Product Review

Spanning more than six decades of Russian history encompassing the Bolshevik Revolution, Siberiade is Andrei Konchalovsky's (Runaway Train) passionate and ambitious examination of the Soviet spirit, as represented in two families of opposing ideologies: the proletariat Ustyuzhanins and the wealthy Solomins. Through their multi-generational conflicts and alliances, Konchalovsky dramatizes the evolution of the Russian people, bound together by the common struggle for survival and faithfulness to the motherland. Yet Siberiade is more than an immense historical epic. It is a hauntingly beautiful spectacle reminiscent of the finest woks of visionary filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (whose Andrei Roublev was co-written by Konchalovsky). Though cinematographer Levan Paatashvili's lens, the Siberian wilderness becomes a mesmerizing universe unto itself, whose forests and swamps are populated by near-mythical characters. Tied to ancient tradition, these spirits seek to protect the countryside from the ravaging forces of time and technology. When a rural village is invaded by an oil-drilling crew that encroaches upon their hallowed burial grounds, generating conflict between ancestral reverence for the earth and government-ordained industrialization. Siberiade comes to an explosive and unforgettable climax.