Islamabad
Director: Alexsandr Zarkhiu
Author:Leo Tolstoy
Cast: Tatiana Samoilova, Nikolai Grissenko,Vaslili Lanovoy
Lok Virsa Mandwa Film Club brings in Russian classic cinematic drama ‘Anna Karenina’ from 1967 to be screened today at 5 p.m.
Anna Karenina has been made over a dozen times both for big screen and TV in Russia, Hollywood, Britain and elsewhere over the decades. This shows the enormous popularity of the novel. The version being screened is from Russia made in 1967. The grace, the glamour and impressive production effects are integral part of this tragic saga.
Here we meet aristocracy, romance out of marriage, separation, forgiveness and finally tragic death. The rich heroine married to a man twenty years her senior, has been a subject of many hit and flop films (Read: Ryan's Daughter). Guess what is next! She meets a handsome man who falls for her despite her initial reluctance. She rejects him in the beginning but later becomes somewhat involved. The sky falls when the husband discovers this and this is the beginning of real dramatic conflict with complex tragedies one after another.
This Russian version remains pretty close to Tolstoy's novel. It is not just about an aristocratic pretty young woman falling for a young handsome officer. It is the struggle of a woman to find a place for herself in life. Any person with commonsense and responsibility would know the consequences and why she should not be shunned by everyone around her. The young officer is split between his love for a married woman and his professional duties.
The film also pitches in a contrast between high society and poor peasants struggling for bare survival.
Tolstoy brings in richness, married life, extra marital affair, misery, forgiveness and finally tragic death. The forgiveness comes with tears and repentance. The director beings in aristocracy of Imperial Russia from late-nineteen century. This was the era of 1870s when divorce was only granted by the czar and it was done for specific reasons. The director has tackled this issue with cinematic intelligence and brilliant dramatic events. The production values, acting and technical effects have been accomplished brilliantly.
Novelist Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel (he did not consider War and Peace a novel).
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