Sunday, December 21, 2008

Movie Monday 11

Tale of Tales
Wikipedia puts the plot of Tale of Tales in this paragraph, which I think says it very well.

"Tale of Tales, like Tarkovsky's Mirror, attempts to structure itself like a human memory. Memories are not recalled in neat chronological order; instead, they are recalled by the association of one thing with another, which means that any attempt to put memory on film cannot be told like a conventional narrative. The film is thus made up of a series of related sequences whose scenes are interspersed between each other. One of the primary themes involves war, with particular emphasis on the enormous losses the Soviet Union suffered on the Eastern Front during World War II. Several recurring characters and their interactions make up a large part of the film, such as the poet, the little girl and the bull, the little boy and the crows, the dancers and the soldiers, and especially the little grey wolf (Russian: се́ренький волчо́к, syeryenkiy volchok). Another symbol connecting nearly all of these different themes are green apples (which may symbolize life, hope, or potential)."
The words of the lullaby that is the main theme of the animation are these:
Баю-баюшки-баю,
Не ложися на краю.
Придёт серенький волчок,
Он ухватит за бочок
И утащит во лесок
Под ракитовый кусток.

English:
Baby, baby, rock-a-bye
On the edge you mustn't lie
Or the little grey wolf will come
And will nip you on the tum,
Tug you off into the wood
Underneath the willow-root.

2 comments:

rossichka said...

I just wonder how one can say so much in seven minutes only!!... There're so many things: history, poetry, symbols, associations, emotions, might, sadness... A very strong film! Each detail means something. I'm very much impressed!

Vita said...

This is just the first part:) the whole film is about 17 minutes long I think. I will put it out part by part. I think this animation won many awards on various festivals, including a "best ever animation" award in Tokyo

 

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