Pop

Beautiful. Powerful. And cold. Delicate and sad. A testimony about a time, few people and definition of faith. Gray shadows and gorgeous lights. A priest and a village. The presence of God as song of soul. Words and looks. And courage to be yourself. A film like a ice flower, small, in facts but awful remember. The father Alexander may be any priest in Gulag. Every man for who the values are more than letters on a paper. Must see to understand a Russia. And for discover a strange science to say the truth, to kill the evil, to be more shadow in a crazy era. A film about life and its little pieces. A movie about love and pray in the childhood nuances. A confession of an old monk. In the skin of a smile. The man and his existence. The ladder. The fight.

In Orthodox Christianity there is a theme of bright sorrow -- the paradox that through suffering, some may find redemption and courage to do whatever good may remain possible even in impossible situations. This film is based on the true story of such redemption and courage during the World War II Nazi occupation of.the Pskov district, near Russia's border with Latvia, The central character, an Orthodox priests sent to serve the faithful in a remote village, is scorned by both the occupying forces and communist partisan guerillas. Under constant threat, he and his wife sacrifice themselves to bring whatever comfort they can to their community, feeding the hungry, confronting evil, and caring for a growing family of orphans. The sorrow is real and unrelenting, often overpowering the underlying sense of redemption. The cinematography is quite beautiful. However, to an English speaker, the subtitles could be confusing. To understand the narrative it helps to bring at least some prior knowledge of the plight of Orthodox Christians under Stalin's totalitarian regime.

I don't understand why any Westerner would give low votes for this film and say it's biased. But i guess Antonio from Ireland is Atheist. The only reality was that the Orthodox Church suffered great persecution by the atheistic regime of Communism, during Lenin or Stalin. Ask any Russian. The films is based on real facts. In Russia, Ukraine, Romania the Orthodox Church was persecuted and suffered murders and genocide. The movie is a part of that reality which affected Russia from 1919 to 1980s. I believe the director created a masterpiece and the rating is not real, reflecting the anti-Orthodox rhetoric of today. The film music is impressive, the dialogue, the landscape. The complex representation of the society between Nazis, ordinary Russians, Orthodox faith and Communists. I don't know why these kind of films which shows the reality of that era are so hated by some people. This film should have taken prizes for the director creativity.

Living among evil and remaining a human being , a priest who follows Christ with his own life. This movie is underrated. War movies deliver a very important message to all viewers, that history repeat itself and everyone should be ready to stop the war wherever you can.

Our grandfather's always wished for one thing " let there be no war " do you understand no war is all we need.

Best quality of a human being like self sacrifice shines through in those ones who follow Christ with their life.

History of conflict is a concentrated time when one day may contain same amount of happenings as in a whole life of normal living.

The work of a supporting actress is a best I've seen.

After film viewing at a cinema I was overflowed with emotions. All film to me never was to be looked on hours, moreover — I did not want, that it is a fine film came to an end in general because all it — from the beginning and is up to the end thought over very well. All roles, at the highest level are played by talented actors. The scenario is written ideally.

The idea of a film is very interesting. The film forces us to think about almost most Insufficiently studied a Great Patriotic War episode. He forces to reflect on those people who stayed under fascist occupation, for those who revived belief of these people in God or gave the chance to people to pray in the temples violently converted in clubs. Certainly, all this revival occurs against German occupation. It is impossible to tell that Germans promoted Orthodoxy revival, it was only the step that in case of successful capture of the earths of our Fatherland to seem to us not invaders, enemies, and deliverers from Bolshevist's the authorities. But, fortunately, at them it it has not turned out. I even think that war has a little helped Orthodoxy revival, but I do not try to protect aggressors at all.

I was interested by one of film episodes when in a room where the father sits, the fly flies. As a whole about one half-minute on the screen we observe the world eyes of a fly. I wish to notice that it has not made any influence on a plot, the director has decided to show it simply so, underlining that the nature takes place to be even in such dramatic film. I am not going to spend analogies with any or films, but in November, 2009 I could look absolutely other on a genre a film «Ukroshchenie stroptivykh» where about one minute we saw the world eyes of a bee which too has not brought any contribution to an overall picture, but in particular the director and all its creation has been strongly enough scarified for this episode. Into this account I will tell the following: «the Person wishes to see nonsense of an episode in that film which about any to it was not pleasant to the reasons and consequently criticizes almost any episode of the film which has not pleasant to it».

But I will return to this film. Sergey Makovetsky, has served its purpose simply irreproachably, perfectly well, with full self-return. It so has reincarnated in a role of the cleric that if I did not know it as actor earlier, I would think that in a film have invited to act in film the present father. Other actors, which surnames, I think, it is not necessary to sound also were on the ball.

Such films as "Pop" are postponed in heart for ever. Having looked such cinema, cinema let out by our Fatherland about ours, the Russian history, it would be desirable to be proud of the Native land even more, than was proud earlier.