I can't honestly say I understood this movie, this is one of the craziest movies I've ever seen. Everything in this movie was very strange. I didn't understand the plot if , here even was a plot. Most of the things didn't seem to mean anything. That being said I thought some of techniques used in this movie were very interesting. I really liked how the director used both color and black and white in the film. This seemed to make the movie more interesting because your always trying to figure out why he was deciding to use certain techniques in certain areas. This really through me for a loop but in a good way. It's all very mind boggling. It was also very interesting that he used actual footage from world war II. This added a cool look into the scenes from World War II, which made the movie seem a lot more realistic. Lastly I liked the scenes were the house was falling apart from water, I really felt like I was in the house.
To me the director seems to be using double roles for some characters which adds to the confusion of the film. But in many ways this is a brilliant way to portray characters especially if there very similar. I can see why Tarkovsky is considered a genius, even if I can't understand his work.
And keep in mind that Tarkovsky doesn't necessarily expect one to *understand* his art, let alone any art. The enjoyment you derived from the things you mention is a crucial part of the experience he's trying to create (and I think you'll find that other parts of the film, both visual and otherwise really start to grow on you once you've seen the film a couple more times or when you've seen other examples of his work).
ReplyDeleteYes, the war footage is completely genuine. He was especially amazed by the footage he came across that was shot as the soldiers crossed that lake. What makes that shot even more mind-boggling is that just about all of those soldiers were killed by the end of that day...