2008 June » Kino Reticulator

Tonight we got up to section 6 of Ostrov. It’s reminding me a little bit of C.S. Lewis’s, “The Great Divorce.” Pilgrims come to Father Anatoly for prayers and healing, and he has a knack for finding the real problem, which is not necessarily the one they asked for help with. It’s something the petitioners don’t want to let go of, but which they need to do to find joy. (I say joy because it’s a term one might find in a C.S. Lewis book. I’m not sure whether or not it’ll ever appear in a Russian movie.)

This is one of those scenes that we watched tonight. But if you need subtitles, you’ll have to get the version we got from Netflix. (When I watch without subtitles, I sometimes pick up a few words that I missed when I was too busy trying to read and listen at the same time.)

We started watching Ostrov tonight. (Especially in summer, we only have time for a little bit of movie-watching here and there — maybe 20 minutes on those nights when we have time. On a weekend we might go crazy and watch a half-hour’s worth.)

I was surprised at the reference to abortion. I didn’t know it was allowed to say things like that in movies, even in Russian movies.

This YouTube clip shows the part I’m referring to. It doesn’t have subtitles like the Netflix DVD does, but if I remember right, the girl wants to get a blessing from the monk for an abortion. He says something along the lines of “You’re going to hell and you want to drag me there with you?” (I don’t know the word for hell in Russian, among a whole lot of other words I don’t understand, but some of what I do understand makes me think the subtitles might not be too far off. My memory might be off, though.) The monk advises her not to kill a person and spend the rest of her life regretting it like he is doing, and also tells her she will have a boy. Then he chases her off his island. (The reviews say he is “erratic.”)

I can’t wait to watch the next 20 minutes worth.