The
Russians are Coming! THE FATHER at Upstate Films
by Jay Blotcher
On a lonely railroad platform, Ivanov meets Masha. Once
also a foot soldier in the war, the gamine is now pregnant
and alone, her lover having headed back to his own family.
Strangely touched by the helpless woman, Ivanov offers to
accompany her home and pretend to be her husband, in an effort
to mitigate the public opprobrium that awaits her. But we
realize from the slant of his eyes and the faltering grin
on his face that Ivanov is taking this detour for his own
sake, as well. He explains to Masha that he has lived too
long as a soldier, taking solace in the black-and-white life
that war offered. Like her, he fears the challenges of everyday
life again. War was hell, but it was also liberating in that
it whisked away the constraining rules of their former lives.
Will they find a place in this civilian world again?
The Father veers between small epic—rife with snow-covered
landscapes and grand old steam trains—and chamber drama,
exploring the troubled rapport between the officer and the
wife he returns to. Ivanov is shocked to find that his old
world is also awash in moral ambiguities; faced with the mystery
of whether her husband would survive the war, the wife has
allowed a male suitor to insinuate himself into her life and
play surrogate father to her headstrong son and infant daughter.
However, at an economic 82 minutes, The Father manages to
be expansive and intimate at the same time. The cinematography
highlights the drab earth colors of a Russia struggling to
rebound from World War II, and trying to sort between the
comfort of hoary traditions and the allure of new customs
sparked by the end of an era. Raising more questions than
it feels the need to answer, The Father is an examination
of a loss of faith and the process we go through to find something
that replaces the newfound hole in our heart. CONTINUE...
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