Garpastum (2005)

Directed by: Aleksei German Jr. | 116 minutes | drama, war | Actors: Yevgeny Pronin, Danila Kozlovsky, Dmitri Vladimirov, Alexander Bikovski, Chulpan Khamatova, Pavel Romanov

‘Garpastum’ is derived from ‘harpastum’, Latin for ball game. Director Alexei German Jr. is not known for ‘easy’ and ‘accessible’ movies. His debut film ‘The Last Train’ garnered critical acclaim and was shot on the Russo-German front during World War II. Those images were mainly shot in grey-white-black tones, since the film was set in the snow. ‘Garpastum’ is also partly set during a period of war. This time the film is in magnificent shades of brown, making maximum use of impressively shabby conditions and locations.

The film starts with the moment when Gavrilo Prinzip murders Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, after which the First World War becomes inevitable. Yet it is not a film about war. 1914 was the last year in which life in Russia could go on somewhat as usual. The Russian Revolution also took place during the First World War. Life has never become the way it used to be.

‘Garpastum’ has become more of a film about how, over a period of five years, young people’s lives diverge and grow apart. These young people grow up in a more or less bourgeois environment. It was precisely this milieu that would suffer extremely hard in the Russian Revolution that broke out shortly afterwards. The signs of this are already showing. The brothers Andrei and Nikolaj want to start a football team in Saint Petersburg. They have really big plans with a ‘stadium’ and ‘grandstands’ and everything that goes with it. However, those plans quickly fall apart because the war breaks out and this puts a spanner in the works. Yet they want to do everything they can to realize their dream and are willing to work with all kinds of scum. In these kinds of uncertain times, life often becomes a quest for one’s own identity and something to hold on to in games and other entertainment. That is not very gentle. What should really be a harmless ball game like a game of football degenerates into complete beatings to near life and death. All insecurity expresses itself in grim and cold mutual behaviour.

The gray images of this film strongly emphasize the difference in behavior and character of the young people in this film. The brothers’ paths diverge when one joins the army and fight at the front, the other stays behind in Saint Petersburg. When the war is over, much has changed, many have died. Yet at the same time, little has changed, they still want to set up a football club with a stadium. It is the realization of that old dream that gives them hope and comfort. This completes the circle, despite all the suffering they have had to endure. The roles are played strongly and very credibly by all players. The story develops slowly and carefully and the camerawork has beautiful long shots as we know them from Russian cinema. The drama of the extremely poor living conditions jumps off the screen, which is enhanced by the oppressive shades in terms of color scheme.

‘Garpastum’ is not a film for people who want to catch a movie once relaxed. The film requires a fair amount of attention to keep up with the storyline. ‘Garpastum’ is a film that scores high, especially from a cinematographic point of view, with magnificent images and fabulous brown tones.