Abuladze's Repentance: Response

Film Response to Repentance (1984) Tengiz Abuladze's 1984 motion picture Repentance provides viewers with an abstract perspective on life in a rural area as being disrupted by feelings associated with absurdness, Stalinism, and people's struggle to reach common ground on particular issues. The film puts across a series of principles ranging from a satirical comedy to a means of addressing political topics that were controversial during the 1980s.

In spite of the confusion that the film expresses as its storyline progresses, most viewers are probable to experience intense emotions as they become better acquainted with characters and with how they feel about their immediate environment. While it would be pointless to discuss the film in association with conditions in the Soviet Union during the 1980s, it is intriguing to address matters in Soviet countries that separated from the union as the Iron Curtain fell.

Individuals in former Soviet state must have felt inspired as a consequence of seeing the film, taking into account that it went against ideas that were fed to them on a daily basis. These people could identify with characters in the film and could understand the central character, Varlam Aravidze, as being a person who was solely interested in the well-being of the system he was protecting rather than to care about people and about they were oppressed throughout his leadership.

The director uses a somewhat poetic form of expression as he attempts to relate to horrific events in an intriguing way. It is obvious that he found it difficult to address the topics he was interested in directly. As a consequence, he chose to use a series of metaphors and allegories in an attempt to criticize the system in a subtle way. Even with this, he concentrated on showing the gravity of the problem and wanted his viewers to understand the degree to which particular ideologies can affect a community.

The film as a whole is pessimistic and addresses the idea of people suffering greatly as a result of interacting with certain concepts and political ideologies. The Christian element in the motion picture relates to pessimism as being part of life. From the moment when the old woman asking for directions is disappointed upon hearing that that particular path does not lead to church viewers are likely to realize that any road will eventually lead to a divine location.

God is in charge of judging people eventually, regardless of the fact that he does not act immediately. Keti is largely the only person who seems to put across stability in the film, as her background and her job are the only real elements the film provides. The woman constantly thinks about how she would react to things if she were in a different position and most of the events in the motion picture happen in her head.

She lacks the courage or the power to step in and get locals to actually do something and is thus satisfied with just thinking about how things would be if the world was different. Imagination is the main idea throughout the movie and the director seems to have wanted to address the pointlessness associated with trying to act during the Stalinist era. It was impossible for someone to actually do something about the system at the time and many people accepted the situation they were in.

Keti is the perfect example of someone taking action -- people practically acknowledged their limitation and used every means they had available with the purpose of improving their condition, even if this meant to simply dream about a better life. The film shows the church as a place where people can always go when in distress. Many are likely to consider that the motion picture is wrong in showing religion as the way out of a dictatorship.

These people might prefer direct action and violence as a better solution to the problem, taking into account the military aspect of such a political system. History dominates most of the storyline, with characters suffering greatly as a consequence of their town's background. The former leader had left them with a bad taste, but it seems that most of them are hesitant about taking matters into their own hands and actually condemning him.

Keti's strength to even consider a scenario where things would get better and where people would really be able to go against their oppressors is certainly impressive. The woman manages to do something in a situation when such actions seem impossible. Even with the fact that she simply imagines things, her dedication and he general outcome of her imagination is probable to trigger intense emotions in audiences.

Christian imagery is used as a means to reach out to people and make it possible for them to observe the religious aspect of the story. The demolition of the church is a principal concept at this point, as it symbolizes the lengths to which some political leaders are willing to go in order to control the masses. Religious confessions and the idea of burial in general are also significant when considering the Christian element in the film.

Again, the church seems to be the only thing separating people from the threat of dictatorship. Characters in the film appear to be fueled by their religious thinking and it.