164. A Gentle Creature (Krotkaya ); movie review Vasilina Makovtseva

A GENTLE CREATURE (KOROTKAYA)
Cert 18
143 mins
BBFC advice: Contains sexual violence

I have always wanted to see the best in people, hoping rather than believing that a human's natural instinct is to love not hate.
This philosophy is being tested to the limit in a modern world in which bile and vitriol is more often espoused than forgiveness and understanding.
A Gentle Creature demonstrates just how awful people can be towards each other if society prompts them to.
To illustrate the point, Sergei Loznista's film alights upon the plight of the unnamed title character (Vasilina Makovtseva).
She has been returned a food parcel after sending it to her husband who serving a prison sentence for a murder he did not commit.
Therefore, she goes to the post office to find out why it was not delivered.
This is where the aggressive rudeness of those who work for the establishment rears its head. Put simply, the woman behind the counter doesn't give a damn and refuses to spend a second trying to help.
Consequently, the gentle creature decides to take the parcel to her husband herself.
She has to go through the humiliation of personal searches before her train even sets off but that is only the beginning of her nightmare.
Russia is painted in a particularly bleak light by Loznitsa who does not reserve his condemnation for the establishment - normal people are seen to be just as ruthless.
Indeed, A Gentle Creature left me open-mouthed in disbelief at times. Can life in Russia nowadays really be this bad?
Although, I was also a tad confused on whether it was set in the present or not - it could easily be from the time of communism with only mobile phones and the occasional updated car giving it a place in a more recent era.
And there is the most bizarre of endings which really did leave me scratching my head.
I would expect that those who know Russia well would glean more from this movie. But it left me thirsting to understand more about what has been going on there since is supposedly became democratic.

Reasons to watch: A sobering view of an ordinary person's life in Russia
Reasons to avoid: Doesn't offer the context it needs

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Director quote - Sergei Loznitsa: "For me, this film is a metaphor for a country where people are constantly violated by each other. The country is bursting with all forms of violence. On the one hand, have total hypocrisy, gigantic lies and double standards , a perfect omerta… and on the other hand, you have horrendous things that continue to happen every single day.

The big question - How can people be so awful to each other?

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