Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors DVD, 1964

Mixing folklore, sorcery and religious symbolism, this elemental and utterly original film from Sergei Paradjanov is like nothing else you've ever seen, says Nick Riddle

Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990) was a true original who coined his own visual style but didn't get enough of a chance to use it; he spent several years in a Siberian labour camp for diverging from the Soviet ideals of social realism.

Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors, the first film over which he had directorial control, shows how spectacular that divergence was. It's an amazing, elemental and uncompromising piece of work. The story, set in the Carpathian mountains of the Ukraine during an unspecified part of the 19th century, is simple enough: young Ivan is grief-stricken after his sweetheart, Marichka, is drowned, and he struggles to find happiness with another woman. But Paradjanov enriches his tale with occult imagery and some pretty wild camerawork, and his recreation of the vanished world of the Ukrainian Hutsul people evokes a pre-industrial culture where magic and ritual are as much a part of existence as backbreaking work and violent family feuds. At the film's heart is an age-old story of love and loss - but you haven't seen it told quite like this before.

Nick Riddle on 23rd March 2010
View all 48 of Nick Riddle's reviews

This is a tragic love story set in the mountains of 19th century Ukraine. It is not, however, a conventional historical drama - most parts are played by local peasants... more >

This is a tragic love story set in the mountains of 19th century Ukraine. It is not, however, a conventional historical drama - most parts are played by local peasants who give it an authenticity. Despite the real people and the use of hand-held camera, the style is not realist/documentary, the camerawork, colour and sound are used expressionistically. For example, a killing is conveyed by a wash of blood-red across the screen - years before Don't Look Now. < less

View all 3 of John Shenton’s reviews