The Island (Russian: Остров, romanized: Ostrov) is a 2006 Russian film about a fictional 20th century Eastern Orthodox monk. The film closed the 2006 Venice Film Festival, proved to be a moderate box-office success and won both the Nika Award and the China TV Golden Eagle Award as the Best Russian film of 2006. The filming location was the city of Kem, in Karelia, on the shores of the White Sea. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
The film is focused on father Anatoly's repentance of his sin (therefore the virtually continuous occurrence of the Jesus Prayer); but the transgressions of the depicted character (a fool for Christ) and their impact on the others are the means by which the actual plot develops. The film's director Pavel Lungin, speaking of the central character's self-awareness, said he doesn't regard him as being clever or spiritual, but blessed "in the sense that he is an exposed nerve, which connects to the pains of this world. His absolute power is a reaction to the pain of those people who come to it;" while "typically, when the miracle happens, the lay people asking for a miracle are always dissatisfied" because "the world does not tolerate domestic miracles."
Screenwriter Dmitry Sobolev further explains: "When a person asks God for something, he is often wrong because God has a better understanding of what a person needs at that moment."[1] Pyotr Mamonov, who plays the lead character, formerly one of the few rock musicians in the USSR, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 1990s and lives now in an isolated village. Pavel Lungin said about him that "to a large extent, he played himself." Mamonov received a blessing from his confessor for playing the character.
The former Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II (who held the office from 1990-2008), praised Ostrov for its profound depiction of faith and monastic life, calling it a "vivid example of an effort to take a Christian approach to culture."
Остров
Directed by Pavel Lungin
Written by Dmitry Sobolev
Produced by Pavel Lungin
Sergei Shumakov
Olga Vasilieva
Starring Petr Mamonov
Viktor Sukhorukov
Dmitri Dyuzhev
Cinematography Andrei Zhegalov
Music by Vladimir Martynov
Distributed by Pavel Lungin's Studio
Release date
2006
Running time 112 minutes
Country Russia
Languages. Russian, German
Коментари