Co-editors: Seán Mac Mathúna John Heathcote
Consulting editor: Themistocles Hoetis
Field Correspondent: Allen Hougland
Leon Trotsky believed that the
evolution of art in the future (of the newly formed Soviet
Union) would follow the path of a growing fusion with
life: Sergei Paradjanov (1924 - 1990)
was a visionary film maker, revered by Soviet contemporaries
such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Kiri Muratova and Leonid
Alekseychuk. His resolute integrity combined with a delight
in the creative possibilities of cinematic art. Born to
Armenian parents he lived in Tbilisi, in Georgia but worked
throughout the Caucasus, despite sustained intimidation and
imprisonment from Soviet bureaucrats. This region,
strategically and precariously situated at a cross-roads
between Asia, Europe and the Middle East is renowned for its
resilience in the face of invasion and violent misrule.
Armenia is described as a 'theatre of perpetual war' by 18th
century historian, Edward Gibbon. Georgia, the birthplace of
Stalin has for much of its history has been little more than
a collection of warring petty princedoms. Yet within this troubled region
ancient Christian and Islamic nations have developed. During
most of Paradjanov's lifetime, the Caucasian countries were
under Soviet rule and experienced relative stability.
Paradjanov made films distinct to each country in which he
worked; the Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. His
starting point was to understand the spirit of the people
and their culture. Although not setting out to make
political films, his exploration of national identity was
viewed with suspicion by an insecure Soviet bureaucracy. On
a creative level the revolutionary form and style of his
films scared those who wished to impose a set standard of
judgement for artists known as socialist realism. This
demand is contrary to the principles of artistic expression.
Unfortunately it is so often demanded in one form or
another, by those either governing or marketing 'the film
industry'. Sergei Paradjanov said that he
had always been partial to painting and had long become
accustomed to perceive the frame as a canvas "I know that my
directing tends to dissolve itself in painting and that is
most likely its first weakness and its first strength". The
use of colour in each of his films shows a fascination and
sensitivity with a visual tradition. Deep red in the
Armenian Colour of Pomegranates or the black silver
of the ancient chiseled daggers and snow capped peaks of
Georgia in Legend of the Suram Fortress. Mediaeval
miniatures, tapestries and bas relief's become the
inspiration for a visual style. Yet he was not merely
imitative. Instead he adopted the sensibility of their
creators, exploring and creating anew their language of
symbolism and metaphor. In the opening to Colour of
Pomegranates, a paean to the martyred 18th century poet,
a dagger lies next to a cut pomegranate that bleeds its red
juice in the form of Armenia, the life and suffering of its
people; it is also the colour of the robe of the young poet,
Sayat Nova, a symbol of the enduring inspiration and hope of
the Armenian people. The dagger illustrates war and death as
the essential and contrary aspect of the Armenian identity.
In the final section of the film, the sylvan muse of the
poet appears at his death. She is resplendent, crowned in
foliage and dressed in a magnificent gown of verdant green.
Her presence evokes an ancient pagan Armenia as she pours
wine onto the chest of the poet. She is, perhaps, the
Goddess Anahit, its patroness and protector. Nature and
fertility still triumph over the transient suffering of its
people. Titles at the beginning to
Colour of Pomegranates introduce the film: "This is not a true
biography of Sayat Nova, the great 18th century poet - we
simply wished through the medium of film to convey the image
of his poetry. Mediaeval Armenian poetry is another of the
most remarkable triumphs of the human spirit
". The film begins with a sequence
of visual and musical magnificence, a metaphor for the
growing poet. The youth climbs onto a monastery roof,
carrying a large book and finds himself surrounded by many
other books drying in the wind. The rustle of their crisp
pages makes them sound as though in chorus. After a series
of illuminations from an Armenian Gospel we see the child
poet lying on the rooftop amid the cupolas of the monastery
with open arms. In this visionary sequence, the growing poet
is initiated into a language and literature that have
immortalised its people: It is interesting to note that
The illuminated Gospels, created in the monasteries
of Armenia in the 10th and 11th century are striking for
their representation of strange folk traditions and the
local accents that combine with their more familiar
Byzantine Christianity. Through these religious writings a
unique Armenian poetic and literary voice was sustained and
immortalised. In the final part of the film, a builder
listens to the song of the dying poet as he constructs a
church wall with cylindrical vessels. Its sound will be thus
preserved for all times in the clay. As the poet is
silenced, his song resounds. He dies but the troubadour's
song will be there for future generations. As a painter Paradjanov was
fascinated with the appearance of a people. Eisenstein spoke
of the concept of typage as the casting of a face that would
represent a particular people and their way of life.
Paradjanov discovers a living reflection of the characters
seen in their painting and sculpture. He goes far beyond
surface superficial appearance and explores the inner
sensibility of the people. Paradjanov describes its
importance in the process of making a film in a discussion
about his 'Ukrainian' film, Shadows of our Forgotten
Ancestors: Paradjanov's distinctive
non-actors perform with stylised movements and gestures, as
if participating in a religious ritual. Like the mystery
plays an elaborate symbolism illustrates their national
mythologies. Pier Paolo Pasolini recognised myth as a
product of human history and believed that once formed it
became absolute, no longer typical of any specific period of
history but typical of all history, metahistorical. Like
Armenia, Georgia has struggled continuously for survival.
Today, the break up of the Soviet Union and the intrusion of
overseas investors pose the biggest threat. In the Suram
Fortress, emblems of both the ancient and the modern
coexist. Guards brandish 20th century weapons and oil
tankers pass on distant horizons. The image invokes their
troubled 'metahistory'. Myth becomes history, reality and
prophesy. There are other strong literary
influences throughout the films but rarely is he interested
in merely adapting a story line. Instead, an understanding
of their spirit and context in a wider culture informs the
development of his work as an artist. Ashik Kerib is a short
story by the Russian poet, Mikhail Lermontov, who fell under
the spell of the people of the Caucasus during his period of
exile. An uncanny resemblance to certain crucial aspects of
Paradjanov's own life and work. Sayat Nova, an 18th Century
poet is the subject of his Armenian Colour of
Pomegranates. He left home to find work in the petty
princedoms of Georgia and possessed extraordinary powers to
communicate in Azeri, Armenian and Georgian. Like Paradjanov
he too was an elaborate stylist, Paradjanov has often been
viewed as a sacrifice to the artistic censorship in the
Soviet Union. Though he completed a remarkable body of work
he did so at great cost, suffering many years of
imprisonment on trumped up and humiliating charges.
Distinctions between 'national' and 'nationalist' were
continued long after the Brezhnev era by the Western press,
when this was no longer a pejorative term in the Soviet
Union. As for his condemnation for not conforming to the
prevalent norm of 'socialist realism'. Kiev born writer and
film maker, Leonid Alekseychuk extends the
debate: The perceived threat and
consequent control of freedom of expression were recently
raised in our own national institution, the BFI. As a
prelude to a screening of his film, Freethinker, a
couple of years ago, Peter Watkin's, radical film maker and
exile offered an analysis and indictment of the audio visual
mass media of Western capitalism. He observed firstly, an
extreme centralisation of power within the broadcasting
authorities and film establishment. As a result, film
culture bares little relevance to the life and experience of
its audience. Secondly he notes its use of a limited
language form, which he termed the monoform; formulaic
entertainment's that are churned out for a passive audience.
Watkin's believes that the film and television media should
begin with a community of people, their history and culture.
As an artist, these are beginnings for Paradjanov and his
work becomes part of the evolving understanding and
expression of a people. The initiation of his films in an
ancient and living culture begs the question 'Where our
own doth lie ?'. David Somerset is editor of
fiba © 1998
". . . with the
collective group life . . . but one must have a little
historical vision, at least, to understand that between
our present day economic and cultural poverty and the
time of the fusion of art with life, that is between the
time when life will reach such proportions that it will
be entirely formed by art, more than one generation will
have come and gone ."
"Holy are three
ends: love the pen,
love letters, books,
love . . . .""When I listened to
Shepherds playing on the Jew's harp, for a long time I
couldn't tell a sad from a happy one (song). That hurt
the Gutsuls (Ukrainian people) very much. And only with
time did I succeed in catching one (mood of their song)"
Empathetic understanding with a people enables him to
work with them as performers. He recalls the rehearsal of
a funeral scene. Once it had been set up the Gutsuls were
asked to carry the ceremonial coffin. They refused, at
which the director asked a nearby member of the cast to
act as the dead man. Still, the Gutsuls refused to
perform . "Finally the tractor driver, Peter, having just
gotten off work, lies down in the coffin, folds his
hands, closes his eyes . . . and a mournful wail seizing
you by the throat resounds through the
meadow".
"Socialist Realism
is not only a Soviet phenomenon. Now more or less dead
(he was writing in the 80s) as a suffocating
administrative structure in its country of origin,
socialist realism is rampant in the West as a
bureaucratic philosophy of art. Despite their
differences, the totalitarian ideological watchdogs and
the money grubbing show business sharks have remarkably
similar anti-artistic goals ".