Tini Zabutykh Predkiv [Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors] (1966)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://artelanternamagica.blogspot.co.uk)

That rare thing - a movie that is as good as its says on the box.

The story of a lost love is conveyed with touching beauty and poetic grace throughout and, despite this being something of a tragedy, manages to be uplifting. Peasant life in the Ukrainian Carpathian mountains is shown as hard yet vibrant. Sexual attraction and its affects are vividly, yet implicitly, shown through character interaction in a bucolic and overwhelmingly natural landscape setting.

The actors are superb and get the way that people attracted to one another look and gaze at each other; making their love affair all the more believable.

Reminiscent of the best work of Ken Russell, this movie is a potent mix of folklore, magic and Christian symbolism that makes art as accessible as life itself, without the need for obfuscation so common among artists who think emotion is secondary to intellect.

Copyright © 2013 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.