Russian tale's themes aren't exclusive to Russia

Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov broke with cinematic tradition six years ago to direct a 90-minute movie that was made up of one long tracking shot. The result, "Russian Ark," created a unique bond between filmmaker and audience, as Sokurov used a Steadicam, digital technology and the choreographed movements of 2,000 extras to glide through the rooms of St. Petersburg's Hermitage museum.

At the time, Sokurov said he regarded editing as "the main instrument of violence in film ... we organically and in real time created a film work without any form of internal violence."

He may have sounded like he would abandon editing altogether, but that "internal violence" is back in his latest film, "Alexandra," which was shot and edited more like Sokurov's family dramas "Mother and Son" and "Father and Son." The sepia tones and the claustrophobic camerawork are instantly recognizable as Sokurov's work, and so is the emphasis on family intimacy.

The new film is essentially one long, touching love letter to an army captain, Denis (Vasily Shevtsov), from his stubborn grandmother, Alexandra (Galina Vishnevskaya), who travels from St. Petersburg to Chechnya to visit him. They haven't seen each other for years, but soon the full range of their relationship is exposed.

Initially delighted to be reunited, they soon disagree about the value of combat and military routine and her penchant for snooping around Denis' army outpost (she wanders into a minefield at one point). She thinks Denis has let himself go, that he looks more like a peasant than an officer. He braids her hair.

As Alexandra explores the camp, she learns about guns and tanks from soldiers who come across as lonely, bored, sometimes sullen. At the local market, she befriends a kindly woman and a Chechnyan boy who says all he wants is his freedom. Occasionally the thoughts of Russian soldiers, mostly about wives and other women they haven't seen lately, are allowed to surface.

Vishnevskaya, best-known as an opera singer, is in every scene, gradually revealing the transformation that takes place within Alexandra as wartime realities alter her perspective. From the vivid opening scenes, in which she shares a train with dozens of soldiers, she fuses with the character to make this grandmother's not-so-sentimental journey her own.

Sokurov insisted on shooting the film in Chechnya during a heat wave. You can almost feel the temperatures rising — along with tensions in the marketplace and in the camp. He intended, however, for the movie to be less about a specific struggle and more about an eternal conflict.

"In this film, we are talking about constants, and not only about Russian constants," Sokurov said in an interview. "What we call contemporary is very relative. The time that we filmed is already the past in relation to today."

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com