Reaction Paper on "Meaning of the Sacrifice by Tarkovsky"

Reaction Paper 6 pages (2057 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Has the hero lost his mind? Or is this what Tarkovsky thinks makes a compelling sacrifice? I confess I find the third act of the film to be very hard to understand.

Nonetheless, it is a haunting sequence when the hero sets the house ablaze and it feels devastating. The Oriental music the hero plays while he burns the house returns us to the Magi theme, and the burnt offering theme returns us to the religious significance of the holocaust. The hero keeps his vow of silence and is carted off in a white ambulance with a red cross on the side (wearing his Oriental yin-yang robe). Meanwhile, his son waters the barren tree and quotes his father, "In the beginning was the Word," and then he asks, "Why's that, Papa?" So the film ends with this puzzling note, as though appreciative of the acts of faith (watering the tree, burning the home, keeping silence), yet still baffled by them. What is one to think?

I like this film because it has a very haunting quality to it, especially the first image of the bombed out city, forewarning us of the threat of apocalypse. That image is quiet and evocative and the way that the camera pans down revealing the carnage in a quiet, subtle way is very appealing. Later the same setting is used when the hero is saved by Maria -- and a crowd of people run through the scene as though just released from death. This scene is not as moving because, frankly, by this point I was having too much trouble understanding what was happening to really be compelled by images.

The end, however, has a hopeful element to it in the sense that in answer to the boy's question, Tarkovsky's own dedication appears on screen, compelling the boy and Tarkovsky's own son and perhaps the questioning, wondering audience to go forward with hope and confidence even if we cannot make sense of these mysteries and must wait years for some answer even (for the bloom on the barren tree to return). Perhaps we should accompany the hero to the clinic and sit in silence with him. Perhaps that is what Tarkovsky is suggesting. There is no denying that there is a substantial spiritual theme to the theme, but I will admit that it was not quite what I was expecting. That may not be a bad thing. Perhaps that is Tarkovsky's way of jarring us out of preconceived notions of sacrifice and offering.

I do like what the mailman says to the hero earlier in the film, regarding gifts being a sacrifice -- implying that a gift that is given without sacrifice is not really much of a gift. This idea struck me and when I think about it seems true. So that is one thing that I hope to take from this movie: I have always thought that birthday gifts were so trivial -- maybe the reason I felt that way was because I could tell there was not much sacrifice or thought put into them. But every once in a while when I or someone else would put him or herself into a gift -- then you felt it. So this is definitely a film that will, I think, stay with me. READ MORE

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