Change Your Image
elgar_gumm
Reviews
Konferentsiya (2020)
About the sin of fear and its consequences
The movie has many evocative scenes. Here are some of them: the interior of the Dubrovka Theater like a mirror for the audience watching the movie in the theater; Natasha's pale face like a Japanese ghost mask; Natasha's dark clothes, putting herself in the category of the terrorists (one could believe she wears a black hijab like the female terrorists did); Natasha dancing and singing for her paralyzed husband; the priest spilling the incense smoke in the orthodox church and Galya blowing the cigarette smoke into her mother's face; Galya reliving her mother's moments before the escape jump by repeatedly opening and closing the bathroom window; the surviving hostages inflating the dead/other hostages and the terrorists; the cleaning lady collecting the deflated victims (which makes you feel bad for being annoyed by the long hoover opening scene). Even though the movie is not criticizing the authorities for being responsible for around 200 deaths, there are some clear hints for the indifference of the authorities for the victims (the title is such a hint).
For me it was useful, before watching the movie, to read the touching story of the Nord-Ost massacre, from the point of view of the victims, in Anna Politkovskaya's book, "Putin's Russia". The movie is mainly about Natasha's excruciating guilt for her sin of fear, but it made me think also about those without any remorse who called the rescue operation a success and wonder how much fear can the Russian people still endure...
El ventre del mar (2021)
Los inconsolables
In my opinion, the movie can be seen as the story of humanity floating through an immense sea called Universe on a raft called Earth without any hope that somebody can find us and save us from ourselves. The movie is also about an inner struggle. Should we be intelligent as Savigny and accept cynically our cruel nature and destiny or should we blindly embrace love and adventure as Thomas?
Nelyubov (2017)
The inconvenience of being born
Clearly, the beginning and the ending are connected by the barricade tape. Alyosha picks up the red-white tape near a tree; here, we have a long take of the hole at the base of the tree. At the end of the movie the following quote popped up in my mind: "For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be." (Job 7:21)