[Previous entry: "Getting it moving"] [Next entry: "Very Best Wishes for 2004!"]
30/12/2003: "The Return"
I have just come back from watching The Return (Возвращение), a Russian film. The story is about a father who reappears to his family after 12 years of absence and takes his two sons on a trip. The elder son is ready from the start to embrace this man as his father and desires his acknowledgement, whereas the younger is far more suspicious about the cold, sometimes violent man (trailer).
The pictures and emotions are raw, and the film touched me. Perhaps it did touch a sensitive spot about the longing for a father's acceptance of oneself, a father a son never fully knows.
The location of the film reminded me of my recent visit to Russia last November. The father takes his sons on a fishing trip and they cross a lake on a boat to reach an island. In Russia, I spent a weekend on Lake Ladoga and went on a boat trip to a small island. I just discovered that The Return was shot on the same lake (north of St. Petersburg). It was strange!
