TSAR (2009)

Big, handsome, typically banal modern Russian historical on the late days of ‘Terrible’ Tsar Ivan as he seeks blessing, redemption & obedience from once close friend Philipp, now Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church, striking out on all three.  It’s a loneliness-of-absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely story with a mentally unstable Ivan lashing out in all directions just when he needs to defend the state from invasion from the West (Poles) and destabalization from within (Boyars).  I think; director Pavel Lungin very stingy with exposition/explanation.  Perhaps this history is so well known in Russia Lungin assumes a level of knowledge that lets him run the plot like one of those tableaux-organized operas or ballets unconcerned with detailing narrative line.  Instead, episodic cruelties culminating in two grisly set pieces, one involving a bear pit where ‘enemies’ of the state are torn apart or tortured into ‘confession.’  (See our Metropolitan lift a severed head that appears to weigh about half a pound.  Lighter than it looks, like a good loaf of bread.)  Then, in an oddly comic bit of horror, an Amusement Park of Execution built to lighten Tsar Ivan’s mood, wooden ‘rides’ that pierce like meat tenderizers; with dummies for demonstration.  Plus, a  few de rigueur nods at Tarkovsky & Eisenstein tossed in the mix, sticking out all the more with a plot you can’t follow.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Sergei Eisenstein’s famously troubled production of IVAN THE TERRIBLE/’44 has its problems, but remains fascinating and eminently watchable.  Write-Up to come.  http://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/11/demoted-from-once-impregnable-iconic.html