ABOUT THE FILM
Main Idea/Topic:
The main idea is to show how so many children in Russia grew up without a father figure because of the war perhaps; but, more over is a film that talks about how life changes so violently leaving us before it with nothing to do but to adjust to it, over and over again.
Main Characters:
Ivan / Vanya
Andrei
Father
Mother
PERSONAL RESPONSES
Initial Responses:
It’s cruel how a father after twelve years appears in the life of his sons again without any reason at all, and because he does not know how to treat children, he treats them as adults, as soldiers and tries them to force them to love him which is not nice at all.
Later Responses:
Then I thought that he came back not only for the case he unburied from the island, but because he also wanted to know his children, he actually in some estrange way loved them, and when he saw them he just wanted to make over for the time he was absent, but better yet he wanted to teach his two children how to be a man, and how to survive being tough in this tough world.
Who is the writer on the film? / Has the screenplay been adapted from another work?
Vladimir Moiseyenko
Aleksandr Novototsky
The film screenplay is has not been adapted from another work.
Background on the director:
Andrei Zvyagintsev - Russian actor and film-maker noted for his exceptionally successful debut in directing with award-winning drama The Return (2003). Born on February, 6, 1964 in a northern city of Novisibirsk, he graduated from the Novosibirsk Actors School in 1984 and started to play on stage in provincial theatres. In the early 1990s he came to Moscow - the centre of film industry - with ambition to star in movies. Moscow was tough for a newcomer. As Znyagintsev put it later in one of his interviews: "I was hungry, in need of work, I auditioned for everything. I even did not have money to buy a bus ticket." From 1992 to 2000 he appeared as "extra" on numerous TV series and feature films but with no positive results. Suddenly his friend offered him a job as director at REN TV, an independent production company that makes cop shows and day-time soaps. When he got his chance to direct, Zvyagintsev did his best, he directed several episodes for popular TV series and impressing producers with his skills, he got the offer to direct a feature length. The Return - a low budget, artful family drama- turned out to be a great success for Zvyagintsev and an international triumph for Russian cinema. The film won the Venice Festival's Golden Lion in 2003-the first Russian film to be awarded such an honor for a number of years.
When Zvyagintsev returned in Moscow from Venice, he was given a hero's welcome. He unexpectedly found himself in the centre of a media storm and after a series of interviews and appearances on TV he became a recluse. It is rumored that he is preparing (of has already started) the shooting of his second film every detail of which is a top secret. Although no official information is available to verify or dispel these rumors, the actor-turned-director is likely to face a dilemma whether to remain a single masterpiece creator in the film history or to make his next film, which can maintain his reputation of a genius. There is a risk, however, should his second film be a failure, the critics will regard the success of The Return as a fluke.
(www.imdb.com)
When was the film made? / What is/was the social and political climate like at the time in that country and the world?
After the disintegration of the USSR, the economy of Russia went through a crisis. Most of the nonfreezing ports, consumer goods factories, former Soviet pipelines, and significant numbers of the hi-tech enterprises (including the atomic power station) were outside Russia in the newly independent states. Russia's domestic industry was mainly focused on heavy and military branches. Russia has also taken up the responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, although her population made up 50% of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution. Since the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military. Some of these groups have become increasingly Islamist over the course of the struggle. It is estimated that over 200,000 people have died in this conflict. Minor conflicts also exist in North Ossetia and Ingushetia.
After Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000. Under Putin, the intensified state control of the Russian media has raised Western concerns over Russian civil liberties. At the same time, the rising oil prices, tensions, and war in the Middle East have helped increase Russia's revenue from oil production and export, and have stimulated economic expansion. Putin's presidency has shown improvements in the Russian standard of living, as compared to the 1990s; despite acute crises, human rights abuses, and largely criticized government failures.
(www.wikipedia.com)
What does the title mean in relation with the film as a whole?
Try to establish a connection –sometimes clear, sometimes metaphorical.
The title relation with the film as a whole is quite clear, yet it could be seen as ‘the return’ of three things. The first one is the return of the father to the lives of the sons, the return of a father figure which has been diffused or blurred thru time, twelve years to be precise. Then it could mean the return of the sons to their home after loosing their new appeared father; that is the return to their normal life and the return of an absent, or now lost and never possible to come back, father figure. Finally, it could refer to the return of courage to the lives of these two kids, especially Vanya, whose courage is more evident, and is expressed through rebellious manners.
Describe how the opening credits are presented? / How do they relate to meaning?
First there is an underwater shot in which a boat is shown then it comes the surface and the title is presented, then there is a sequence in a tower where the kids are jumping down to the water and one doesn’t his mother rescues him and later on he meets again with his friends and they don’t want to talk to him for being a coward. He fights with his brother and they start running towards home. Then the credits are shown interlaced with the two kids running, the credits are presented with black background and white letters. The credits are related to the film as a whole in a figurative way; that is, that they represent blinks and winks we do before life, then we open our eyes and we run because the world and society we live in is like a bad dream, so we wish that it gets better if we close our eyes tight and when we open them it will be different.
What three or four sequences are most important in the film? / Why?
The scene in which two kids stole money from Andrei and Ivan, and their father goes after the kids and brings him before them and tells them that is all theirs so that they hit him or do with him whatever they want to do. This scene is important because is the clearest example of the father trying to teach his sons to be always ready in life; but even more, he tries to teach them revenge, the masculine role of man, manhood itself as against what they consider is right which before their father’s eyes a tasteless and too noble and girly way to affront life.
The scene in which Vanya is fishing and Andrei tells him to pack up because there are leaving, then Vanya takes the fish he had caught out of the net he had it in and put it on the water again. This scene is important since is a symbolic reflection of what Ivan is feeling at that moment, which is that he feels trapped and wants to get back home.
The scene in which Ivan runs away and climbs up to the tower. His father is running after him to try to talk to him and when is climbing up behind his son, Ivan closes the door; then his father tries to reach him by climbing thru the outer side of the tower ad he falls down and dies. This scene is important because when Ivan closes the door of the Tower’s ladder is closing the entrance of his father to his life; but the father tries to reach him in another way but fails, in other words, the father dies because he could not enter his son’s life.
The scene in which Andrei tells Vanya to get the ax, and then he chops some pine foliage and puts it under his father’s corpse to pull him to the boat. This scene is important because the way in which they carry their father is a technique his father showed them when the car got stuck in the mud. Is a strong scene, because it shows the irony of life and that at last his father goal was accomplished; they learned from him.
The scene in which their father sinks in the boat. This one is very special because it resumes much of the film, it show that after all they really loved their father; it shows how the image of a paternal figure vanishes and its just left the great emptiness, like the ocean. This is verified later with a picture in which their father is supposed to be, but is not anymore, if there ever was one. Then Andrei cuts thru teenage to adult in one step as he takes the role of the absent father telling his younger bother in the car: “Take your shoes off”, which they learned from his father.
What were your expectations from your knowledge of that country’s cinema or director’s work? / Where they confirmed or disappointed? Explain.
I had almost no expectation of Russian cinema, I thought it was going to be an entirely political film, even thought it is in symbolic way, the themes transcend it. I thought this movie would have a little of comedy, but humor is almost absent throughout the whole film; yet I liked it, since I am always fond of films which talk about inner fights against one selves, this last I meant in a sociological perspective.
In your opinion, what was the aim/purpose of this film? Be specific.
The purpose of the film is to show the conflicting emotions of human kind before a situation of unknown precedence in which feelings like love and resentfulness, struggle inside us to get thru in the best way possible. Also is a film that shows how manhood is supposed to be in a patriarchal country.
Give at least five examples from the film (besides the language) which signal it’s being labeled a film from _____________________ (country).
Touches post-communist themes
The presence of melodrama
Psychological inner struggle
Creative geography
Exaltation of individual details
How does the film try to make its case? (e.g. by emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, documentary authority, symbolism, etc.) Give examples. / Is it persuasive?
The film tries to make its case thru symbolism; clear examples are that the story takes place within seven days as the days of the week according to the tradition of the catholic genesis. Also Ivan and Andrei keep a journal which symbolizes the memory and a way to make a mockery out of censorship, a way to cut thru it with our secrets without being noticed and obviously communist censorship. Finally, Andrei takes pictures of everything so that he can show it happened, that it was there, a moment unrepeatable and unique in history; he does this because he knew his father thru a photograph, his father was just as real as the past printed in a piece of paper, until he showed up.
Main Idea/Topic:
The main idea is to show how so many children in Russia grew up without a father figure because of the war perhaps; but, more over is a film that talks about how life changes so violently leaving us before it with nothing to do but to adjust to it, over and over again.
Main Characters:
Ivan / Vanya
Andrei
Father
Mother
PERSONAL RESPONSES
Initial Responses:
It’s cruel how a father after twelve years appears in the life of his sons again without any reason at all, and because he does not know how to treat children, he treats them as adults, as soldiers and tries them to force them to love him which is not nice at all.
Later Responses:
Then I thought that he came back not only for the case he unburied from the island, but because he also wanted to know his children, he actually in some estrange way loved them, and when he saw them he just wanted to make over for the time he was absent, but better yet he wanted to teach his two children how to be a man, and how to survive being tough in this tough world.
Who is the writer on the film? / Has the screenplay been adapted from another work?
Vladimir Moiseyenko
Aleksandr Novototsky
The film screenplay is has not been adapted from another work.
Background on the director:
Andrei Zvyagintsev - Russian actor and film-maker noted for his exceptionally successful debut in directing with award-winning drama The Return (2003). Born on February, 6, 1964 in a northern city of Novisibirsk, he graduated from the Novosibirsk Actors School in 1984 and started to play on stage in provincial theatres. In the early 1990s he came to Moscow - the centre of film industry - with ambition to star in movies. Moscow was tough for a newcomer. As Znyagintsev put it later in one of his interviews: "I was hungry, in need of work, I auditioned for everything. I even did not have money to buy a bus ticket." From 1992 to 2000 he appeared as "extra" on numerous TV series and feature films but with no positive results. Suddenly his friend offered him a job as director at REN TV, an independent production company that makes cop shows and day-time soaps. When he got his chance to direct, Zvyagintsev did his best, he directed several episodes for popular TV series and impressing producers with his skills, he got the offer to direct a feature length. The Return - a low budget, artful family drama- turned out to be a great success for Zvyagintsev and an international triumph for Russian cinema. The film won the Venice Festival's Golden Lion in 2003-the first Russian film to be awarded such an honor for a number of years.
When Zvyagintsev returned in Moscow from Venice, he was given a hero's welcome. He unexpectedly found himself in the centre of a media storm and after a series of interviews and appearances on TV he became a recluse. It is rumored that he is preparing (of has already started) the shooting of his second film every detail of which is a top secret. Although no official information is available to verify or dispel these rumors, the actor-turned-director is likely to face a dilemma whether to remain a single masterpiece creator in the film history or to make his next film, which can maintain his reputation of a genius. There is a risk, however, should his second film be a failure, the critics will regard the success of The Return as a fluke.
(www.imdb.com)
When was the film made? / What is/was the social and political climate like at the time in that country and the world?
After the disintegration of the USSR, the economy of Russia went through a crisis. Most of the nonfreezing ports, consumer goods factories, former Soviet pipelines, and significant numbers of the hi-tech enterprises (including the atomic power station) were outside Russia in the newly independent states. Russia's domestic industry was mainly focused on heavy and military branches. Russia has also taken up the responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, although her population made up 50% of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution. Since the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war (First Chechen War, Second Chechen War) has been fought between disparate Chechen groups and the Russian military. Some of these groups have become increasingly Islamist over the course of the struggle. It is estimated that over 200,000 people have died in this conflict. Minor conflicts also exist in North Ossetia and Ingushetia.
After Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990s, Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000. Under Putin, the intensified state control of the Russian media has raised Western concerns over Russian civil liberties. At the same time, the rising oil prices, tensions, and war in the Middle East have helped increase Russia's revenue from oil production and export, and have stimulated economic expansion. Putin's presidency has shown improvements in the Russian standard of living, as compared to the 1990s; despite acute crises, human rights abuses, and largely criticized government failures.
(www.wikipedia.com)
What does the title mean in relation with the film as a whole?
Try to establish a connection –sometimes clear, sometimes metaphorical.
The title relation with the film as a whole is quite clear, yet it could be seen as ‘the return’ of three things. The first one is the return of the father to the lives of the sons, the return of a father figure which has been diffused or blurred thru time, twelve years to be precise. Then it could mean the return of the sons to their home after loosing their new appeared father; that is the return to their normal life and the return of an absent, or now lost and never possible to come back, father figure. Finally, it could refer to the return of courage to the lives of these two kids, especially Vanya, whose courage is more evident, and is expressed through rebellious manners.
Describe how the opening credits are presented? / How do they relate to meaning?
First there is an underwater shot in which a boat is shown then it comes the surface and the title is presented, then there is a sequence in a tower where the kids are jumping down to the water and one doesn’t his mother rescues him and later on he meets again with his friends and they don’t want to talk to him for being a coward. He fights with his brother and they start running towards home. Then the credits are shown interlaced with the two kids running, the credits are presented with black background and white letters. The credits are related to the film as a whole in a figurative way; that is, that they represent blinks and winks we do before life, then we open our eyes and we run because the world and society we live in is like a bad dream, so we wish that it gets better if we close our eyes tight and when we open them it will be different.
What three or four sequences are most important in the film? / Why?
The scene in which two kids stole money from Andrei and Ivan, and their father goes after the kids and brings him before them and tells them that is all theirs so that they hit him or do with him whatever they want to do. This scene is important because is the clearest example of the father trying to teach his sons to be always ready in life; but even more, he tries to teach them revenge, the masculine role of man, manhood itself as against what they consider is right which before their father’s eyes a tasteless and too noble and girly way to affront life.
The scene in which Vanya is fishing and Andrei tells him to pack up because there are leaving, then Vanya takes the fish he had caught out of the net he had it in and put it on the water again. This scene is important since is a symbolic reflection of what Ivan is feeling at that moment, which is that he feels trapped and wants to get back home.
The scene in which Ivan runs away and climbs up to the tower. His father is running after him to try to talk to him and when is climbing up behind his son, Ivan closes the door; then his father tries to reach him by climbing thru the outer side of the tower ad he falls down and dies. This scene is important because when Ivan closes the door of the Tower’s ladder is closing the entrance of his father to his life; but the father tries to reach him in another way but fails, in other words, the father dies because he could not enter his son’s life.
The scene in which Andrei tells Vanya to get the ax, and then he chops some pine foliage and puts it under his father’s corpse to pull him to the boat. This scene is important because the way in which they carry their father is a technique his father showed them when the car got stuck in the mud. Is a strong scene, because it shows the irony of life and that at last his father goal was accomplished; they learned from him.
The scene in which their father sinks in the boat. This one is very special because it resumes much of the film, it show that after all they really loved their father; it shows how the image of a paternal figure vanishes and its just left the great emptiness, like the ocean. This is verified later with a picture in which their father is supposed to be, but is not anymore, if there ever was one. Then Andrei cuts thru teenage to adult in one step as he takes the role of the absent father telling his younger bother in the car: “Take your shoes off”, which they learned from his father.
What were your expectations from your knowledge of that country’s cinema or director’s work? / Where they confirmed or disappointed? Explain.
I had almost no expectation of Russian cinema, I thought it was going to be an entirely political film, even thought it is in symbolic way, the themes transcend it. I thought this movie would have a little of comedy, but humor is almost absent throughout the whole film; yet I liked it, since I am always fond of films which talk about inner fights against one selves, this last I meant in a sociological perspective.
In your opinion, what was the aim/purpose of this film? Be specific.
The purpose of the film is to show the conflicting emotions of human kind before a situation of unknown precedence in which feelings like love and resentfulness, struggle inside us to get thru in the best way possible. Also is a film that shows how manhood is supposed to be in a patriarchal country.
Give at least five examples from the film (besides the language) which signal it’s being labeled a film from _____________________ (country).
Touches post-communist themes
The presence of melodrama
Psychological inner struggle
Creative geography
Exaltation of individual details
How does the film try to make its case? (e.g. by emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, documentary authority, symbolism, etc.) Give examples. / Is it persuasive?
The film tries to make its case thru symbolism; clear examples are that the story takes place within seven days as the days of the week according to the tradition of the catholic genesis. Also Ivan and Andrei keep a journal which symbolizes the memory and a way to make a mockery out of censorship, a way to cut thru it with our secrets without being noticed and obviously communist censorship. Finally, Andrei takes pictures of everything so that he can show it happened, that it was there, a moment unrepeatable and unique in history; he does this because he knew his father thru a photograph, his father was just as real as the past printed in a piece of paper, until he showed up.
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