If not Putin, then Kit

On January 15, Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film “Leviathan” was included in the Nominee of the Oscar Prize in the “Best Foreign Language” category

The international success of Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film “Leviathan” - with important prizes at the Cannes festival, “Golden Globe” and the real chances of getting an “Oscar” - without fools, an outstanding phenomenon, the last time something similar happened twenty years ago with the film by Nikita Mikhalkov “Tired of the Sun”. The traditional media regulation assumes that such events should be accompanied by congratulations of the first persons, festive broadcasts by Malakhov, news stories about the “triumph of Russian cinema” and other celebrations-but it was not there.

In the news of the Golden Globe, in the news on the central channels, one line between the plot about the plot about the birth plot in the zoo of funny cubs and the weather forecast in Anadyr, about the nomination for the Oscar, defiantly did not say anything, the Minister of Culture, the film spat on the radio, discussing the issue of the issue of a success is to proudly proud of a success. “Leviathan” (and come to the conclusion that there is no), the conservative-free-free segment of social networks has long come to the consensus that “Leviathan” is a special operation to denigrate Russia on a global scale, and prizes are handed exclusively for anti-Russian propaganda.

And I can’t understand everything - when people write about the outline and spatter, what do they mean? The heroes of Zvyagintsev, although they live in a prohibitive polar wild, look great - the heroes of Vdovichenkov and Lyadova can be shot for a glossy magazine, not even changing clothes; They have a large beautiful house, around - completely open species; It can be seen that their life is established and the economy is in order. Yes, they drink in Leviathan - but quite modestly even by the standards of Russian “spectator” cinema, where trouble -free drunkenness traditionally becomes a reason for joyful laughter, or even national pride; Recall that the second main contender for nomination from Russia to Oscar was the film “Gorky” this year. Moreover: the authors deliberately hang important plot ligaments in the air, so that the film can be interpreted not as outlining if you wish - but the exact opposite way: here with the same success you can see the exposure of the current government, chamber psychological drama or history about overcoming destructive impulses through patriotism and spirituality: the mayor, although he was at first, pulled himself up and lined up a beautiful The church, the abbot uttered a penetrating sermon in it, and his individual negligent parishioners brought themselves to the pen. When you begin to develop the film to the details, it turns out that the outline is in the eyes of the watchman, that the viewer himself makes this choice - to interpret all the plot turns in such a way that horror is endless, and then from this you can draw different conclusions - Zvyagintsev made a movie about how everything is arranged in Russia, or Zvyagintsev shot anti -Russian agitation for the west.

Even if you do not dwell on the lightest version, Leviathan still leaves a feeling of strange anxiety; As if there is a secret inside him, not reduced to plot ups and downs or features of building a frame, and this secret has a direct relationship to your audience. It is precisely this anxiety that caused the frequently found reproaches, expressed including Vladimir Medinsky - they say, I do not see myself in this film; Have mercy, this is a chamber story for five characters, with what on earth should everyone see yourself here?

But the focus of “Leviathan” is precisely in the fact that this, according to all formal signs, the chamber family drama is shown here as part of the ancient epic, as something as time -free and significant as rocks or sea - from this the most restless feeling arises that this is not just a chamber story about how a man drank and then sat down, but a final statement about everything. Anxiety is that the characters of this film cannot be divided into right and guilty, everyone acts in accordance with their nature, feelings, social status - and everyone is to blame for everything, and neither the law, nor love, nor faith are able to prevent it. Leviathan is not just a state, or nature, or a whale that splashes a tail in the sea; As Zvyagintsev said in an interview with Ksenia Sobchak in Rain, “Putin’s Russia is all of us”, and in this sense, the main character made in the name is all its participants and spectators, on both sides of the screen, hence the questions “Where am I here?”, And, by the way, the sensation completely incomprehensible to the Oscar academicians will slander the Zvyagins. Social system: after all, in that construction there is a small interval, perhaps this is a place for me.

(Read more about the chances of Leviathan on Oscar - on page 56)