Legend Of The Suram Fortress / Colour Of Pomegranates (1968)

Director: Dodo Abashidze, Sergei Parajanov Starring: Giorgi Gegechkori, Vilen Galstyan, Melkon Aleksanyan, Sofiko Chiaureli, Dudukhana Tserodze, Tamari Tsitsishvili, Veriko Andjaparidze Genres: Drama, Period Drama Origin: Russia Certificate: PG Languages: Russian & Armenian With Subtitles Subtitles: English Running Time: 82 min

synopsis

Legend Of The Suram Fortress: Directors Sergei Paradzhanov and Dodo Abashidze resurrected an old Soviet Georgian folktale as the basis for their film The Legend of Suram Fortress. The fortress in question is forever under construction, and forever collapsing before the last brick can be laid. The advice of a fortuneteller is sought out; the young fellow sent out to seek this advice happens to be the son of a man who years earlier had jilted the fortuneteller. Out of pique, she tells him that he must be walled up in the fortress' wall, else the structure will continue to tumble. So many ancient legends are based upon self-sacrifice that one would think that Legend of Suram Fortress would have nothing new to offer--and one would be quite unfair to this well-crafted film to think along those lines. Never as brilliant as the critics made it out to be, Suram Fortress is still an immensely satisfying work from a gifted filmmaking team. -Hal Erickson. Colour Of Pomegranates: Director Sergei Paradjanov made a practice of making highly idiosyncratic films based on the folklore of regions in the former Soviet Union. In 1969 he made this film, based in part on the life of the 18th-century Armenian poet, Sayat Nova ('The King of Song'). Renowned for his writings and his religious lifestyle, Sayat Nova became a martyr when he grew too influential for the authorities to control. Seriously out of favor with Soviet governmental bureaucrats, this film was not seen in the international arena until 1977. Then, The Color of Pomegranates was widely acclaimed for its poetic and non-narrative blending of historical and biographical Armenian imagery. -Clarke Fountain.