When this film was passed by the Soviet censors, it was the most striking evidence yet that Gorbachev's glasnost was going to change profoundly the artistic climate in the Soviet Union. Supposedly, then-Soviet foreign minister (and current president of Georgia) Shevardnadze got it passed by Moscow as a favour to the director. For an account of this, read David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb". The film was a blatant attack on two of Georgia's most famous historical villains - Stalin and Beria - and on dictatorship in general. Its moral force is indisputable. But its historical significance outweighs its artistic merit. Its grotesque and heavy symbolism pays tribute to Fellini but the film lacks its own artistic voice.
Review of Repentance
