LEVIATHAN

  Leviathan is 2014 Russian film following the life of a hotheaded mechanic “Koyla” who fights back when a corrupt mayor tries to seize possession of his ancestral home.  The film, starring Aleksei Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova ,Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Roman Madyanovin in the lead roles, is directed by the multi-award winning director and screenwriter Andrey Zvyagintsev. Leviathan was Andrey’s fourth feature film following films like “The Banishment”, “The Return”and “Elena”. Leviathan received both national and international recognition upon its release and was later nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film in 2014 and won the Best Film award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. 

    ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV

                           The film is set in a coastal town by the Barent’s Sea in northern Russia, where Koyla, his second wife Lilya and his teenage son, Roma lives.  The house’s prominent position attracts the attention of the mayor,Vadim who tries to attain the beautiful seaside land for himself to build a church. Koyla recruits a former friend Dimitri , who is now an attorney and both decide to fight against the mayor. But Dimitri ends up having an affair with Lilya  bringing further misfortune for Koyla. Vadim’s thugs beat and threaten Dimitri causing him to flee and eventually destroys Koyla, financially and mentally. Koyla ends up losing his home, land and his wife, who is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Koyla  gets arrested for her murder with the prosecutor claiming to have evidence against him, along with Lilya’s own friends’ testimonies about the threats he made against her and Dimitri. He is then sentenced to 15 years in prison. The films end with mayor acquiring the land and finalizing the plans to build a church in Koyla’s  land. 

        The film is often viewed as a critique of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and received mixed reactions upon its release in Russia. The film, centered upon a dispute between a local man and the mayor portrays how circumstances and lives of those involved in it can quickly fall apart when human weakness dictates our decisions. Much like his earlier film, “The Return”, Leviathan too has dramatic landscapes as well as biblical references. The entanglement of religion and politics is another important aspect of this film. The title refers to Hobbes’ Leviathan, a classical work about liberty and state as well as the monstrous sea creature appearing in bible. We have a scene in the film where a priest advices a grief-stricken Koyla to face the life trials  like “Job” submitting to God’s will.

           The film is a realistic portrayal of political corruptions in some parts of Russia as well as dives into human realm filled with depression and alcohol. Some of the critics regard this film as a contemporary remake of “The Book of Job”.  Even though the film contains only a handful of characters and is set in a small fishing town in Russia, Zvyaginstev uses the problems of a single family to present the bruises of an entire nation. The films contains adultery, betrayal and a possible murder, and the struggles of simple working class family who does not get satisfying solutions to their problem from God or the judicial system. The film is widely regarded as the most important and influential film to emerge from Russia in the recent times.

-Aysha Sherin