"Povinnost" means "forced," as in forced labor. It fits this contemplative semi-documentary detailing the lives of Russian naval conscripts over a winter service by the sun-starved North Sea. It’s the voice-over diary/confession of an "old-at-thirty" ship’s captain which gives writer/director Aleksandr (RUSSIAN ARK) Sokurov’s the conceit for personalizing this five-part narrative. A narrative where very little happens: inspections, night watches, washing (body/clothes/ship) and queuing for all of ‘em. The film (actually an HD video transfer) focuses on life’s banalities and the commander’s despair at finding a point to it all. Yet, it’s all mesmerizing. Working within a restrained palette to match the restrained life and petty cruelties, Sokurov contemplates NORTH as an element, as a country & a philosophy. I can’t think of another director who could have brought this off . . . thank God.
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