36 years of the Repentance
On June 30, 1984, Tengiz Abuladze’s film “Repentance” was shown on Georgian television.
Tengiz Abuladze began to think about the film in the early 1970s. At the same time, he was aware that it was unlikely that he would be able to shoot this film under the rule of a communist, totalitarian ideology. But, as they say, it would be happiness, but misfortune helped. An almost fatal car accident in the early 1980s led Abuladze to the idea that if he did not start making the film immediately, he might never start shooting. And this was the time, for a minute, of late Brezhnev, then Andropov, then Chernenko. On the windshield of almost every car was a photo of Stalin.
According to Fedor Razzakov, “Shooting of the film was launched in 1981, without the knowledge of the Goskino of the USSR and at the funding of the Georgian Council of Ministers (and the head of the republic Eduard Shevardnadze personally gave the command for this financial operation)” - F. Razzakov “The death of Soviet cinema. Secrets of the backstage war. 1973-1991. " - Moscow: Eksmo, 2008.
During the shooting of the film, actor Gega Kobakhidze, who was supposed to play Tornike, was arrested for participating in the capture of Aeroflot flight 6833 (November 19, 1983) from Batumi to Kiev and was shot on October 3, 1984. According to the then laws, even the storage of a tape recording a state criminal could lead to a serious prison term. And Abuladze was forced to destroy the material shot from Kobakhidze. Production was temporarily suspended and resumed several months later, when Merab Ninidze replaced Kobakhidze.
The film was completed in 1984 (the most empty years of the reign of Chernenko). It was shown only once, and then put on a shelf. The book of Fyodor Razzakov mentioned above recalls the cameraman of the film M. Agranovich: he recalled that as soon as Shevardnadze, appointed thanks to Gorbachev as the USSR Foreign Minister in July 1985, moved to Moscow, “copies were arrested: an excuse was found - someone distributed tapes in Tbilisi. They went around the apartments with searches, seized the cassettes, and this revelry lasted six months or more, until the Union of Cinematographers intervened. Then Rezo Chkheidze brought a copy to Moscow to Elem Klimov, and he managed to decide the fate of the picture in higher instances ... "
In 1987, thanks to new political trends associated with Mikhail Gorbachev, the film was released again throughout the Soviet Union and at film festivals in Western countries. And the film immediately got to the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or. The main prize of the festival did not go to the Abuladze’s film: the jury, chaired by Yves Montand and of which Elem Klimov was a member, gave preference to the French film “Sous le soleil de Satan (Under the Sun of Satan)” by Maurice Pialat. How controversial this decision of the jury was, moreover, unanimously, this fact testifies. During the presentation of the Palme d’Or to Maurice Pialat, the audience began to whistle, in response to which the director, raising his fist, said: “I do not like you either.”
But the film “Repentance” was not left without a festival award. Tengiz Abuladze was awarded the Grand Prix of the jury for directing. Moreover, the jury made this decision unanimously as well.
At the beginning of the next year, 1988, the film “Repentance” was nominated for the American Golden Globe in the nomination of Best Foreign Language Film, but preference was given to the Swedish film of Lasse Hallström “Mitt liv som hund (My Life as a Dog)”. The film of Tengiz Abuladze was accompanied with the following “losers”: "Au revoir les enfants (Goodbye children)" by Louis Malle, Claude Berry's “Jean de Florette” and “Очи черные (Black Eyes)” by Nikita Mikhalkov.
To some extent, an explanation for this decision can be found in the review of the movie reviewer of one of the leading American newspapers - The Washington Post - Hall Hanson, who in his review stated that «its significance as a social and historical document far outstrips its value as art.»
After the obvious international success, the film “Repentance” was awarded grand recognition in the homeland - in the Soviet Union. At the first award ceremony of the newly established prize of the Russian Academy of Motion Picture Arts, which only a year later began to be called “Nika”, the film won in 6 nominations, including the most important ones: as the best film and for the best director. Abuladze was awarded the Order of Lenin, and he accompanied Gorbachev during his first official visit to New York in 1988.
But! Soon, the Soviet authorities again banned the film, although unofficially. Indeed, in the image of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor, the viewer easily guesses the features of both Mussolini and Stalin, Beria and Hitler. To some extent, it can be considered that this ban is still valid, since in 2019, even in the semicircular days - 35 years - but nevertheless the anniversary of the release of the picture on the screens, not a single federal television channel remembered this film. It is clear what historical figures are in honor of the current Russian authorities.
It is no coincidence that F. Razzakov, who is known in literary circles as a “yellow” journalist and trimmer, in his book cited above wrote about “Repentance”: “It was not only the only anti-Stalinist film in the last 20 years, but, most importantly, the conceptual film, which presented the topic of repression as a version of the liberals, where it was argued that the Stalinist system was an incubator for the removal of pathological villains and monsters."
Interestingly, how was the 35th anniversary of the movie celebrated in Georgia?
Modern moviegoers highly appreciate the film by Tengiz Abuladze. More than 74% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users around the world gave the film ratings from 8 to 10, while 40% of the users gave the picture a maximum of 10 points.
According to FilmGourmand’s version, “Repentance” has a rating of 9.192 and occupies 119th place in the Golden Thousand.
