http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/features/fof.html
The most revered Russian filmmaker since Sergei Eisenstein, Tarkovsky offers an unabashedly religious worldview, without which, he wrote, "people cease to feel any need for the beautiful or the spiritual, and consume films like bottles of Coca-Cola."
Raised in the Russian Orthodox tradition, director Andrei Tarkovsky once told an interviewer, "I consider myself a person of faith, but I do not want to delve into the nuances and problems of my situation, for it is not so straightforward, not so simple, and not so unambiguous."
Nature, not seen as fallen in the Eastern church, but rather good at its core, possible even of bringing one to salvation, plays a major role in his films.
The influence of Russian religious history is also evident in his use of the Holy Fool, an archetype of Russian literature—often characters of deep faith, seen as fools by the world, yet who see God's reality as it truly is.
All his films deal with apocalyptic scenarios; indeed, one film idea he had was titled "The End of the World," yet he refused the label "pessimist." Indeed, he said of apocalyptic literature, "It would be wrong to consider that the Book of Revelation only contains within itself a concept of punishment, of retribution; it seems to me that what it contains above all, is hope."
"I believe that it is always through spiritual crisis that healing occurs," Tarkovsky wrote. "A spiritual crisis is an attempt to find oneself, to acquire new faith… . It seems to me that the individual today stands at a crossroad, faced with the choice of whether to pursue the existence of a blind consumer, subject to the implacable march of new technology and the endless multiplication of material goods, or to seek out a way that will lead to spiritual responsibility, a way that ultimately might mean not only his personal salvation but also the saving of society at large; in other words, to turn to God."
The most revered Russian filmmaker since Sergei Eisenstein, Tarkovsky offers an unabashedly religious worldview, without which, he wrote, "people cease to feel any need for the beautiful or the spiritual, and consume films like bottles of Coca-Cola."
Raised in the Russian Orthodox tradition, director Andrei Tarkovsky once told an interviewer, "I consider myself a person of faith, but I do not want to delve into the nuances and problems of my situation, for it is not so straightforward, not so simple, and not so unambiguous."
Nature, not seen as fallen in the Eastern church, but rather good at its core, possible even of bringing one to salvation, plays a major role in his films.
The influence of Russian religious history is also evident in his use of the Holy Fool, an archetype of Russian literature—often characters of deep faith, seen as fools by the world, yet who see God's reality as it truly is.
All his films deal with apocalyptic scenarios; indeed, one film idea he had was titled "The End of the World," yet he refused the label "pessimist." Indeed, he said of apocalyptic literature, "It would be wrong to consider that the Book of Revelation only contains within itself a concept of punishment, of retribution; it seems to me that what it contains above all, is hope."
"I believe that it is always through spiritual crisis that healing occurs," Tarkovsky wrote. "A spiritual crisis is an attempt to find oneself, to acquire new faith… . It seems to me that the individual today stands at a crossroad, faced with the choice of whether to pursue the existence of a blind consumer, subject to the implacable march of new technology and the endless multiplication of material goods, or to seek out a way that will lead to spiritual responsibility, a way that ultimately might mean not only his personal salvation but also the saving of society at large; in other words, to turn to God."
1 comment:
Thanks for the introduction to Tarkovsky Len. You always seem to dig up interesting people.
And that last quote is powerful and freshly put.
Stephen
(Thanks for the anniversary well wishes)
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