weak.

We see a dazed and confused Alexandar emerge in to the new day. Has the world been saved? Was it all a dream? Or is this just the beginging of his  Nietzschean recurring nightmare? These are the delicious and tentalizing ideas that this move evokes. Be prepared for a long journey: four hours and six minutes to be precise but through it all I was spellbound.

Posted at 09:41PM Apr 27, 2009 by Horatio in General  |  Comments[0]