No Country For Little Children The film begins as a merciless Scandinavian art house: through the absurdity that has become boring, an incomprehensible acting game of two of the most ordinary boys and girls breaks through, in search of parents going to the Big City in search of parents in order to avoid the charms of orphanages and the most terrible for them - separation.
The first third of the film is tempted to switch to something more “edible”, but the further the film is more intriguing – it is not just the absurdity of life hinted at by numerous, almost elusive details, words, scraps of conversation, for all their episodic and unfocused seem very important.
At a press conference dedicated to her anniversary, Kira Georgievna called “Melody for a shag” just a Christmas fairy tale, like Andersen had. But the widest range of techniques involved in the film, vivid images and non-trivial, to put it mildly, the production of dialogues indicate that this is not just a fairy tale, under which he falls asleep well on Christmas Eve.
Interestingly, the screenwriter Vladimir Zuev Kira Muratova described as a deeply churched person. This is not surprising: beneath the absurd and elusive chameleon of what is seen in the film lies our tragic reality. Which is best understood by relying on the Christian vision of the world.
The whole trip to the city is well represented as a Christmas excursion to Hell. The closer you are to the City, the more irrelevant any mention of the Gospel seems. They come from the lips of a madman, are sold out as gift cards (Have you ever been given a card depicting the beating of the Bethlehem babies?), are heard on a mobile phone as simply telling someone the price of gasoline. The station is like the living room of Hell, from which passengers can get to any other place. The closer you get to the city center, the more important money is. The viewer is transported to the Casino, to the Auction and finally to the heart of the City - Supermarket. Here you can not survive without money, which is brilliantly demonstrated by the example of the main characters. Children in this hell of consumption and inhumanity are clearly superfluous. Everyone around you wants to get money, and this is only possible by giving up yourself and adopting a mask - then you merge with it and become a function - a seller, a beggar, a security guard, etc. And the mask simply does not stick to the children - that is why they are the most ordinary, while everyone around seems to be venerable actors. A brilliant solution!
When watching, pay special attention to the details - each of them can significantly change the overall background of understanding the film.
Many thanks to Kira Georgievna for this truly Christian film about our lives. It is a pity that Christianity in our lives borders on fairy tale and absurdity.
9 out of 10
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