Parajanov, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, 1965

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, 1965
(image source: IMDB)
no copyright infringement intended

notice how the colors are full in the first, happy part of the film, and how they get faded more and more to an almost black and white teint along with grief of Ivan, the male lead... at the end it turns to a blood red fury and then there is nothing but the dead (zoondijkstra, the most beautifullest thing i´ve ever seen)

you feel the ghosts are everywhere; that man is not a single unit but consists of multiple entities, permeating the forests, rivers and air... all this is beyond Christianity, but the last scenes are even beyond primitive ritual (Boris-57, Images, those images!)

yet the real romance here is between director Parajanov and the camera, which swoons and runs and bounds as ardently as any young lover... he veers from silent-film subtitles to new-wave editing gimmicks to Russian iconography within seconds, and yet the tricks never feel anachronistic... the movie exudes a pagan wildness... this is a movie that makes you laugh not from comedy but from sheer pleasure; it is as warm, bold, tragic, profoundly silly, and above all human, as a Shakespeare romance (miloc, a glorious oddity)

knowing all in once that the universe, the cosmic dance, is not random but has inexplicable agency (chaos-rampant, two-worlds (invisible axe))

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, 1965
(video by Igor Kozorog)

Parajanov was inspired by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky's Тіні забутих предків, a Ukrainian classic novella telling a Hutsul story placed (like all Hutsul stories) in a world apart, with certitudes slippering toward a universe of dreams and tales becoming now and then certitudes (to turn then back, as flash ghosts do). A strange world revealing at every turn long forgotten meanings, sometimes reassuring, some other times nightmarish.

(source: Amazon)
no copyright infringement intended

There is an English translation (published for the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies by Ukrainian Academic Press), maybe there are also some others. As I have a particular interest for the Hutsul ways, I read several books with short stories written by a Romanian author, Casian Balabasciuc, and I warmly reccomend them: his stories paint a fantastic world, and they do it with deep knowldege.

Coming now back to the movie, the title describes very well, I think, Parajanov's credo: if we want to understand our true identity, we need to access the world of our ancestors; that world is hidden beneath the traditions, that act like shadows; thus we arrive at our inner truth only by crossing the layers of tales and legends, croyances and superstitions.

Is this world of ancestors the Paradise Lost? Not at all. Like in today's world, you find there the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. It doesn't matter: it's essentially your world, your reality, your true meaning of life.

And it's the same regardless of the region where you are from, for the Hutsuls of the Carpathians, as well as for the Georgians, Armenians or Azeris of the Caucasus.



(Parajanov)

(Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky)

(Casian Balabasciuc)

Parajanov, Ashik Kerib, 1988

Ashik Kerib, 1988
(image source: tumbral)
no copyright infringement intended

One thing to note is how he makes two-dimensional icons come to life in the film. If there is a man that "paints" on celluloid, it is Parajanov (Jonah-7, A stunning experiment in living icons)

(image source: The Art History Journal)
no copyright infringement intended

Ashik Kerib is the only one of Parajanov's films to have a happy ending. The lovers are reunited and a white dove alights on a movie camera, representing Tarkovsky, to whose memory the film was dedicated (Elif Batuman in Guardian, Sergei Paradjanov: film-maker of outrageous imagination)

(image source: pinterest)
no copyright infringement intended

Parajanov starts here from a short story by Lermontov to go further in his own way, sometimes very far from the original. It's true, both novel and movie end with the same promise for the two lovers (happy together for ever and ever), but along the film Parajanov follows his own instincts and abandons some very important points that are present in Lermontov's story.

Actually the story is in the film only a pretext. Well, in all the great movies of Parajanov, starting with the Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, the story is more a pretext for the master to immerse in a traditions' universe and to enjoy there the view. But here in Ashik Kerib, even the traditions' universe becomes a pretext! The master simply plays with all kind of artistic genres from all kind of traditions' universes, to see how they fit. All kind of treats or tricks, that may leave you in total perplexity. At a certain moment it's like you attend a Kabuki theatre.

(image source: tumbral)
no copyright infringement intended

Some other times you seem to visit an exhibition of Azeri or Persian art.

(image source: pinterest)
no copyright infringement intended

It all seems gratuitous, only to see at the end that Ashik Kerib is dedicated to the beloved memory of Tarkovsky: a dedication like a joyous present.


And here is the movie - a copy on youTube. Unfortunately you'll find it difficult to understand too much if you don't know Russian (or Azerbaijani, or Georgian: the personages speak Azerbaijani, there is then a voice-off in Georgian, explaining a bit what's happening in the screen, and another voice-off, this time in Russian, is doubling). Luckily for me, I watched the movie on a dvd (also Russian manufacturing) providing the choice of English and French subtitles.

Ashik Kerib, 1988
(video by Khachatur Tovmasyan)

(Parajanov)

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.

The Legend of the Surami Fortress, 1985
(video by სიმართლე)

(Parajanov)

Parajanov, Little Flower on the Stone, 1962

Little Flower on the Stone, 1962
(image source: wiki)
no copyright infringement intended

a new mining town appears in the steppe of Donetsk; the town is growing impetuosly and the entusiastic work of the Komsomol members is joyously knitted with stories of love; there are at least two such stories;  the young brigadier Grigory falls for comrade Lyuda (a blonde), the secretary of the Komsomol organization; he makes all kind of pranks, just to capture her attention; but when Grigoy is alone with Lyuda, he becomes shy, as it happens in so many love stories; as for the second story, it is linked to Christina, a beautiful girl (brunette) who falls under the influence of some religious group; fortunately another Komsomolets (comrade Arsen this time) falls for the girl and, as you should know by now, love cures everything; oh, those Russians (info source: wiki) 

At least, a film by Parajanov that doesn't look Parajanov at all.

... and yet, somewhere by the middle of this film, a surrealist image appears as out of nowhere ... that is Parajanov ... I'll let you the pleasure to discover it

Little Flower on the Stone, 1962
(video by sylax)

(Parajanov)

Parajanov, Ukrainian Rhapsody, 1961. Andriesh, 1954

Ukrainian Rhapsody
(image source: Film Affinity)
no copyright infringement intended

an early film by Sergei Parajanov and there can't be many films with more contrast between script and direction. The script is a banal pile of clichés, but it is filmed with sumptuous, leisured joy in vision and visual effects, often showing what Parajanov would do later- an overhead shot of the escaped Anton stumbling into a church, or soldiers in a destroyed theatre listening to The Moonlight Sonata and long shots tracking characters. There is a continual clash between the unreality of genre and the non-realism Parajanov adopted later (allenrogerj, All them corn fields and ballet in the evening)

Ukrainian Rhapsody, 1961
(video by sylax)

Parajanov became Parajanov, one of the happy few in film history, with Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, made in 1965. Yet, it was not his first movie (rather the ninth). And it is worth trying to find in his earlier films the lion's claw, the signs of his genius. Ukrainian Rhapsody is a story of love resilience having the war as its background, while the war image is penetrated with classical music and religious symbols. After all, here in the Ukrainian Rhapsody the story is about the resilience of art and spirituality, along with love, in the extreme conditions of the war.

Now, speaking of Parajanov's early movies, here's a very small fragment from Andriesh, made in 1954: the tale of the young shepherd Andriesh, who dreamed of becoming a knight, the magic flute that the hero Vainov gave him, and the fight against the evil wizard Black Whirlwind, who hates everything living (wiki). And I would love to have the opportunity to watch the whole movie, as it could demonstrate that from the very beginning Parajanov was deeply interested in the traditional culture, in all its dimensions (here in Andriesh in the univers of fairy tales), as a way to understand the human identity. You are what your fairy tales and your legends say that you are (and generally the traditions coming from your ancestors).

Andriesh, 1954
(video by Andrei Cebotari)

(Parajanov)

Parajanov, Sayat-Nova (The Color of Pomegranates), 1969

Sayat-Nova
1712 - 1795
(image source: Music of Armenia)
no copyright infringement intended

WORK IN PROGRESS

The name Sayat-Nova has been given several interpretations; one version reads the name as Lord of Song or King of Song, from Arabic sayyid and Persian nava (wiki)

a quick rundown of his life: born in Tbilisi in Georgia in 1712, Sayat-Nova acquired skills in writing poetry, singing and playing at least three types of stringed musical instrument. He entered the court of King Irakly II of Georgia as both full-time professional poet and diplomat and in his capacity as a diplomat helped forge an alliance of Georgia, Armenia and Shirvan (a former state now part of Azerbaijan) against Persia. Sayat-Nova was expelled from the court for falling in love with his employer's daughter and became a wandering troubadour. He entered the priesthood in 1759 and served in various monasteries, dying in Haghpat monastery in northern Armenia in 1795 when a foreign army invaded the building and killed the monks inside (jennyhor2004, Wonderful meditation on Armenian culture and life of famous poet)

Childhood, Youth, The Court of the Prince, The Monastery, The Dream, Old Age, The Angel of Death and Death (alexdeleonfilm, Totally unique colorful masterpiece by the ultimate Amenian Rebel)

the leading actress Sofiko Chiaureli, playing both male and female characters (Poet as a Youth / Poet's Love / Poet's Muse / Mime / Angel of Resurrection) (jboothmillard, The Colour of Pomegranates)

beginning with the juice of a pomegranate spreading across a cloth in the shape of Armenia (rucricket, Brilliant, even if I haven't a clue what it was really about)

the scene where a young Sayat-Nova begins his journey of knowledge is probably this film's most unique: pages of manuscripts float and swirl about him like leaves off a tree (z_crito2001, They're reddish, actually)

a ritual of lost memories, sketch of a way to be more that shadow (Vincentiu, A Poem)

choose a day to relax and fully immerse yourself in this Armenian cultural whirl-hole. It's the Odyssey of cinema (h-44584, Not a movie. A masterpiece)

for all the people saying that this film has no storyline--it is there (batispexa, Visually stunning, unconventional)

Sayat-Nova (The Color of Pomegranates), 1969
(video by Fábio Ribeiro)

(Parajanov)

Bărbânţe, doniţe, ciubere

(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2926090091196&set=a.1315380224456.40504.1829232415&type=1&theater)
no copyright infringement intended

Another image meditated by Casian Balabasciuc, calling in mind Parajanov's Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors...

Cuminţi stau rânduite-n stână
Bărbânţe, doniţe, ciubere,
Ce spun că datina română
Cât vor mai fi de lemn, nu piere.

(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2926090091196&set=a.1315380224456.40504.1829232415&type=1&theater)

(Casian Balabasciuc)

(Parajanov)

Casian Balabasciuc: Singurătatea Strămoşilor

(https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1829232415#!/photo.php?fbid=1350058051380&set=a.1350053771273.42769.1829232415&type=3&theater)

O imagine uluitoare, care imi aduce din nou aminte de Umbrele Stramosilor Uitati, filmul lui Parajanov de care inca nu am curajul sa scriu. Sunt oare singure umbrele mosilor si stramosilor pe care i-am uitat de mult? Sau poate dintotdeauna? Nu, noi suntem singuri, pentru ca nu le vedem, dar ele, umbrele, se misca printre noi si ne stau alaturi, fara sa o stim, brat si tarie. Ne spun cine suntem, chiar daca nu avem vreme sa ii auzim.

In seara razvratita care vine
De la strabunii mei pana la tine,
Prin rapi si gropi adanci,
Suite de batranii mei pe branci,
Si care, tanar, sa le urci te-asteapta,

(Arghezi)

La Washington, la Galeria Nationala de acolo, am vazut un potir din sardonix despre care se stie ca a fost folosit intr-o biserica din Alexandria Egiptului in primul veac al erei noastre. Pe la anul 1000 se afla la o abatie de langa Paris, unde i-a fost adaugat un cadru de aur si argint, cu o montura de pietre pretioase. Unii se avanta sa spuna ca este cupa Graalului - dar asta nu este decat o speculatie, fireste. Sunt insa tot stramosii, pe care i-am uitat, si care ne asteapta rabdatori.


(Casian Balabasciuc)

(Parajanov)

Casian Balabasciuc

Casian Balabasciuc

Tot încerc să scriu despre un film care mi-e drag, Umbrele Strămoşilor Uitaţi, merge însă greu, pentru că e un film pe care îl consider esenţial, şi nu poţi să scrii orice despre el. Şi tot amân.

Este un film care se petrece într-o vreme nedefinită, undeva în nordul Carpaţilor, într-un sat de huţuli. Localizarea geografică este de fapt vagă şi ea, cum este şi localizarea temporală, şi este voit aşa, pentru că Parajanov a vrut de fapt să ne introducă în lumea mitului, adică acolo unde identitatea unei etnii este definită fără a se mai face nici un fel de adaos: nu contează unde suntem şi când suntem, însă ăştia suntem.

Tini zabutykh predkiv, acesta este titlul original al filmului, nu este nici în rusă şi nici în ucraineană, ci în graiul acela pe care Casian Balabasciuc îl pricepe (fiindcă este al lui): un grai înrudit cu ucraineana, dar din care un ucrainean pricepe tot atât de puţin cât ar pricepe şi un român (http://www.gandul.info/reportaj/stapanii-dracilor-3205140).

Cine sunt huţulii? Sunt câteva sate prin Bucovina, îşi au graiul lor, şi obiceiurile lor, şi poveştile lor: despre nişte comori îngropate de le ştiu numai ei locul, despre duhurile pădurii de care e bine să te fereşti, atât cât poţi, că tot dau duhurile astea de tine, şi alte poveşti tot aşa. Sunt creştini ortodocşi, însă ei ştiu că farmecele şi descântecele îşi au rostul lor. Iar vrăjitorii lor se numesc solomonari, pentru că, aşa cred huţulii, învăţătura le vine de demult, dela regele Solomon.

Din păcate, huţulii au început să îşi piardă identitatea, fiind absorbiţi de populaţiile majoritare, de români şi de ucrainieni. Seamănă desigur poveştile lor şi cu cele pe care le ştiu ţăranii români, şi cu cele ale ţăranilor ucrainieni, însă poate că s-au păstrat mai bine, iar dacă le studiem îi vom înţelege pe ei, pe huţuli, cine sunt, dar poate ne vom înţelege şi pe noi mai bine, chiar dacă limbile noastre diferă atât de mult.

Iar Casian Balabasciuc este un scriitor care trăieşte acolo şi care încearcă să adune mărturii despre huţuli şi despre cultura lor, ca să fie păstrate. În cărţile lui (nu am reuşit până acum să le găsesc, doar ştiu de ele), prin fotografii, prin emisiuni de televiziune. De fapt l-am descoperit urmărind întâmplător o emisiune la televizor. Poate voi reuşi să îi găsesc cărţile şi să vă scriu despre ele. Deocamdată voi posta aici fotografii făcute de el, le-am găsit pe Facebook.

• A Moment's Indulgence
• Bărbânţe, doniţe, ciubere
• Panteism 
• Singurătatea Strămoşilor
• Un Colţ de Cer
• Un Nou Legământ
• Despre Țară
• Huţulca
• Cu Mocăniţa pe Valea Moldoviţei
• Noaptea Sfântului Andrei
• Povestea mămăligii de barabule

(Bucovina)

(Parajanov)

Sergei Parajanov

Parajanov was one of the greatest. His life was a tragedy. He paid for his huge talent with years of prison. They did not tolerate his deep understanding of myths and rituals as foundation of our human identity. We are what we are because a long chain of ancestors built a civilization, and they sent it to us through rituals perpetrating the myths: the myths justifying what we are. All major movies of Parajanov meditate on this. And he paid it with years of prison.

It is not easy to watch any of his movies: he is talking in a pure cinematic language; he is meditating through images.

Here is a video which contains some footage from his masterpiece (Sayat Nova); footage left out for the final release.

(video by chaskor)

• Arabeskebi Pirosmanis Temaze
• Parajanov Museum in Yerevan
• Casian Balabasciuc
• Casian Balabasciuc - Singurătatea Strămoşilor
• Bărbanţe, doniţe, ciubere
• A Holy Angel
• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, 1965
• Sayat-Nova (The Color of Pomegranates), 1969
• Ukrainian Rhapsody, 1961. Andriesh, 1954
• Little Flower on the Stone, 1962
• The Legend of the Surami Fortress, 1985
• Ashik Kerib, 1988

(Russian and Soviet Cinema)

Parajanov Museum in Yerevan

(hsipohusa - Sergei Parajanov Museum, Yerevan, Armenia, '06)

I had never the chance to visit Yerevan; I met with the Armenian civilization on many occasions. There is the Armenian community in Romania, with its history that is strong on its own values. It is in the same time a mirror toward their country of origin: I understood the Armenian ethos from them.

Parajanov belongs to the Armenian ethos, but his genius embraced much more than that. His movies tell us about the whole Eastern Christian culture, from the Carpathians woods to the Caspian borders. Well, better said, not the whole: his movies followed just the borders of the Imperium; the center was the space of Tarkovsky. Only, you know, Armenian and Georgian Christianism is much older than the Imperium.

I am now following Hasmik and Jim (the authors of the video) in their visit to the museum of Parajanov in Yerevan. It is overwhelming: too many great objects gathered together; the space is too tiny and Parajanov has so much to say...

(Parajanov)

Parajanov - Arabeskebi Pirosmanis Temaze

(Click here for the Romanian version)

This Janitor opens the Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme. No wonder. Parajanov made this short movie after spending a good part of the 1970's in the detention camps - it sounds now absurd, but the Soviet regime was not willing to tolerate his masterpieces, Tini Zabutykh Predkiv (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors), and Sayat Nova (even the name of the Armenian troubadour of the XVIII-th century was for them unbearable, so the title was changed to Color of Pomegranates).
So Parajanov knew too well all the facets of the oppression, and this Janitor painted by Pirosmani is a terrific portrait, there is a forceful lesson in it, because this stupid brute is also very human - what we realize with horror is that any of us can become such a janitor, it is enough to get some authority.

And Parajanov's movie stays a lot on the face of the janitor, then slowly comes down to his feet, then again on the face.

Then follows this camel with its master, an image chosen by Parajanov just to allow us to come back from the Hell. However, there is here a story, between the Tatar and the camel. Pirosmani does not tell us the story, it's left for us to imagine it. What Pirosmani does here is to render a subtle tension which forces us to assume our responsibility of deciding on the story.


With this physician riding a donkey we are for sure far away from the Hell of the Janitor. Through Pirosmani themes, Parajanov draws the Arabesques on our human nature - there is the evil in us, there are the untold stories, but it is much more, we can be nice, sometimes a bit ridiculous, not necessarily the bad guys.




This little girl with a patterned balloon accompanies in the movie the little boy riding a donkey - the two paintings are juxtaposed, so the balloon looks like it is shared by them.

Horror, subtlety, kind irony, delicacy - here is the whole universe of Pirosmani.




And Parajanov would make in his last years other two masterpieces, Ambavi Suramis Tsikhitsa (The Legend of the Suram Fortress), and Ashik Kerib.

(Parajanov)

(Pirosmani)