Film Reviews

Aleksandra

• Rating:
• Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
• Starring: Galina Vishnevskaya
• Details: Russia/France / 95mins (15A).

Aleksandra (Vishnevskaya), an ageing Russian woman, arrives at her grandson's army barracks in occupied Chechnya for a short visit. She hasn't seen Denis (Shetsov) in seven years but because he partakes in regular patrols, Aleksandra has nothing to but to wander the camp interacting with the soldiers, who seem to see their own grandmother, and all that means, in the eyes of the old woman. I'm being kind to the synopsis here, as nothing - absolutely nothing - happens in Alexandra. Sure, Sokurov is making a comment on the futility of war in this anti-narrative plot, but a filmmaker's first duty is to entertain the audience and that is something this film fails to do. For those who enjoyed his ambitious Russian Ark - a lavish 90-minute one shot film through the history of Russia - will be surprised at the trimmed back, low-budget style of Alexandra. It's a dusty-looking, tired old movie and the 95 minutes feel like a 3-hour epic. Vishnevskaya is perfect as the old woman, but then again she is an old woman, and has nothing more to do that hobble from one place to the other sighing heavily. You can't really have an everyday, ho-hum character as your main protagonist if they do nothing interesting or nothing interesting happens to them; that is story and that is film.

Review by Gavin Burke