legend andrei konchalovskys towering  half hour poem siberia begin once must hold back space takes time roundabout explorations halfremembered childhood memories turnofthecentury backwoods village yet movie goes picking steam building emotional resonance though even sounds images compose become imbued sheer association subject matter quality fierce tireless quiet dignity characterizes soviet working spirit konchalovsky celebrates soviet collectivity almost revisionist way paeans like soy cuba invincible mood turns somber reflective news revolution reach secluded siberian village grapevine fruits labor reach world war calls young men enlist this konchalovksy zeroes individual care affection examine bitter longing regret woman waited  years war fianc never came back waited long enough go become barmaid ship velvet couches quit years later come back village care aging uncle killed fiancs father axe irreverent folly fianc came back war hero  years late came back sake girl left behind drill oil motherland despair resignation middleaged regional party leader comes back small siberian village sole purpose blotting map build power plant movie segues decade decade s s amazing newsreel footage trailing soviet history revolution war famine titanic technological achievements empire terrific visuals here kinetic violence skewed angles flickering cramped shots crowds faces actual movie focuses individual triumphs follies small big second half sense bittersweet fatalism creeps in broken lives never reached fulfillment choking regret yearning it cant matter seems like world saying konchalovksy answers it must matter protagonists keep trying redemptionbr br yet behind saga man landscape something seems hover shadowy almost substanceless like eternal old man hermit appears every segment guide repudiate protagonists sometimes mere spectactor sometimes enigmatic sage little behind straightforward logical incomprehensible ultimatums challenges affirmations human characters something invisible seems lurk ghosts fathers appearing sepia dreams repeated shots star gleaming nightsky curious bear indeed eternal old man himself konchalovksy calls awe reverence mystical land order treatment small backwoods community struggling nature progress time ways learns deal them often funny bizarre tragic time director never allows cynicism override humanism reminds shohei imamuras profound desires gods when dream scene alexei tears planks door plastered propaganda poster stalin reach dead father vanishes fog movie hints betrayal soviet dream better yet things lost revolution betrayal made explicit films fiery denouement amazing visuals elegiac somber raw naturalist edge help seal deal end it oil derric erupts flames movie erupts wild explosion pure cinema