Repentance
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Avtandil Makharadze, Edisher Giorgobiani, Ketevan Abuladze, Ya Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Russian (Original Language) Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 153 minutes DVD Release Date: 2004-01-06 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Image Entertainment |
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Movie Reviews of Repentance
Movie Review: Funny, Resplendent, Harrowing, and Tragic
Summary: 5 Stars
The story is an inversion of *Antigone* (C.f.); there, a woman driven by love and honor insists upon burying her disinherited brother. Here, a woman driven by love (for her family) and honor (for her nation) insists on EXHUMING the remains of the country's late dictator, Varlam. For Antigone, the principle is family duty; a brother is a brother even if he is a traitor. For Ketevan Barateli, the principle is also family duty: Varlam annihilated her family and was the buffoonish dictator of her town.
Told though a series of flashbacks, the story takes place in two time periods: the Stalinist period, when Varlam became the mayor of the town; and the Period of Stagnation (_Zastoi_, roughly 1964-1985), during which Varlam dies and is succeeded by his son, Abel. The day after Varlam's grand funeral, his corpse turns up in Abel's garden. Naturally, he is re-interred and again, the next day, turns up in the garden. The third day, some sentries stand guard over the grave; one of them, Tornike, Abel's son, catches Ketevan in the act of raiding the site and shoots at her, wounding her slightly.
Ketevan is sent to jail and tried for desecrating Varlam's body. Her testimony is represented as a long flashback to the Stalinist period. Here, Varlam has come to power and attempts to co-opt, and then hound to death, Ketevan's parents (an artist and an actress). Their crime consists mainly of resisting the physical destruction of an old church in the heart of the town. An important thread in the story is the distinction between Varlam's version of cultural attainments, and those of the Baratelis: both are deeply saturated with Western European art and musical expertise, yet for the Baratelis the cultural achievements themselves are sacred for their individual meaning. For Varlam, culture is just a fungible form of social wealth, analogous to GDP. He doesn't give a damn about Georgia's civilization, or (for that matter) the concept of "civilization" as a guide to behavior. For him, it's merely an accoutrement of affluence.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT
Tornike is moved by Ketevan's story and visits her in prison to beg her forgiveness; then he confronts his father about what the regime did to the Baratelis. The rest of the movie follows the template of *Antigone*, but just as the beginning reverses Antigone's position, so does the ending. Benefits greatly from the exquisite material culture and natural beauty of pre-Revolutionary Georgia.