La légende de la forteresse de Souram

Way. Search of essence. This world against faith. Death. And the way is not over. Sacrifice as soul of a city. End of circle. Gift of reconciliation. Result - movie as amber sea.Every wave - part of a ladder. Every beach - skin for ambiguous dreams. Every boat - bridge to understand roots of gestures and happiness. An experience and golden peach. As each film by Paradjanov. Basic truth and force of love. As parts of a fairy tale in which end is more than happy. It is fly of soul, leaf of peace, finish of a long trip, answer to old questions, testimony of innocence and rain for new crops.The death of Zurab is same than Manole's Ana sacrifice. The hero is only crumb of huge bread of saints and ancestors. His body is proof. For motherland love. For God sage, For things who must exist behind particular lives . For lost dramas. A film about religion as reflection of a family history

SURAM FORTRESS has a bit more narrative than some of Parajanov's films but, as with the others, I still don't always understand what's going on or why. Still, his very eccentricity, breaking every rule of narrative and filmmaking, inspires me in my own work as a playwright and composer.

His use of striking, associative images -- powerful, even when they don't make literal sense -- recalls the great Tarkovsky, who does something similar in his films, in his own very personal style.

Parajanov, like Bresson -- another director who can fascinate and baffle me at the same time -- does everything differently from the way it's usually done, infuriating viewers expecting believable characters and comprehensible stories. With both directors, the results can be uneven, but at their best, they really inspire, stimulate, and get your creative juices flowing.

Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Parajanov prove you can truly try ANYTHING while following your own artistic vision. But, unlike some overpraised fraudulent directors, they are never pretentiously avant- garde for its own sake, phony, insincere, or "different" just to come across as cool, perverse, or faux-profound.

Parajanov and Bresson's boldly individual styles embolden me to be fresher, more original, and think outside of the box in my own work.

Paradjanov made four films for which he is best known: Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors and Color Of Pomegranates in the sixties; Legend Of Surami Fortress and Ashik Kerib in the eighties. In case you don't already know, between the sixties and the eighties he spent over a decade in a Soviet prison. I find this to be the strongest and most hypnotic one of the bunch, made soon after his release. One should take advantage of any opportunity to see these on the big screen.

It's a great film which has scenes like paintings. The music is remarkable. Therefore, both visually and aurally it is a marvelous journey to the Georgian folklore. It also conveys very good messages. The main theme is the suggestion that the patria could only be defended, if some sacrifices their lives for its defense. Blood becomes the cement, in other words. The fortress constitutes a metaphor of the patria, which was vulnerable at that time to the invasions of the two major empires: Ottoman and Safavid. In this context, religion is the main theme of patriotism, which differentiate the majority of the Georgians from the outsiders. There are also so many connections to the folk tales of both Turkish and Iranian culture. One is the character Zurab who rebels against his father because he leaves his patria, thus, his religion. This reminds us the character Zohrab in Shahname of Firdawsi, who fought against his father.

On the other hand, the political context and the director's position in that context is also felt in the choice of making such a movie. The Soviet system was disintegrating and the director is also one of the victims of the Soviet regime long before this movie's production.

a Paradjanov. surprising for its force. and as part of a terrible fight against political system. a fairy tale. preserving the light, the pain, the fascination, mystery and force of the source. and the desire to present a testimony about sufferance. that fact transforms The Legend of Suram Fortress in more than beautiful film or embroidery of symbols. because, using motifs who are parts of a folk chain from Balkans to Caucasus, it gives to the sacrifice new connotations. it is not exactly a revenge or expression of sketch of artistic freedom but precise definition of relation who remains basis of power.each theme of Paradjanov's cinema is present in this bitter, delicate gem. like colors of a portrait who redefines the spaces from a drawing.