Cast: Sergey Dreiden (THE MARQUIS - A 19th CENTURY DIPLOMAT), Maria Kuznetsova (CATHERINE THE GREAT), Leonid Mozgovoy (THE SPY), David Giorgobiani (HIMSELF), Alexander Chaban (BORIS PIOTROVSKY), Lev Yeliseyev (HIMSELF), Alla Osipenko (HERSELF), Artem Strelnikov (TALENTED BOY), Tamara Kurenkova (HERSELF), Maxim Sergeyev (PETER THE GREAT), Natalia Nikulenko (CATHERINE THE FIRST), Yelena Rufanova (FIRST LADY), Yelena Spiridonova (SECOND LADY), Yuliy Zhurin (NICHOLAS I), Svetlana Svirko (ALEXANDRA FEDOROVNA, WIFE OF NICOLAS I), Konstantin Anisimov (FIRST CAVALIER), Alexey Barabash (SECOND CAVALIER), Ilia Shakunov (THIRD CAVALIER), Alexander Kulikov (FOURTH CAVALIER), Anna Aleksahina (ALEXANDRA FYODOROVNA, WIFE OF NICOLAS II), Vladimir Baranov (NICHOLAS II), Boris Smolkin (CHANCELLOR NESSELRODE), Alexander Razbash (A MUSEUM OFFICIAL).

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov

Ok, let's begin by forgetting my regular style for reviews, because there's no way I could get past the first topic.

There seems to be a current of thinking in some circles that indicates that you can make a movie or you can make art, not both at the same time. You have the chance of making a picture loved by the critics (who, after all, we all know that aren't normal people) and, in the process, put to sleep a couple hundred human beings; or you can make a movie to make people scream in their seats and laugh and all that kind of things that critics, obviously, don't like. Anyway, this is motivated because, Russian Ark has the power of making both the people and the critics love it. For once, though, it seems the critics are right.

Russian Ark isn't your normal movie, the one you can see any night on your TV set, destroyed by commercials. Not that there's anything wrong with that kind of movies (I love those movies, I watch those movies, I usually review those movies), but Aleksandr Sokurov was trying to do something different. And yes, it still is a movie. Who said that to be considered a movie it had to tell a story, with a chronological logic and an end? Forget about that.

The movie starts when a modern filmmaker finds himself mysteriously in the Hermitage in the beginnings of the XVII century. Nobody seems to be able to see him, except a XIX century French diplomat as out of time as he is. Together, they'll travel the corridors and salons of the immense museum, as much in space as in time. From the time of the Winter palace of the Tsarist Empire, to the time of the last Tsar, to the present century, they discuss every bit of Russian relation with the western world, looking from their relation with art in the political and social direction. The diplomat is a loyal representative of the western spirit that invaded Russia in the times of the tsars. The filmmaker is a modern man critic of the way Russia sees its own past and how arts contribute to remember it.

The entire movie (and here comes the expected comment about technologies) was filmed in one long shot, with all the difficulties that that brings (just think that, if one actor failed in making his entrance, of forgot a line, all the movie was totally ruined, and they had to re-start from the very beginning), something that wouldn't have been possible without the modern digital technology (there aren't tape rolls large enough to make a whole movie, they are just 10 minutes long). We get to see all this through the eyes of the filmmaker, in one movie-length subjective plane, with the whole movie filmed with steady cam. There's no way you can be more inside the Hermitage. Except for being there, of course.

On an attention note, I'm almost sure that one of the actors, in the final scene, when everybody is going down the stairs, leaving the dance, stumbles and starts laughing. It's a second's view, but it could have ruined the more than an hour's work that came previously.

Of course, to have a better understanding of every historical moment and figure, some knowledge of Russian history (and European history) comes in handy. But you won't really need it to enjoy the movie. I know a little about Russia, especially beginnings of XX century, but not a lot, and I loved the movie.

Something must be said: you'll know if you like this movie after the five first minutes. If you hate the way it begins, if you are falling asleep when the diplomat first appears, if you are actually trying to understand what is happening, this movie isn't for you. In the other hand, if you don't want explanations and you are capable of enjoying a little travel through history and art, through a wonderful place made only of images and sound, you'll love the trip that is Russian Ark.