#43: Andrei Rublev

Andrei Rublev (1966, Tarkovsky)

So, I picked up Battle of Algiers and Sansho The Baliff because deepdiscount was having a 45% off sale for Criterion. Maybe I should have just bought all the exclusively criterion ones in the top 100, becuase that's probably the cheapest I'll ever find them. But out of interest of staying both out of debt and marginally liquid, I just picked up those two.

Two weeks in and I've already exhausted Tarkovsky. I've never seen a movie like the two of his I've seen. They've got such beautiful aesthetics, and non-linear storytelling that tries to evoke strong emotion rather than just follow a protagonist through a series of events. The story takes place in medieval Russia, and is episodic, following various characters through events that are only thematically related. There's the theme of following Christian rituals while at the same time being inhumanly cruel to others, with the implication that it is more Christian to be forgiving than wrathful. There's also the theme of the relationship between artists and the limitations placed by society, which it manages to pull off without seeming self-indulgent because of its historical setting. Andrei Rublev, the main character who is based on a famous Russian painter, is barely present for much of the movie, and when he is present usually as a witness.

One of the episodes is about a character stumbling into a coven and being tied up out of fear he'll get soldiers to come kill them. Another is about the son of a dead master at forging bells who's left alone after his village is destroyed by invaders and disease. He wants to get the other bell-makers to take him with him by saying his father knew the secret of bell-making and only passed it onto him. He then micromanages the forging of a giant silver bell commissioned by the grand prince, and puts himself in a situation where he knows if the bell does not work he will be beheaded. Each of the episodes is violent, engaging, and emotionally devastating.

Rating: *****/5

If I ever see Stalker or Solaris used or cheap, I will have to get them, even though they aren't in the 100.

7/100