ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Russia

Wednesday at AFIFest 2019

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There has been a major change at AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi. For the last few years, tickets for most screenings and events at the festival were free. This year, the public needs to buy tickets, although there are some films that had free screenings. While the attendance is still good, most screenings are not completely full houses. It’s not cheap to run a festival, so I certainly understand the need for revenue. And AFIFest is the only festival I know of that has offered free screenings of their films. But it has resulted in fewer eyes seeing some of these excellent films.

In Armenia in 2018, Nikol Pashinyan, a former journalist and leader of the political opposition, started a walk to protest the upcoming reelection of the prime minister. A few dozen followers grew to hundreds, then thousands, eventually toppling the government, and making Pashinyan prime minister. I Am Not Alone is a documentary of this Velvet Revolution. Much is archival footage, but it also includes various interviews with many of those involved, including Pashinyan and the Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister he opposed. Pashinyan was following the teachings of Gandhi as he led this movement with non-violent protests and civil disobedience. It shows how much of the country was resigned to the political situation, but because of the people asserting their ultimate authority, democracy was restored.

Hector Barajas in READY FOR WAR. Photo Credit: Courtesy of SHOWTIME.

Ever since the Clinton Administration, it has been the case that non-citizen military veterans who break a variety of laws (mostly drug related) can be deported. These are people who have often grown up in the US, chose to serve in the military, fought in our wars, and even been wounded in that service. Andrew Renzi’s documentary Ready for War addresses this issue by looking at the stories of three vets who have been deported. Hector Barajas spent 14 years in Tijuana seeking to get back into the US. He started a shelter for other deported vets, and has worked to try to help others make a home or find a way back to their families. Miguel Perez is in an ICE detention center through most of the film, as he and his family seek his release. “El Vet” is a veteran, who when he was deported and knew no one in Mexico or had a job, was recruited by the drug cartels because he had skills that were of value to them—the skills the Army taught him. As the story rotated between the three, some of the issues that come into play are examined. As one person working on behalf of these vets says, “It may be legal, but it’s not just. And it’s definitely not American.” Ready for War will air on Showtime on Nov. 22.

When introducing Tayarisha Poe’s Selah and the Spades the festival programmer noted, “It’s fierce. It’s fun. It makes me not want to go back to high school.” That was a fair assessment. Hardwell School is a toney private academy. All the less than academic aspects of student life are controlled by five “factions” (basically upscaled gangs). These factions cooperated under a truce, but they are also in competition. Selah (Lovie Simone) heads the Spades, the faction that provides all the drugs and alcohol on campus. But it’s the last semester of her senior year, and she has no one to turn the faction over to. Then she meets Paloma (Celeste O’Connor), a new student, and begins to groom her to take over. However, Paloma may not be up to the task—or she may be too up for the task. Amazon Studios has bought the film so it may end up of Prime. They are also working to create a series that is set the world of Hardwell School.

In Beanpole, two women in post-war Leningrad seek to rebuild their lives. Iya, a very tall young woman, works as a nurse in a veterans hospital. She had a concussion during the war and now sometimes “freezes up”—suffers petit mal like seizures. During one of these, she suffocates the child. When Masha, a soldier being discharged, arrives, we discover the child was hers. Iya was taking care of the child for her. Masha also goes to work at the hospital. Masha, who is now infertile, pressures Iya to replace the child she has lost. Iya wants nothing to do with sex. Meanwhile Masha has a suitor with a connected family. This is a film set in a dismal time and place. The two women are looking for any bit of hope of new life and happiness. But keep in mind this is a Russian film. Do you know any happy Russian endings? Beanpole is Russia’s official Oscar submission for International Feature consideration. It will arrive in US theaters in late January.

T-34: Rolling to Freedom

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Having broken box-office records overseas, T-34 transports the viewer into the heard of Russia during the Second World War. Having been captured in the field of battle, young lieutenant Ivushkin (Alexander Petrov) is tasked to assemble a group of POWs to aid in training the Nazis tank battalion. However, as they prepare for the exercise, the team devises a daring plan to escape from captivity. With the power of a half-destroyed T-34 tank, Ivushkin and his crew attempt to break free from captivity and escape across the border, if they can make it alive.

Written and directed by Alexey Sidorov, T-34 is inspired by true events during the Second World War (though what those events are isn’t entirely clear). High on action and suspense, T-34 proves to be an entertaining addition to the ‘war film’ genre. (Interestingly, apparently ‘WW-II tank movies’ are quite the rage in Russia these days, having released three films of the genre since 2012.) Rather than forcing this story into the grander narrative of the war itself, T-34 wisely focuses its lens on a small scale, allowing the journey of this band of survivors to take front and centre. Without question, this is a film designed to entertain and, for the most part, it does so effectively. While light on character development, each of the crew members get their ‘moment’ to prove their dedication to the cause. Bullet-time’ special effects give the film a modern feel while still maintaining the urgency of the war itself for those who still remember ‘the Great Patriotic War’. (Ironically, this is also a film that remains relatively light on politics, barely mentioning larger, more controversial ideas such as the ‘Red Army’ or ‘Stalin’.)

Like many other films of this genre, T-34 highlights the veterans who were courageous enough to stand up against the oppression of the Nazi party in the face of insurmountable odds. At a time when Russia isn’t always held in the highest of esteem in the West, T-34 reminds the viewer of their sacrifice in the war effort as well. Like the other members of the Allies, Russian men and women faced certain death at the hands of their Nazi dictators and were persecuted for standing up against tyranny. While there is little question that this is a ‘pro-war’ film, it still highlights the devastation that was caused by those who sought to keep their own freedom—not to mention that of others—alive. (In fact, one of the most beautiful moments in the film stems from a short time of play in a nearby lake. In this poignant scene, the film manages to underscore the utter beauty of freedom in the face of persecution.)

By the end, T-34 proves to be an entertaining ride that keeps the viewer engaged throughout. By focusing on the journey of its heroes as opposed to the politics, the film translates well for Western audiences and deserves our attention.

T-34 rolled onto video and on demand on June 11th, 2019.

The Student – Weaponized Christianity

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Religion can be a beautiful thing.

It can also be very dangerous.

In The Student, we see how someone can misuse religion in destructive ways. It may be all the harder for some of us to watch because it is Christianity that is made into something ugly.

Venya, a Russian high school student, refuses to take part in a mixed swimming class. He tells his mother it is against his religion. His mother scoffs, but Venya has taken up his own form of Christianity—a very severe reading of scriptures which leads him to become very judgmental towards everyone else. He is becoming more and more disruptive at school. It is not limited to swimming, but also to science courses. His mother wants the school to straighten him out. The principal tries to mediate and compromise (although Venya is uncompromising). A teacher tries to take him on directly, challenging his take on Christianity. Venya even rejects ideas from the priest because he sees the church as hypocritical because of its wealth.

Venya befriends another outsider, not because of an affinity, but because the boy is crippled and fits into a scripture that Venya has read. The other boy has a bit of a crush on Venya and goes along. They plot the demise of the teacher that has tried to out argue Venya.

On the one hand, we can look at Venya and understand that his faith is an aberration. He seems to be self-taught concerning the scriptures. He reads them constantly, but seems to cherry pick the texts he pays attention to. He never seems to understand an overall message to be found in the scriptures. He never sees the love and compassion of God being revealed. But although many of us may see this as a wrong understanding of Christianity, it is by no means an unknown approach. Just as we may be appalled by some fundamentalist views of Islam that lead to terrorism, there are many of the same kinds of views within Christianity that can lead to the kind of behavior that Venya exhibits (which is really its own form of terrorism). Venya uses the Bible and Christianity as a weapon against everyone around him.

Viewers are free to consider the psychological issues at play in Venya that have led him to this point. To be sure, there is an issue for him in how to deal with his awakening sexuality, which is a key part in his refusal to take part in the swimming class. His religion serves as a shield that keeps away the feelings that he is unsure how to deal with. Still, the way he manifests his fears creates suffering in others. His religion is not about reaching out to others but rather he seeks to keep everyone at arm’s length, lest they bring to the surface that which he is burying.

Non-Christians watching this film might well find confirmation of all the things they find wrong with religion. Here is an example of how easy it is for Christianity be go overboard. For Christians, however, there is a challenge to understand how close we may all be to such excesses and to better understand how we need to better portray the side of Christianity that brings light rather than darkness.

Photos courtesy of Under the Milky Way

 

Almost Holy – Are These Good Deeds Moral?

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“I don’t need permission to do good deeds.”

In the streets of Mariupol, Ukraine, abandoned and orphaned children face a life of addiction and abuse. For many years, Pastor Gennadiy Mokhnenko has made a name for himself by creating the largest children’s rehab facility in the former Soviet Union. He brings in children (sometimes forcibly) and offers them a better life. Almost Holy is a documentary that focuses more on the man than the mission, although it is sometimes very hard to distinguish between the two.

With younger children, Gennadiy often calls himself Pastor Crocodile (a reference to an animated children’s TV show featuring a crocodile named Gennadiy). While he can often seem to be a big-hearted man who cares deeply about children, he can also deliver a pretty serious bite. He often must practice tough love with those in his orphanage. He is not above kidnapping children off the street to get them away from drugs and abuse. And he is willing to use vigilante violence on those who would do harm to children.

There is a certain moral ambiguity about him, which leads viewers to be a bit wary about connecting with him. On the one hand, he does good work in a difficult situation. He has even adopted several of the kids he has taken off the street. He also is adamant about opposing those who sell the drugs to the children—sometimes pharmacies that do so under the table. He is willing to use the power of publicity that he has built over time to threaten them. Much of the situation is aftermath from the breakup of the Soviet Union and of the policies from the Soviet era. He very much sees the Soviet Union as a terrible time in his country’s history. This becomes especially obvious when, in the last quarter of the film the issues between Ukraine and Russia heat up. All of this raises issues about what can be done in a moral cause. Is violence acceptable in a moral cause? Are there lines that should not be crossed even when harm to children is involved?

What I found missing from the film was any religious commentary, which is especially obvious since Gennadiy is a pastor. Other than seeing him wearing a clerical collar, there is no way that we would really know he has any religious background. It would have been interesting to find out a bit of what led him to become a pastor and how his training for that informs his understanding of his mission and the morality that he both fights for and perhaps struggles against. That would have served much better to allow viewers to consider the deeper issues that underlie much of the film.