The last film of Alexandr Dovzhenko, whose widow, Yuliva Solntseva went on to complete after his death, The Poem Of The Sea is a contemplative exploration of post war Soviet Union touching on various themes which include youth and maturity, nature and technology, and collectivism. Philosophical in nature, The Poem Of The Sea is a film that could certainly be described as one that bites off more than it can chew, delivering an expansive narrative with a host of characters which frequently oscillates between fantasy, reality, and memory. The film is centered around the construction of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, a massive project for the betterment of the collective that forces the permanent closure of a small villages along the banks of the Drieper river, an area that will be underwater permanently with the creation of the Kakhovskoye Sea. The Poem Of The Sea is a powerful study of renewal and rebirth, documenting both the young and the old as they push forward for the better of their "fatherland". For the senior generation, who still feels haunted by the dark days of World War II, the destruction of their small village is very hard for them to accept, reluctant to see their homes destroyed, with the filmmakers routinely exhibiting their past memories through the striking, and often poetic sequences that beautifully juxtapose their individual experiences with that of the needs of the collective. The reverse is true for the youth, who effectively wish to smash down everything old with enthusiasm, embracing the new brighter future with open arms. The conflict of progress/innovation with tradition/history is at the center of The Poem Of The Sea, a film that at its core is about transformation and resurrection. In Poem of The Sea, nature itself is a character, with the vast sea and open waterways being representative of the old and the new, serving as a symbol of the progress of the Soviet Union through the completion of this new waterway. Alexandr Dovzhenko & Yuliva Solntseva's The Poem of The Sea is very uneven, and muddled with too many characters, but the films beautiful cinematography and poetic exploration of progress is philosophically dense and transfixing nonetheless.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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