January 15, 2015kino and TV shows
Leviathan: with a spear on a monster
It may seem to spectators familiar with the history of Russia and the literary traditions of our country that Andrei Zvyagintsev made his frankly Russophobic film (who recently received the Golden Globe, which was pretty eager for the public), and this position is extremely clear. A resident of the Russian outback is shown here by the creature of the trembling, which can only dutifully accept all the hardships of life and jerk them with vodka, and the fate is ruled by Leviathan in the person of officials and the church. It is he who decides who to live and how to live, and there is no God here. Provocation? Only partly.
Meanwhile " Leviathan " – a truly Russian work created according to truly Russian literary traditions. And that is why he is doomed to popularity in intellectual circles abroad, and someday in the future and with us-as books by Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy.
Crime and punishment
Each nation, every country has its own literary traditions and literary archetypes. They are determined by various factors: a system of government, the size of the country, geographical position, turning point in historical moments and many others. Japan was a closed country for a long time and cooked in its own juice, avoiding the effects of globalization, and there were sea bastards of the main food – that is why Japanese creativity was so original. There are many patriotism in American works, the motive of cohesion is often dominated by – America is young and ambitious, but still divided into the states. So why are the main Russian works inevitably about pain, despair and hopelessness?
► Open "leviafan" with shots of raging harsh nature. A person is full of uncertainty, but also determination. The picture is closed, however, by nature calm. Man is broken and devastated.
Andrei Zvyagintsev, without inventing anything new, simply acts within the framework of the Russian literary tradition, which has developed thanks to the harsh climatic conditions of the country and authoritarian power. Man by Zvyagintsev is the same as in Dostoevsky, Chekhov or Gorky. He is a suffering person. Small, indecisive, accustomed to injustice and pain. And thoughts about a typical American happy end should be rejected already on the introductory credits. He would not and could not be.
► Nicholas has a wife, an obtu-carrier and a house built by his own hands, a generic nest. By the will of the powerful Leviathan, all this is destined to lose.
Zvyagintsev juggles with Russian images, throwing all the good and leaving only the worst. The machines sound exclusively by chanson, they listen to barbecue “Oh God, what a man”, drunkenness is rash, bureaucracy is sinful, nature is lifeless, life is empty and insignificant. This is not " Cargo 200 ", This is thinner, smarter, with subtext, but also gloomy and decapitated.
This is not to say that the action " Leviathan »Takes place in Russia. This is the dark version of Russia, the world from which good, love, friendship, happiness have forcibly pumped out. Something like this was done in the novel “Confession of the Infutable Man” by the Japanese classic of the post-war time Osamu Dadzai, who was immensely revered by Chekhov. Plot " Leviathan "Could be expanded in almost any country that survived many difficulties in its history, and the essence would be the only one: entering into an unequal battle with the irrational, spontaneous, powerful creature, a person inevitably endures the collapse. https://exclusive-casino.co.uk/ Especially if his opponent is the state apparatus.
At the bottom
His tooth circle is horror; His strong shields are splendor; They are fastened, as it were, with a hard seal; One to the other touches close, so that the air does not pass between them; one with the other lie tightly, clung and do not move apart.
Job’s book (Job. 40: 20-41: 26).
It is naive to think that the dark version of Russia Andrei Zvyagintsev is lying. If you live or have ever lived in a small provincial town, where most of the houses are private cottages, then they probably faced the unjust division of the land (despite the expanses of our Motherland, the land issue in Russia is very acute), and with widespread drunkenness, And with “Oh God, what a man” on barbecue, and with officials on black jeeps who imagined themselves to be gods.
► Absolute evil in Leviathan is not. Many troubles fell to the share of heroes exclusively through their own fault.
IN " Leviathan »In a strange way, the Old Testament is intertwined" The book of Job "And the work of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes" Leviathan, or matter, form and power of the state of church and civilian ". Like the biblical sufferer Iov, Nikolai loses everything that he had: a friend, wife, home, son, freedom. He asks God: for what sins all this? But here, unlike biblical history, God does not come to Him in the form of a hurricane and does not return the lost in two times.
Zvyagintsev builds his world, very similar to modern Russia, according to the perverted laws of Thomas Hobbes, who always considered the monarchy the most useful type of government. The very title Leviathan is the state, but here, unlike the theories of the philosopher, the “mortal god” does not seek to protect his subjects. On the contrary, Leviathan, in the person of a miserable and frightened mayor of the noisy and his subordinates, triumphing, breaking the life and fate of one of his servants. Biblical morality is also perverted: yes, at any moment you can take everything away from you, but no matter how much you beg or wait – no one will save you here.
► Here it is – Leviathan, woven from human bodies, as if from dense shields.
According to Thomas Hobbes, near the civil government, the church should be present, whose task is to instruct and teach. With the help of the church, the sovereign holds power and does not allow subjects to dare to do something terrible, like a civil war. The state is a public contract. But the world drawn by Zvyagintsev is broken: the local church actually directly controls the mayor of the noisy for its selfish purposes, and meanwhile the sheeps, meanwhile, consults with the churchman on each issue. But it doesn't happen!
Cutting away from the image of Russia everything is superfluous, the author of Leviathan inevitably hit the grotesque in the name of an artistic plan and his own pink-summer, it is not for nothing that the Pussy Riot action is mentioned in the film twice. “The fleshy parts of his body are rallied between themselves firmly, do not flinch,” says God Iov about Leviathan. – The sword affecting him can stand, neither a spear, nor a dart, nor armor. ". Zvyagintsev is the same biblical Job, who nevertheless dares to pick up a spear and get out against his monster from the sea abrasions.
► The city administration where the film was shot hastened to make excuses: they say, we have no drunkenness on such a scale and officials are good. In the context of Leviathan, this statement even seems funny.
" Leviathan " – not a work of art and not an action, but an action and a work of art simultaneously. Truthful-but grotesque, about Russia-but only about its dark half, for Russia-but with an aim for a couple of western eyes. Living classic? We still have to find out.
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"Russian cinema in the ass" – with such words the famous film Kirill Serebryanikov "begins" Depicting the victim ". However, now we can argue with this: “Golden Globe” is already in the hands of Andrei Zvyagintsev, and, perhaps, ahead of the Oscar.
The most interesting story is a story about yourself. Therefore, therefore, the most other Russian writers around the world are recognized by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who wrote about Russia and the Russian soul with pain, but honestly. And, no matter how sad, " Leviathan »Too about us. About Russia. Even about her dark version.
Rating
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Complex life.