“The apprentice”
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov. Starring: Pyotr Skvortsov, Aleksandr Gorchilin, Victoria Isakova, Yulia Aug. Russia. Drama.
It seems very appropriate that a film about contemporary Christian radicalization. As you know, until recently, religion was suppressed for seventy years. Churches were demolished or turned into swimming pools, stables and more. If Christianity and managed to maintain, it was not done openly.
As soon as the opportunity arose, the Church struck back — arrow for the bow, stretched to the limit, she always cherished in the hearts of men, or wherever else in the human body hides is now a religion. And today she again enjoys strong support among the population.
President Putin can be observed on the TV screens with his best friend Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The state and the Church — bosom friends, it seems that together they constitute a bulwark against Western immorality and lack of brakes.
When you watch the movie “the Apprentice,” remember this.
The correct story
High school student Benjamin Eugene (Peter starlings) lives with his mother (Yuliya Aug) in an unnamed Russian provincial town. Mother worried about her son: he seems somehow absent, she wonders if he does not use drugs, but she had no chance.
Venia, as she affectionately calls the son, without any apparent reason, was deeply immersed in the Bible and communicates with the world through biblical quotations. Bible references appear on the screen whenever he starts rattling off in their conversations. And he does it constantly.
At school he opposes frivolous outfits girls. In biology class the class becomes a theater of war, where science and the rational presented by the teacher (Viktoria Isakova) face of seemingly eternal and severe — in the spirit of the old Testament, represented by Venia.
All this is told correctly and simply, the action develops and you get the feeling something is predictable or forced. Some scenes seem slightly theatrical, and there’s nothing wrong, but it makes them a little stiff; the text seem heavy, in spite of the dynamism in the acting.
More or less naive, the power of faith
“Student” story, which is very suitable for a time when it seemed that religion here quietly sneak out of the house, but she suddenly coughed in the doorway and changed my mind.
How the Director pieces of silver refers to the subject, a bit like what makes Trier film “Breaking the waves”. It is not clear on whose side the sympathies of the Director and the film is a warning or, conversely, a soft arms more or less naive to the power of faith. It is also possible that the film’s protagonist believes it is important to insist on biblical words. Thus, the film is a good start for discussion about religion and worldview in society — which, incidentally, will be carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of culture at the film festival in tromsø this week.
The basic idea of my little notes is that the more moderate religious education is, the better it is for all whom it affects. Perhaps it’s possible beautifully be expressed mathematically.
Erlend Lou, a famous Norwegian writer, literary critic, laureate of several national and international awards in the past short — film Director, theater actor, school teacher and worker in a psychiatric hospital.
