For Georgian Cinema, every film of T.Abuladze was a landmark. Each project was at least the most typical if not the best film of its time. Visually they all are made in different style and form defined by (or sometimes defining) the trends in the contemporary Georgian cinema. (spoilers ahead !).
The major achievement of Tengiz Abuladze himself is a trilogy The Plead, Tree of Wishes and Repentance. These films got a wide critical acclaim and Repentance even became the major hit in USSR. Many Soviet and Post-Soviet Critics and viewers consider it to be the best Soviet film of 80-ies. The phrases and notions from this film became proverbs and are quoted everywhere, general concepts "Repentance" and "the Way to the Temple" where over-abused by soviet media for over a decade. But... some foreign critics were much less agitated by the film. Leonard Maltin even found it boring (while in USSR the film was often criticized for being too entertaining !!!). On the contrary film by Nikita Mikhalkhov on a similar subject - "Burnt by the Sun" was very well received in the west, while in former USSR it was simply excoriated by critics as a shallow Hollywood-oriented Soap and a definite cash-in on the glory of Repentance. Some foreign critics and viewers didn't understand anything about the Repentance (which is full of symbols and allusions, some of them are uniquely Georgian.) apart from the Stalin criticism. Here are some facts about the film that foreigners mostly do not know.
1. The story- is a real one - Beria (the darkest evil character of Stalin epoque crushed a well-known painter after he attempted to protect the Metechi Temple (a trade mark of Tbilisi-capital of Georgia), that Beria planned to destroy to build some monument. As always everyone who opposed Beria were arrested and mostly executed. But the Temple- symbol of spirituality, human values, heart of a nation survived.
2. Due to this the prologue and epilogue of the film are very important - (by the way there are 2 time periods in the film- the Past - Stalin Time, totalitarian regime, the Present - Brejnev Period, so called Zastoi (standstill, stagnation period) - time of conformism when everything became seemingly all right)- so the prologue and epilogue is the picture of the soviet Zastoi of 70-ies- everything seems to be all right and a child of family destroyed by totalitarian regime makes cakes with beautiful but fake temples on them, eventually the cake is eaten be a dirty little bearded man admiring the totalitarian past and speaking about Varlam Aravidze (read Stalin, Beria and all other monsters from the Past) with admiration, and the cake-maker (the victim of Varlam) says nothing and just imagines what could she do to remind people of truth. But this is just her imagination, people are conformists they need no truth and only old vagabond woman searches for the Way to the Tample.
3. The Axis of the film is Aravidze family (Aravidze in Georgian means Nobody's Son): we see 3 generations- Varlam - (the totalitarian past), his son Abel and His Wife- (the "innocent" conformist Present,) and Tornike- the Grandson (the future that finally must take the responsibility for the crimes of past)
4. But this " taking the responsibility for the crimes of past" is a controversial issue that's why everything happens only in the imagination of the cake-maker- becouse the degree and a form of repentance, and the repentance itself is a very complex and painful matter; and yes, the Skeleton in the Closet affects and punishes not Varlam who commits the crime but Abel who tries to hush it up and Tornike who is among few really "innocent" characters of the film. Digging out the corpse of Varlam (the Past) - is this a solution? The authors leave the question to the viewers.
5. Some scenes need explanation:
The funeral may look grotesque, but in fact its pretty realistic and is more a humoristic critique of Georgian obsession with ceremonies Georgian Cemeteries are really the monuments of human vanity - huge, with excessive use of marble, granites and other materials. Putting cage on the grave of Varlam is symbolic, but in general the episode depicts how unholy the sacred places have become in Soviet Union (Georgia), the episode with church shows the same - the church is transformed into Power Station. Episode in the greenhouse is a Naked Gun-like literal depiction of the expression "Under the Cap"(to have someone under control). During his "Inauguration Speech" Varlam makes a statement that became quintessential when depicting Stalin regime. He cites Confucius " It's hard to catch cat in the dark room, especially if it is not there" and paraphrases it "We Will Catch the Cat in the Dark Room, Even if It's not There". For those who have little idea of Stalinism the accusation for "making a tunnel from Bombay to London " may sound forced but in fact its very realistic and sounds rather tame next to some other accusations based on which millions of people were killed. Episode with Goddess of Justice has dual symbolism: First, the goddess has become a lady of dubious reputation playing piano with a stalinistic prosecutor, second, the actress making cameo appearance here appeared in the first part of the trilogy as well (the Plea) there she was a symbol of beauty and purity.
6. The cast is "all star" (of Georgian cinema of course). Many viewers even didn't noticed that father and son- Varlam and Abel are acted by the same actor !!! The old lady at the end of the film looking for a temple, is last screen appearance of Veriko Anjaparidze, perhaps the greatest Georgian actress. By the way her character is obvious "older" Pupala from the "Tree of Wishes", there this character was acted by S. Chiaureli -daughter of Veriko.
The major achievement of Tengiz Abuladze himself is a trilogy The Plead, Tree of Wishes and Repentance. These films got a wide critical acclaim and Repentance even became the major hit in USSR. Many Soviet and Post-Soviet Critics and viewers consider it to be the best Soviet film of 80-ies. The phrases and notions from this film became proverbs and are quoted everywhere, general concepts "Repentance" and "the Way to the Temple" where over-abused by soviet media for over a decade. But... some foreign critics were much less agitated by the film. Leonard Maltin even found it boring (while in USSR the film was often criticized for being too entertaining !!!). On the contrary film by Nikita Mikhalkhov on a similar subject - "Burnt by the Sun" was very well received in the west, while in former USSR it was simply excoriated by critics as a shallow Hollywood-oriented Soap and a definite cash-in on the glory of Repentance. Some foreign critics and viewers didn't understand anything about the Repentance (which is full of symbols and allusions, some of them are uniquely Georgian.) apart from the Stalin criticism. Here are some facts about the film that foreigners mostly do not know.
1. The story- is a real one - Beria (the darkest evil character of Stalin epoque crushed a well-known painter after he attempted to protect the Metechi Temple (a trade mark of Tbilisi-capital of Georgia), that Beria planned to destroy to build some monument. As always everyone who opposed Beria were arrested and mostly executed. But the Temple- symbol of spirituality, human values, heart of a nation survived.
2. Due to this the prologue and epilogue of the film are very important - (by the way there are 2 time periods in the film- the Past - Stalin Time, totalitarian regime, the Present - Brejnev Period, so called Zastoi (standstill, stagnation period) - time of conformism when everything became seemingly all right)- so the prologue and epilogue is the picture of the soviet Zastoi of 70-ies- everything seems to be all right and a child of family destroyed by totalitarian regime makes cakes with beautiful but fake temples on them, eventually the cake is eaten be a dirty little bearded man admiring the totalitarian past and speaking about Varlam Aravidze (read Stalin, Beria and all other monsters from the Past) with admiration, and the cake-maker (the victim of Varlam) says nothing and just imagines what could she do to remind people of truth. But this is just her imagination, people are conformists they need no truth and only old vagabond woman searches for the Way to the Tample.
3. The Axis of the film is Aravidze family (Aravidze in Georgian means Nobody's Son): we see 3 generations- Varlam - (the totalitarian past), his son Abel and His Wife- (the "innocent" conformist Present,) and Tornike- the Grandson (the future that finally must take the responsibility for the crimes of past)
4. But this " taking the responsibility for the crimes of past" is a controversial issue that's why everything happens only in the imagination of the cake-maker- becouse the degree and a form of repentance, and the repentance itself is a very complex and painful matter; and yes, the Skeleton in the Closet affects and punishes not Varlam who commits the crime but Abel who tries to hush it up and Tornike who is among few really "innocent" characters of the film. Digging out the corpse of Varlam (the Past) - is this a solution? The authors leave the question to the viewers.
5. Some scenes need explanation:
The funeral may look grotesque, but in fact its pretty realistic and is more a humoristic critique of Georgian obsession with ceremonies Georgian Cemeteries are really the monuments of human vanity - huge, with excessive use of marble, granites and other materials. Putting cage on the grave of Varlam is symbolic, but in general the episode depicts how unholy the sacred places have become in Soviet Union (Georgia), the episode with church shows the same - the church is transformed into Power Station. Episode in the greenhouse is a Naked Gun-like literal depiction of the expression "Under the Cap"(to have someone under control). During his "Inauguration Speech" Varlam makes a statement that became quintessential when depicting Stalin regime. He cites Confucius " It's hard to catch cat in the dark room, especially if it is not there" and paraphrases it "We Will Catch the Cat in the Dark Room, Even if It's not There". For those who have little idea of Stalinism the accusation for "making a tunnel from Bombay to London " may sound forced but in fact its very realistic and sounds rather tame next to some other accusations based on which millions of people were killed. Episode with Goddess of Justice has dual symbolism: First, the goddess has become a lady of dubious reputation playing piano with a stalinistic prosecutor, second, the actress making cameo appearance here appeared in the first part of the trilogy as well (the Plea) there she was a symbol of beauty and purity.
6. The cast is "all star" (of Georgian cinema of course). Many viewers even didn't noticed that father and son- Varlam and Abel are acted by the same actor !!! The old lady at the end of the film looking for a temple, is last screen appearance of Veriko Anjaparidze, perhaps the greatest Georgian actress. By the way her character is obvious "older" Pupala from the "Tree of Wishes", there this character was acted by S. Chiaureli -daughter of Veriko.