Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Armenian director Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990) suffered continual persecution and even eventual imprisonment at the hands of Soviet authorities. Under the circumstances, it's amazing the filmmaker managed to complete so many wonderfully idiosyncratic films, having to contend with powers-that-be who interfered with editing and often held up theatrical release. 1964's Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is the filmmaker's first truly personal effort (and the film that initially landed him in hot water with the government while simultaneously amazing international audiences). A tale of 19th-century Ukrainian village life, the story follows Ivan (Ivan Mikolajchuk), a young peasant who falls in love with the daughter of the rich man who killed his father. But when the daughter dies, Ivan ends up wedding a woman who becomes involved in sorcery and infidelity, leading to a tragic denouement. A lurid narrative, to be sure, but in Paradjanov's hands the story is secondary to the flamboyant, poetic style, which combines oodles of color, lyrical camera movement, great swaths of music and operatic performances, and an emphasis on myth and ritual, to fashion a visionary portrait of a past that may not always be comprehensible but is steadily fascinating. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is essentially an experimental film that appeals more to the unconscious than to the intellect, an ethnographic cinematic poem that aims to simulate the effect of orally-transmitted folklore, and largely succeeds. DVD extras include a documentary on the unlikely friendship between Paradjanov and director Andrei Tarkovsky (with substantial clips from their films), and a 1985 short made by associates to honor Paradjanov. Highly recommended. [Note: this is also included in the boxed set The Films of Sergei Paradjanov, along with Ashik Kerib, The Legend of Suram Fortress, and The Color of Pomegranates, priced at $79.95.] (F. Swietek)