Alexandra – Alexandra (2007)

Directed by: Aleksandr Sokurov | 95 minutes | drama | Actors: Galina Vishnevskaya, Vasili Shevtsov, Raisa Gichaeva, Evgeni Tkachuk, Andrei Bogdanov, Rustam Shakhgireyev, Alexei Neimyshev, Alexander Aleshkin, Alexander Peredkov, Alexander Udaltsov, Maxim Fomin, Konstantin Gaiduk, Sergei Makarov, Valentin Kuznetsov

‘Alexandra’ is a war film in which no shot is fired. Director Sokurov does not shy away from politics in his films, for example with Hitler in ‘Moloch’ and Hirohito in ‘The Sun’. Sokurov became known among the general public with his great epic ‘Russian Ark’, which was shot in one long shot.

‘Alexandra’ was shot on location in a Russian army camp near the Chechen capital Grozny. Although the Chechen conflict is not mentioned, it is clear that it is about that. Sokurov, however, places the film in a broader perspective, war in general and its madness, its horrors and its meaninglessness. The film was shot in a beautiful sepia color, which further accentuates the tone of the film and story. We follow in the story Alexandra Nikolaevna, an old Russian woman, who visits her grandson. He is an officer in the Russian army, which fights against the Chechen insurgents. The role of Alexandra is played by the 81-year-old Galina Vishneskaya, famous opera singer and widow of the famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Her rendition is magnificent. She carries the film with extremely subdued and at the same time powerful and convincing acting. Alexandra hasn’t seen her grandson in years and longs for him. She is staying in the army camp, which is completely shielded from the local population who hate the Russian occupiers. As a fragile and frail old woman, Alexandra contrasts sharply with the military and heavy military equipment, the tanks, the weapons, in short the entire destruction machine that is located there.

It is beautifully illustrated how the grandmother’s concern for the well-being of her grandson and his unwashed and worn clothing contrasts sharply with the task of the soldiers there. They fight the insurgents and freedom fighters and many are killed, including civilians. Sokurov shows that these soldiers are often very young boys, who do their military service there and are in fact also victims in this political conflict. Alexandra’s grandson has also killed many people. The conditions under which these soldiers have to live and the very outdated equipment they use amazes and shocks Alexandra. The conversations that Alexandra has with her grandson and the other soldiers are depicted in magnificent dialogues, with an almost philosophical tone. The tone of all the discomfort about the lives they have come to lead, the dehumanization they have endured and their total degeneration is sublimely embedded in the story. The story is told almost entirely through the eyes of Alexandra, we follow her on her walks through the army camp and her conversations with the soldiers. There are touching moments. The soldiers turn out not only to be those fighting machines, but answer her almost naively innocent questions by exposing their souls.

Alexandra herself has reached an age where she sees the end of her life as a natural and imminent phenomenon. She shows no fear in her walks through the camp. She uninhibitedly visits the local market on her own, where the Russian soldiers only dare to go in groups, heavily armed. The story then takes on a warm human side. Her open-mindedness in the approach to the Chechens brings her into contact with some women who still have to sell some things on the market in order to survive. She is fed by them and is invited into their house. Sokurov shows the devastation caused by the war in the city. The living conditions are terrible. These women have all lost relatives in the fighting. Not only the city where they live has been destroyed, but also their whole lives. However, Alexandra is not the enemy they normally fight without compassion.

Sokurov fits a nice twist in the story here. The human dimension remains, despite the simultaneous atrocities that take place. When she returns to the camp, she talks to her grandson about this encounter. This in no way diminishes the political conflict, the army continues to carry out its missions, and the living conditions do not change. The fact that soldiers also remain people with human feelings is beautifully visually illustrated in scenes in which grandson Denis braids his grandmother’s hair and in which soldiers set the table for Alexandra or very carefully and tenderly touch her hand. Alexandra’s reflections, the encounters with the other women and those tender moments are also what gives hope in this film. The film is about the consequences of war, but has no combat actions. ‘Alexandra’ is mainly reflective in nature and in this format it is suitable for a wide audience. The fact that there remains hope is beautifully worked out. A beautiful, slowly developing film with masterly camera work and strongly supported by music by Andrej Sigle. The film was shot in beautiful monochrome tones, Galina Vishneskaja’s playing is a revelation. Definitely recommended.