Andrei Rublev

Russian history was perhaps going through its most chaotic period at the beginning of the 15th century. Central government had not yet completely established its authority and people living in the country were subject to the savage attacks of the Mongolians and the Tartars. Andrei Rublev, with an episodic structure, is built on Andrei Rublev, the famous chapel painter, icon and wall fresco artist of the 15th century. Rublev will see the extreme reflections of evil in an epoch when tyranny, ethnic discrimination and racism dominate and, with the classic idiom, be a witness of his age… The film, opening with a striking “balloon travelling” scene, generally revolves around the themes of artist and society. However, Tarkovski also treats many subthemes all through the film. The artist’s search for freedom, the relations between power and artist, sexuality, violence, and of course basic issues related to belief and ethic within the context of Christian mysticism… Tarkovski has set up his film like a fresco… The episodes in the film resemble the pieces in sequence of that “big picture” which will only appear at the end of the film rather than an independent story each. Andrei Rublev is more like a defiance to conventional cinema where theatrical dramaturgy dominates. Tarkovski has set up his film like a picture, rather than telling a story and creating characters. Therefore what we have in front of us is not a classic film story to be followed, but a “Tarkovski fresco” which can only be comprehended by penetrating the images… When we think of the final scene, we can also accept that the film is a matchless cinematic experiment made by setting off from pictures of Rublev…Andrei Rublev shot with the cinemascope format and reflecting the visual mastery of Tarkovski in every frame, has been described as an “unadulterated masterpiece by film critics after its release in the West in 1971 and had no hard time to be included in the list of the best films of cinema history in most of the enquiries made during the last 30 years. Mehmet Açar