Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Since Otar Left

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Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 06-01-2004, 07:24 PM:

At the Kew Gardens Cinema, Screen 2 on 5/31/04. 17 patrons, mostly senior couples. 102 min; not rated.

This film is set in Tblisi, and the language is Georgian, Russian and French, with English titles. [French-Belgian-Georgian production.]

Otar,educated as a doctor, has left home for Paris hoping to better support his family, but without a work permit can only get menial jobs, and a fall from a scaffold ends his life. His elderly, infirm mother lives only for her son, but her daughter and grand daughter pretend he is still alive, fearing the truth would kill her. (The role of the mother is wonderfully played by a 90-year old actress whose career began only five years ago.)

This sensitive film parallels "Goodbye Lenin" in treating the effects of Stalinist repression on the lives of family members,
but it's not a comedy, though there are touches of irony throughout. Another similarity is the use of deception, or misinformation, to hide the truth, as a major theme and plot device. One character even says "We have been lied to for so long..." reflecting on the political and social policies of the government.

The old mother seems entirely credulous, even arguing "Stalin never killed anybody," hailing his "great leadership," while the others blame him for the failures of electricity, water and telephone service, and their descent into poverty as a family and as a nation. She jealously guards their leather-bound library of French literature, philosophy and poetry, having hidden it buried in tarred casks from the Bolsheviks. Like Chekhov's cherry orchard, this symbolic cultural treasure has meaning throughout the film.

But the old lady is stronger and more clever than her family can imagine, even though as a widow whose husband died in Afghanistan, she appears helpless at first.

Of great interest is the grand-daughter Ada, who represents the newest generation, seeking opportunity, space and freedom to
grow, independent of her stifling non-functioning urban life.

This is a sensitive serious story film, photographed sometimes in the dim light of candles during daily power failures, yet with a rousing birthday celebration of song and dance as the folk culture asserts itself.