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I just watched the first of three episodes of this movie, and could not stop my tears. It is the most human, realistic and at the same time poetic depiction of modern Bulgarian history. And the history itself is so sad and cruel and inhuman... Shown through the eyes of participants, you cannot but feel compation for their struggle, and then you see the mindlessness and cruelty of their actions. All in the name of liberty, all in the name of a great cause. Sadly if this movie is translated into some foreign language a great part of its charm will be lost. I believe it is the best and most sincere movie, depicting Bulgarian history, comparable to such masterpieces as Tarkovski's "Andrey Rublyov", Bertolucci's "Novecento" and Eastwood's "Unforgiven".

Although this movie is named after the artist Rublyov, and the protagonist name is Andrei Rublyov, it has nothing to do with biography. It is no documentary either. This is an expression of Russian common man belief, that no matter how dull and ugly life can be the soul is what matters only. So it is wrong to consider the movie as a historic one, it is an allegory of Russian reality what it was, is and will be.

I have seen most of Tarkovsky's movies and this is the easiest one to understand. It has a simple one-sentence message and it is repeated in every episode "Russian reality may be mud and misery, but greatness is to be sought in the beauty of human soul".

For every one that consents with such a message, this movie is a poem.

For the ones that disagree it is dull and boring.