Updates, Live: Parajanov, The Legend of the Surami Fortress, 1985

a sketch of the Surami Fortress
by Jacques Gamba,1820
(image source: Georgian Journal)
no copyright infringement intended

Surami region in the Caucasus, with testimonies of human life from the Bronze Age. Pliny the Elder mentioned it in his writings (though rather vague in locating the place). As for the stronghold dominating the whole region, from what century could it be? Different historians indicate very different epochs. No wonder the beginnings of Surami Fortress are shrouded in legend.

One of the walls of the fortress kept crumbling, for no reason. They asked a fortune-teller, who said that a teenager had to be inmured. And, as the legend goes on, since then the wall remained sturdy, while damp: the tears of the youngster's mother never dried (source: Georgian Journal)

Beyond the story, it is the sacrifice of the dearest one, for a great endeavour to be fulfield. The ultimate sacrifice for the ultimate achievement. It comes from immemorial times. A fundamental myth: Romanians have the legend of the Argeș Monastery, where Meșterul Manole has to inmure his wife Ana, Hungarians have Kőműves Kelemen, who inmures his wife in Déva vára, the Fortress of Deva, Greeks have the legend of the Bridge of Arta, with the sacrifice of the head builder's wife, Albanians have the legend of Rozafa Castle, where the wife of the youngest brother is sacrificed. And similar legends exist in the whole Balkanic area, and further, in the Caucasian countries. And further, towards Inner Mongolia and even Japan. At least the legend of the Surami Fortress brings a bit of balance in all this universe of old ballads, sacrificing the male and keeping the wives alive.

Georgian author Daniel Chonkadze created a novella based on the legend. It was published by 1860, and it would inspire two movies: Surami Fortress, by Ivan Perestiani (1922), and The Legend of the Surami Fortress, by Sergei Parajanov (1985).

I watched both movies and I looked also for the book. Here I didn't have luck. I did a search on the web, to find that there are a few copies in German translation, to be borrowed from some libraries in Leipzig (Bibliotheka Albertina), Berlin (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Haus Potsdamer Straße), München (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek), Hamburg (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky), Tübingen (Universitätsbibliothek der Eberhard Karls Universität); also some copies in Russian translation (for instance at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, or at the University of Ilinois at Urbana Champaign). Well, all these libraries are famous, while not in reach (to say nothing that I am far away from knowing properly German or Russian).

The narrative (from the book and the two movies) is pretty complicated, as it puts together several stories: of love, betrayal, revenge. Stories influencing each other, though taking place at very different moments of time, tens of years apart. A young peasant (with some tormented past behind) is freed by his master from serfdom. He wants to go to gain money for freeing also his fiancée, and promises her to be back soon. A lot happens on the road, till he encounters a wealthy merchant who listens to the youngster's story and is rememoreting his own past: a dramatic mix of humiliations, atrocious vengeance, abandon of home country and home faith. The two remain together and the youngster marries the merchant's daughter, forgetting his old love. Years pass, the youngster becomes a well established merchant, and has a wonderful son, now a teenager. Meanwhile his old fiancée has become a fortune-teller, waiting patiently for her moment of revenge, It arrives with the ever crumbling wall of Surami Fortress when she is asked for advice: she indicates the merchant's son to be inmured.

Surami Fortress, 1922
(video by Классика советского кино (официальный канал))

An interesting detail: in the 1922 film, the role of the old merchant was played by Mikhail Chiaureli. one of the most important figures in Georgian Soviet cinematography of the 1920's / 1930's / 1940's. His daughter Sofiko Chiaureli (who was the preferred actress of Parajanov) played in the 1985 movie, in the role of the fortune-teller.

Comparing the two films, I think each one sends us to another context. Perestiani's film can only be related to the book: to what extent is it faithful to the book? does it give up some heroes or some occurences that have their place in the book? does it have the same consistency as the book? As I said, I didn't have access to the book, so it's impossible for me to answer. Thus I can talk for the 1922 film only on its own merits. The plot has consistency, the dramatism is credible. Plus an expressionist flavor, showing that the director was not alien to the artistic avant-garde of that time.

As for the 1985 film, I think it should be related primarily to all the other great movies of Parajanov, from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors up to Ashik Kerib. I could say that in all these films the plot is only a pretext for immersing in tradition, and simply enjoying the place. For Parajanov the traditional culture is essential in defining the identity of a people. Tradition in all its dimensions: faith and superstitions, customs and habits, legends and fairy tales, everything. As for the history, Parajanov seems to be more interested in the way it was retained by tradition. And it makes sense: the tradition takes a historical fact and gives it a meaning. Of course, such a meaning can contradict what really happened; but it is the tradition that shows us the people's identity, and not than the actual fact.

It is interesting that Parajanov was not interested only in the traditional culture of his own people: rather in any tradition, in the Carpathian region as well as in the Caucasian; tradition as an essential verity of humankind.