Russian director Alexander Sokurov’s new film Alexandra is like a quiet personal tour of the heart of his country as Sokuruv doesn’t simply set his films in Russia, he uses all parts of the cinema - the image, sounds, characters and pacing - to build a film that is Russia. In an effort to create a dialogue about war and those that fight it Sokurov takes us to the Chechen front where an elderly woman is visiting her grandson who is a solider. We live with this woman, Alexandra - Mother Russia if you will - as she talks to soldiers, tries to reconnect with her grandson and ventures into a local market:

The name Alexandra scarcely seems coincidental, and neither does the unusual casting. Alexandra is played by the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, the widow of the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, about whom Mr. Sokurov recently made a documentary. In 1978 the Soviet government stripped the dissident couple (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn lived at their dacha) of their citizenship. Mr. Rostropovich gave an impromptu cello concert next to the Berlin Wall after it fell and, with his wife, returned home after the collapse of the Soviet Union. When Ms. Vishnevskaya, now 81, enters this film she carries with her the weight of history.

She looks as if she can handle it. Invested with unmistakable hauteur ” her intense, flashing eyes lock on their targets like tracking beams ” Ms. Vishnevskaya reminds me of nothing so much as one of those well-seasoned, time-toughened divas for whom the word no is never an option, even in the middle of a war zone. [The New York Times]

What struck me most about the film was it’s anti-war message. It isn’t a film that uses violence to protest war but instead uses metaphor and discussion. As we watch Sokurov’s “Mother Russia” talk with the men at the camp, we can’t help but think on what happens to young men who go to war, who go to fight. The beautiful film before us is in direct contrast to the lives given to war. The camera guides the audience, but is careful not to determine where your eyes go on the screen. This combined with Ms. Vishnevskaya’s effortless performance allows us to bond with Russia, with soldiers and with her in an almost spiritual way.

to find out when Alexandra will be playing at the theater near you and to learn how you can protest war in our own country. A trailer is below, but it has no subtitles (I don’t think they’re that necessary - )