Leviathan

Russia

Fine example of Russian miserableism from the director of The Return. Here we focus on the plight of people living in a small town on the bleak, forbidding shores of the Barents Sea. The story features official corruption, infidelity, universal alcoholism, sex and shooting as a temporary escape...

The director wisely turned his camera away from the most significant dramatic events...focusing exclusively on the effects on his characters. They were well drawn and trapped in lives they had chosen for themselves. When given the opportunity to leave for something better they passed.

No one here believed in anything...especially not the absurd hypocrisy of the Orthodox church...whose platitudes closed the film...delivered by a priest in rich vestments, in the richest building in town to a cynical congregation.

Strong, memorable film...not as compelling as his first but better than Elena.

7