Today marks the 124th birth anniversary of Sergei Eisenstein, a pioneer considered as the father of montage technique in film-making. He remains to be one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema today as it was then. Millions of cinephiles are aware of his timeless classics such as Battleship Potemkin, Strike, Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. But not many have heard about Bezhin Meadow (1937), a shelved project destroyed before completion. The story is about Pavlik Morozov, a 13-year-old boy who became a celebrated martyr. He sold his father to the soviet party for being anti-communist resulting in his death. The heavily mythologised life of Pavlik was the crux of Eisenstein's "Bezhin Meadow," and Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalnina draws inspiration from the unfinished film to create this absurdist examination of collective farm known as DAWN.
As the film opens, there is constant repeats of birds chirping, leaves rustling and then we see a chicken out of focus and slowly approaches towards the frame, there is moment of silence as you anticipate something but the camera tilts up, in the distance we see a little boy, it pans and continues moving to reveal the angelic wings while another kid dressed in a uniform follows. The pan stops to reveal an old man with a chicken on his shoulder not facing the camera, he begins to narrate his story. He breaks the fourth wall (be ready for more), faces the camera and asks for a cigarette. It's the first trumpet blast as title appears and you may assume it is going to be a very long tale. It definitely is, it is dak, funny also sad but i bet you will be treated to an unimaginable experience here.
The film paints a haunting picture of everyday life in the Eastern bloc set in the early 1960s, Soviet-occupied Latvia. At the centre of the film is Young Janis, an ardent Bolshevik living with his drunkard father who is a Kulak in the collective farm. He then manages to snitch out and denounces his father to the authorities for not supporting Joseph Stalin. This act of sacrifice and valour is welcomed by the supporters as he is hailed as a role model for Bolshevist while his father aware that his days are numbered, plots to avenge Janis for the snitch. As the story unfolds, it feels like a fever dream of a film as Pakalnina infuses every frame with magical realism, nihilism and delirium-like trip that works as a symbolism for the totalitarian madness as you already get the hints about how this will end. The use of stark black-and-white cinematography by Wojciech Staron makes for an incredible backdrop to this absurdist epic.
Pakalnina must be applauded for transforming Janis, the central character from the initial state to the final with such unique vision and not making it seem like a traditional biography. The climax will leave you in complete bewilderment. It is supported with a fabulous score by Vestards Simkus and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. The closing is forever etched into my cerebral cortex, as we see a Horse flip his tail straight up and drop a load of turd. It is followed by almost 2-minute scene of chickens buzzin around and pecking the poop with their little beakies.
All in all, this film is like a mix of Roy Andersson, Lucian Pintilie, Ruy Guerra, SABU, David Lynch, Emir Kusturica, Alexsei German, Aleksandar Askoldov with a little bit of Bela Tarr, and on top of that it has so much of its own.
