Leviathan
Composite Score: 86.33
Starring: Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Roman Madyanov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Anna Ukolova, Aleksey Rozin, Sergey Pokhodaev, Platon Kamenev, Sergey Bachurskiy, and Valeriy Grishko
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Writers: Oleg Negin and Andrey Zvyagintsev
Genres: Crime, Drama
MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexuality/graphic nudity
Box Office: $4.44 million worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Leviathan is Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film about a man living in a small town on Russia’s northern shore whose house is claimed by the mayor and his fight to keep it in the face of government corruption. The film follows Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov) who works as a mechanic and lives with his teenage son Romka (Sergey Pokhodaev) and second wife Lilya (Elena Lyadova) after he hires his old army friend, now hotshot Moscow lawyer, Dmitriy (Vladimir Vdovichenkov) to fight the ruling of his town council and mayor to seize his house and land for a new construction project. The film is loosely based on the biblical stories of Job and Naboth and features themes of religion, politics, fate, and relationships. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
The film is at its best as a religious allegory, framing its biblical stories in a modern context, reminding us of the ubiquitous sense that we all have of being powerless in the face of political, religious, and seemingly universal forces that are beyond our control or understanding. The tragedy of these stories can make the film difficult to watch at moments, highlighting the ways that things often play out so far from how we would like them to and how it is our reaction to those events that actually matters. Do we choose to withdraw from others and lash out in pain or do we seek community and pursue healing? The film’s title refers to the pride of Kolya as he refuses to not go down swinging as his life unravels around him, pushing everyone he loves away in the process.
Like Zvyagintsev’s other films, Leviathan deals with issues both personal and societal, offering food for all levels of thought as he does so. In this one, he offers a poignant critique of the way that religion and politics had become entwined in modern Russia (and to perhaps an unintentionally broader extent the more conservative portions of most developed nations), pushing each other to more corruption while shielding each other from any kind of backlash. At the same time, he examines the ways that individuals relate to those they love – friends and family – and how everyone has their own context for the events unfolding around them. When people share in those contexts, relationships blossom, but when they refuse to engage in those shared spaces or turn that sharing into something toxic, hurt is bound to follow. These observations by the director offer a new take on the biblical narratives that may or may not be familiar to the broad audience but that, regardless, paint them in a more relatable light.
The allegory of Leviathan and the exploration of its themes underneath make it an incredibly rich film worth watching and considering amongst the Greatest Films of All Time. Its heavy and, at times, depressive narrative make it a film that won’t be easy to watch and one that probably won’t get much rewatch, but that time when you do give it a shot will be one you won’t soon forget. You can currently rent this film on most streaming services if you’re interested in watching it.
