The Corridor (1994) - Sharunas Bartas

Stark, humanistic, and utterly transfixing, Sharunas Bartas' The Corridor is a tone poem about the contemporary state of Lithuania in post-communist depression.  The film is enigmatic and deeply personal, oscillating between the interior canvases where Bartas himself is in a haze of contemplation, and the cold, grey exteriors of the capital city of Vilnius, where the general mood is despondency and mourning.  The film's structure is quite opaque, but the film does seem to adhere to some semblance of time, moving from the early morning through the long day, observantly exposing the viewer to events that unfold out throughout the day, including a funeral and celebratory type party.  Being no scholar when it comes to the history of Lithuana, Sharunas Bartas' The Corridor was a film that left me with more questions than answers, providing an intense experience full of sadness and mourning.  Featuring luminous black and white cinematography, The Corridor is enigmatic yet intimate, an observant eye that forms a tight connection with its various subjects, including a small boy who seems to be utterly alone, as well as Bartas himself who pears from his window into the coldness of the environment he inhabits.  The film is full of symbolic imagery, some which was admittedly over my head, but what remains utterly enchanting about The Corridor is the intimacy the film creates, one that evokes a deep sense of desperation, despair through its compassionate, sympathetic lens.  Understated, The Corridor is a film that doesn't attempt to provide specific answers to the modern state of Lithuania, only offering up a humanistic experience full of compassion and an observant eye.  Going into this film completely cold, outside of the admiration I've had for the few Bartas fiilm's I've already seen, The Corridor is a film that doesn't completely work for me, but regardless of its opaqueness, this is cinema at its purest form, visually attempting to contexualize the contemporary state of Lituana in post-communist era.

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