Alexandra (2007) User Reviews

Good film

[paulmartin-2 · 8/10 · 29 July 2007]

This film makes a good accompaniment to Beaufort, which I saw the night before this at the Melbourne International Film Festival. While both are very different stories, they use similar visual techniques and are war films with subtle anti-war messages. Aleksandra is an elderly woman who visits her grandson, a Russian army officer, at his army camp inside Chechnya. The entirety of the film follows Aleksandra, including her lengthy journey on the train with other soldiers, her arrival and her interactions with various incidental characters.

The film is very observational, capturing the strength of character of this feisty woman who is intimidated by neither the macho Russian soldiers questioning her identity and what she is doing in this godforsaken place (in the middle of a scorching summer), nor by the hostile Chechens whose towns have been obliterated by the Russian army.

Any critique of war is subtle and in passing. Even if this was the director's primary intent, he keeps the audience focus on the humanistic elements of the film. There is excellent character development, and the naturalistic depictions of camaraderie and bonding of unlikely friends is very moving. This is a well-written, original and quietly accomplished film that will appeal to audiences who are not fond of war films.

Aging vs. Military

[nimimerkillinen · 8/10 · 1 October 2008]

Aleksandra is the movie that Putin disliked and Chechen banned. It's a movie about temperamental old lady who travels from Russia to Chechen to see her grandson in military base. The movie combines greatly aging and military. Story about a woman who doesn't want to get old while the others spend their aging time killing. There isn't any set decorations used, all is authentic. The military base, ruins, soldiers and the common people. Aleksandra is a great movie from one of Russians most interesting film-maker at the moment. If you aren't scared of slow and lifelike drama. This is very easy to recommend. It is humane, it is insightful.

Absorbing and engrossing minimalist drama set on a war's front-line, told from the perspective of someone whom looks on with worn eyes.

[johnnyboyz · 8/10 · 3 January 2011]

A Russian film, which isn't in English, told from the perspective of a seventy or so year old woman, whose attitude towards the dilapidated world she sees is positively existential and whose tale is set during a war very few will have even heard of, was never going to be a box office bank breaker. 2008 film Aleksandra might not be the easiest sell to a young, white, heterosexual male between the ages of 16 and 30; the very definition of the Western 'mainstream', but in Aleksandra, whose director is Aleksandr Sokurov, we can credit a really well made; thought provoking drama which explores and examines a woman of another era coming into contact with a world she is unfamiliar with. The film coming to mutate in a thoroughly well made minimalist piece with wondrous attention to character and to the breaking down of preconceived archetypes.

We begin with the titular Aleksandra, played by Galina Vishnevskaya, an elderly woman on her way to meet with her grandson who's currently located within a military barracks on the front-line of Chechnya. The film implements us within her perspective upon our first interaction, her stepping off of a bus followed by her looking around at what has become of the world as she ventures nearer and nearer the wartime hostilities of the Chechnyan front-line an inviting of the audience to see the world as she sees it. After some difficulty, she eventually arrives at the base camp and meets her grandson Denis (Shevtsov); a soldier looking well worn and with some very blistered feet suggesting he has seen some action. The camp is dry, hot and stagnant; whilst there, Aleksandra gives time to look upon the implements of warfare she sees before her and our alignment to her continues when she ventures around a locale that ought to be as alien to us as it is to her. She observes all of the living, eating and sleeping conditions as well as the men doing certain other things such as polishing their rifles. On another occasion, she is invited to sit inside one of many parked tanks, the film going so far as to have her highlight little things such as the smell of the interior of the thing; all of it eventually coming to have her exclaim her disdain towards it.

The film's predominant covering of the character of Aleksandra sees it cover the sorts of territory that comes with a very frail and rather worn individual seeing the world they inhabit around them. It's eventually established that Aleksandra once had a husband, and so it's put across that she has already had prior negative involvement with men, something which becomes more evident later on. Her observing of the world nearer the front-line is effectively a result of men fighting men and one later scene sees her journey out to a nearby market to collect specific items for the Russian troops she occupies the base with. Here, a young boy causes some irritation by jostling with her in this very public place whereas another man working behind a stall will not sell her any cigarettes, but will carry a look of disdain, both much to her discomfort. The surroundings at the nearby market sees entire rows of apartments torn open from shelling; the people within reduced to living inside of places of dwelling which sport large craters from about the tenth floor and upwards. It is here Aleksandra meets another woman of similar age, and they get along as if they had known one another for many years.

The film finds a quite remarkable balance nicely set between two differing films and their core thesis', namely 2007 Israeli film Beaufort and James Cameron's 1991 sequel to his film The Terminator. Where Beaufort took the item of warfare and distilled it through a dangerously stagnant perspective, exploring the grim absurdities of war by placing a handful of troops at a post and have them merely absorb disjointed and sporadic enemy missile attacks, Aleksandra tells a similar tale of people just inhabiting the outskirts of a war-zone in a deliberately fragmented and stagnant manner reflecting the slow and painful process everything entails. If Aleksandra is the better film, then it's because we have a stonewall lead in the elderly woman around which greater depth is explored; Beaufort's equivalent in an explosives expert in said film introduced to proceedings and tactfully removed twenty minutes in.

A key scene in Cameron's iconic science-fiction/war feature Terminator 2: Judgement Day saw its lead female Sarah Connor sit atop a leading technician's kitchen counter and berate him, indeed the male gender, for being able to do little within the field of creativity but come up with implements dedicated to fighting and warring. Sokurov's film is part extension of this item, and additionally the gradual bringing around of the lead so as to have her come to respect men after a back-story involving an oaf of a husband as well as the destruction and chaos men have brought about to the region she's in. It is something that, with the scene involving a local Chechnyan woman and Aleksandra getting along with her, is suggested wouldn't happen had the women made all the decisions. We feel she comes to really connect with her grandson, revealing secrets about his grandfather that were previously wholly buried and in the other soldiers on the base, an observing of males whom are regimental Russian soldiers but respectful of, instead of dismissive of, the elderly through their experience with warfare which has rendered them worn and lethargic. Refreshingly, Sokurov steers clear of politics; the film's stance on Chechnya remaining positively liberal throughout. His film is more a focusing on just how terrible and seemingly unnecessary the conflict is, rather than just how humanistic and normalised Russians are in comparison to Chechnyans. With a really well executed, minimalist approach to character and his hypothesis, Sokurov executes a taut and engaging film.

Kindness in the face of Cruelty

[MacAindrais · 10 July 2008]

Aleksandra (2008) ****

As one of the least discussed modern conflicts, it's not unsurprising that the Chechen War has rarely been covered on film, certainly not in such a profound and visceral manner as depicted in Aleksandra. Aleksander Sokurov, the visionary helmer of The Russian Ark, turns an ugly conflict into a moving and gentle experience.

The aging Aleksandra is granted a trip to visit her grandson, an officer in the Russian Chechen campaign, at his station post in the heart of Chechnya. She takes the train with other soldiers, and upon arrival is driven to the base in an armoured vehicle. There she waits for her grandson to return during the night. He arrives through the night as she sleeps, and in the morning takes her on a tour of the camp: showing her the vehicles, the tents, the guns. When he is away, Aleksandra curiously explores the base on her own, talking without intimidation with the other soldiers. She gives them meat pies, and the comforts of a mother figure in a world of testosterone, blood, and fear.

This film is one of sensations, of atmosphere. You feel the heat of the dry Chechen landscape (it appears to have been shot in and around Grozny). You feel the tension of hatreds engrained in the psyche of both the Russians and the Chechens. You feel the dirt and the grime of the Russian base, and its intimidating and archaic structure. It is a labyrinth of tents, wood, and barbed wire. It is a rightful character in itself. You feel the oddity of seeing an aged and soft bodied woman, looking as a saint among sinners in that craggy landscape.

The entire mood of the film is oddly affecting. Despite its gentle story, it expresses an unstated sense of menace. This is a troubled land, filled with unseen terror – the undercurrents of tension are palpable. And yet, old Aleksandra shows no fear. Not in the face of the shockingly young Russian soldiers who try to disobey her to go here or there, only to end up following her commands. And not in the face of angry Chechens in the market, to where she goes off alone. Indeed, it is in that market that one of the most rewarding sections of the film takes place. Aleksandra, shunned by a young Chechen man because she is Russian, is welcomed by an older Chechen woman, much like herself. Among this woman and her friends, Aleksandra forms a bond that transcends hatred, and reaches towards nothing more than humanity and compassion.

Aleksandra is more than just a war film, or even a film about war. The only shot fired in the film is by Aleksandra herself – an empty chamber in an AK-47, shown to her by her grandson. This is a film about human convictions, and inevitabilities. Why is she even here? The grandson's commanding officer asides that usually he brings girls to visit him, but this time he's oddly requested his grandmother. He knows it is inevitable that he will likely die in this war, just as she confides that her time is invariably near. But the film also makes it clear that not everything is doomed to inevitability. Hate does not have to be manifest. It is a product of unnecessary cruelty and unfairness.

Sokurov takes no obvious stance on either the side of the Chechens or the Russians, and so I will not invoke any clear reference here – other than to simply point out that those with a working knowledge of the foundations for the ongoing conflict should have by now found it obvious who holds the majority of blame for this hell.

This is a small story, and a concept not unfamiliar. What heightens a simple parable into grandeur, though, is execution. Sokurov is a visionary, and his eye for visceral storytelling through sound and image to create the perfect mood is a marvellous example of what the art of film-making is all about. This film has the heart, the soul, and the wisdom necessary to reach that level of grandeur. This is a great and profound film.

A tender story of a grandmother's concern

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 30 April 2009]

I don't know many grandmothers that would take a troop train across Russia, then get on top a troop transport to visit their grandson (Vasily Shevtsov), an Army Captain in Chechnya. But this grandmother (Galina Vishnevskaya) did. It was certainly an arduous journey for the elderly woman.

The films color is appropriate for the hot and dirty climate where here grandson is stationed. The soldiers are all shirtless and just sit around waiting. The other soldiers watch her with fascination, probably thinking of home and their own grandmothers.

She makes her way to the market where cigarettes are priced depending upon you rank. The locals look at the Russians with disgust. She manages to connect with a local, Malika (Raisa Gichaeva), who treats her like a sister.

It is not a place for a grandmother, but she manages to connect again with her grandson before he goes off on a five-days mission, and she boards the troop train home.

It was only anti-war in a subtle sense. The futility of it all was visible, but not exaggerated. Maybe the futility was finally recognized as the Russians are to leave Chechnya soon.

A very good story.

Not as 'universal' as it could've been

[e_tucker · 6/10 · 27 May 2009]

I am getting a little tired of Russian films that make claims to universality of theme and yet are packed with obscure (to me as a Westerner) and specific cultural cues. You can't have it both ways. At least I hope that was what was going on. Otherwise I would have to say that many of the exchanges between characters were fraught with mechanical sentimentality, were oddly disturbing (as when Alexandra takes a deep whiff of her grandson's manly aroma)or just downright incomprehensible.

Alexandra's grumpy, tough as nails old Mother Russia come to inspect her sons embroiled in yet another war is understandably cranky. Having survived the hell on earth of WW2 Russia would wouldn't be a little impatient with all things military? But while the actress carries the role with some gravitas, she is surprisingly unsympathetic and never more so as when she stops to deliver the director's pearls of wisdom regarding the relative merits of brute force versus intelligence to a surly Chechen youth or discusses with her grandson the autocratic structure of the Russian family - or was that government? Even an uninitiated Westerner can detect when a filmmaker breaks into his own film to use his actors as mouthpieces. It's not only jarring and annoying - it bespeaks a failure to convey these thoughts within the framework of character and action. Only when Alexandra encounters other women does she soften and become more accessible but I'm afraid most of the credit for the emotional connectivity of those scenes goes to the woman playing the Chechen cigarette vendor. While I enjoyed those scenes, they were nonetheless somewhat suspect for me, smacking of oversimplified beneficent sexism - women nurturers good, men warmongers bad.

On the plus side, it was the specificity of location and the excellent photography of the camp, the crumbling town and the seared countryside that kept me engrossed. The silent tableaux of working soldiers, hostile locals, the machines of war and even grandma traversing this landscape were far more effective and evocative than scenes that included dialog and reminded me that the great strength of Russian film making is traditionally grounded in the purely pictorial. These images, thankfully devoid of distracting and mysterious verbal cues and directorial soapboxing, did succeed where the storyline failed, in transforming the local to the universal.

Another deep meditation from the Russian master

[Chris Knipp · 9/10 · 4 October 2007]

Shot in and around Grozny in a characteristic lightened brownish monochrome by cinematographer Alexander Burov (of 'Father and Son'), this new addition to the Russian's studies of family relationships uses the spectacle of a powerful old woman (Galina Vishnevskaya) visiting her grandson at an army camp near the Chechnan front as an opportunity to ponder youth and age, family hierarchies, and the motivations and aftereffects of war.

These are themes that emerge, but Sokurov's hypnotic intensity of focus keeps the action specific. There are no great events. The film depicts soldiers at the front during a long war, but there are no shots fired, no corpses, no violence among the soldiers.Alexandra Nikolaevich (her name parallels the director's) has a will of her own. Her manner is commanding but not aggressive; there is no preening about her, only a quiet dignity. She can't sleep, and wanders around on her own, casting off minders, talking to her grandson, to the sometimes ridiculously young soldiers. At first she gets into a tank. She handles and pulls the trigger of a kalashnikov her grandson shows her. She is bothered by the smells: the place is 100 degrees in the daytime. It seems Alexandra is in a place where one can walk back and forth between "enemies," and the next day she goes outside the camp to a nearby market where Chechnans sell to the soldiers. A woman who speaks good Russian (she says she was a schoolteacher) invites Alexandra to her apartment (all the buildings are battered: it could be Bosnia; it could be Beirut) and gives her tea. A young Caucasian man who takes her back to the checkpoint says, "why don't you let us be free?" "If only it was that simple," she answers.

Sokurov's last film was about the great cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife, this same Vishnevskaya, a legendary opera singer. It was Rostropovich who persuaded Sokurov to work in opera (on a production of 'Boris Godunov'). This new film was entirely inspired by Visnevskaya.

"('Alexandra')," Sokurov has said in an interview, "is a film about the ability of people to understand each other, about all that is best in a person. It is about people and the fact that the main thing for people is other people and that there are no greater values than kindness, understanding and human warmth. As long as a person lives, there is always a chance to correct mistakes and become a better person." The film moves slowly and ends when Denis (Vasily Shevtsov), the grandson, a captain, and a good soldier, has to go off on a five-day mission, and she's taken back to the train to return home.

The power of 'Alexandra' grows out of its basic setup: Vishnevskaya's dignity and authority are a match for a whole army camp. She is, of course, in a sense Mother Russia, and these are her children. Sokurov protests that this film is in no sense political, and I think we should respect that intention and not read pro-Russian or anti-war or other too bluntly political or historical messages into it. In the same way, 'The Sun' is hardly a statement about Japan's monarchy or about World War II. Sokurov, a deliberately difficult and independent auteur capable of masterpieces, asks his viewer to observe and ponder, not to draw quick conclusions. It's true; sometimes his soul is so big we float around in his films a little lost. But not with Alexandra, with her sore legs, her shawl, and her long plaited hair. Her feet are on the ground. Alexandra is calming and sobering, and gives hope.

Alexandra

[random_avenger · 7/10 · 18 September 2010]

Ever since hearing about Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's famous one-take film Russian Ark (2002), I've been interested in seeing some of his work as I generally like slow-paced atmospheric movies. Alexandra is the first Sokurov title I have seen and a quite pleasant film experience. The story deals with an elderly Russian woman Aleksandra Nikolaevna (Galina Vishnevskaya) who pays a visit to her grandson Denis (Vasily Shevtsov), an officer on a military camp in Chechnya. On the camp she is unbothered by the soldiers and spends her time examining the equipment or chatting with the personnel. She also befriends a Chechen woman named Malika (Raisa Gichaeva) during a trip to a local market place.

The simple plot is mostly secondary to the mood created by the washed-out colours and the charismatic performance by the 80-year old opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya in the title role. The grumpy Aleksandra spends a lot of time mumbling to herself and walking wherever she wants to go only hindered by the fatigue of old age, while the camera lingers on details such as the bored young soldiers' faces when they look at her curiously. Vishnevskaya's performance radiates calm, distanced attitude towards the ongoing conflict and her scenes with the kind old lady Malika make a strong point about the futility of the war.

Despite the setting at an active military camp, the mood is not warlike at all: instead, the atmosphere is shaped very melancholic by the oddly emotional music accompanying the uneventful scenes. Considering the down-to-earth style, the music actually feels a little too sentimental at times, as in this type of very low-key storytelling the emotions are to be created inside the viewer's head as opposed to being handed out by a manipulative score. Nevertheless, the film is not devoid of beautiful moments; particularly when Alexandra lets out her fear of growing old near the end she finally becomes a fuller character and is easy to sympathize with. The kind-looking Vasily Shevtsov fits well in the role of Denis, the target of the old woman's motherly love.

Even though Sokurov's slow and quiet style will not appeal to everyone, Alexandra is a well made art film that inconspicuously touches many universal themes. Patient viewers may easily find a lot to like in it, so even if it is not quite among the top films of its ilk, it is certainly worth giving a good look.

a quiet, powerful critique of war

[kirovsashimi · 10/10 · 8 April 2008]

Galina Vishnevskaya is an uncommon and powerful character, someone you wouldn't expect in a soldier camp. still in her mischievous way she is able to ridicules both military discipline and stretch her human hand on the other side. There is a sense of positivity in this film a sign that if normal people could talk to each other than something could change in the Caucasian republics. Galina is a grandmother and she behaves uniformly when she speaks to her nephew. she behaves as good neighbor when she visits the Chechen woman. In the monochromatic world of the film, in this war zone, nothing tragic happens, but the film penetrate deeply in the mind of the viewer letting understand better how an enemy is built and how a senseless war is fought.

Nothing breathtaking, but valuable in a special way

[edvin-6 · 7/10 · 10 January 2009]

Many reviews have attempted to describe the plot in Aleksandra ("old woman faces cruel military life", "beautiful reunion gradually becomes conflicted") but I found out they are misleading and greatly stretched. This film contains no particular plot, at least when measured against Western expectations and standards in movie-making.

No, for a casual viewer, it's best to consider this movie as a little, non-pretentious insight into Russian culture and way of life which itself meets Chechnyian culture and way of life throughout the play, all wrapped up into military environment and parental chit-chat. Sure, acting is occasionally unimpressive, English subtitles seem to be rather simplified, dialogues are often unintelligible and it's plain boring sometimes but if your grandmother came to visit you in the army, I bet it wouldn't be much more spectacular either, especially to an outsider from a different culture. 7 out of 10.

Oddly disengaging

[thecatcanwait · 5/10 · 6 January 2012]

Grandma Alexandra (Galina Vishnevskaya) looks very fed up. She's got the whole of Mother Russia on her back – so is needing to walk much Great Suffering out of her tired legs.

She's gone to see Dennis (Dennis?!) her army officer grandson, where he's making war in the Chechen Republic. Whys she there? I mean, how credible is this? Why is she allowed to be there? Why is she allowed to wander around the front line faffing her fingers at the bored border guards? This situation seems like a contrived set-up of Sukurov's to facilely juxtapose women as nurturers against the bad boys (men) of war.

It's soon turned into one of those films where questioning plot plausibility becomes irrelevant – cus there is no plot. Nothing very interesting happens. And nothing very interesting is said. She gets shown around the dusty hot base, the dirty combat vehicles. Now she's examining their shiny equipment. She's brusque, dismissive. Seen it all, done it all. "All" meaning all the suffering already. All the suffering these bored boys are too insensitive – or desensitized – to suffer, with all this impersonalised shooting off of these weapons of destruction they do.

So she's wandering about the camp mumbling and muttering to herself like some grumpy old Mother Archetype. Its "Alexandra Nikolaevna" this and "Alexandra Nikolaevna" that (thought that only happened to characters in Tolstoy novels). Keeps needing to sit down cus tired. More than likely made tired; by the moral torpor shes witnessing – as accentuated by the drained out greeny gray the film is being filtered through.

"What do you actually want? I don't understand you" says Unit Commander. I don't understand her either. And its hard not to feel disengaged by all this gruff antipathy she's wearily trudging around the camp with. They can't help it – the poor lambs; they're just being soldiers. Making war and killing people is what soldiers do. Even if they are only little lads. If you don't like being there Gran – go away!

And she's gone. Leaves as disgruntled/ crotchety/ lonely/dismayed(take your pick) as she came. Mind you, there's been a big granny love-in at the train departure; reinforcing how instantly, easily, connective womenfolk can be together. Because they – the grannies, (whether Russian or Chechen) represent humankind's best, possibly – only – hope against war (I doubt Sukurov meant anything as trite as that – but its as much thought as i want to give this film for now)

Most Americans Will Find Alexandra Dull, But If You Have Any Patience For Allegory, This Film Is Worth Your Time.

[Michael-70 · 10/10 · 10 April 2008]

In the 1976 comedy Love And Death, Woody Allen finds himself conscripted into the Russian Army about to fight Napoleon's invading French forces. While in basic training, a stern drill sergeant tries to explain the reality of things to the peasant soldiers who will soon shed their blood for Mother Russia.

Drill Sergeant - If they kill more Russians, they win. If we kill more Frenchmen, we win.

Woody – What do we win?

This line always gets a laugh (and would be well worth asking any time WE feel the need to go to war), so why did that question come to mind after seeing Alexander Sokurov's breathtaking film Alexandra? I'll come to that momentarily.

Alexandra is a film of deceptive simplicity. An older grandmother comes to a remote military base to visit her 27-year-old grand son who is a captain. While there, she is treated as an honored guest, almost like a beloved mascot and she gets to meet many different soldier boys as well as some of the locals who live in the destroyed towns around the base.

Described this way, it would be hard to justify to your friends why you want to see a film about an old Babushka groaning around a military base always complaining about the heat for 95 minutes, but then you are not considering the surprises in store from the great Russian director Alexander Sokurov who has been described as a Russian David Lynch, but I think this is mistaken.

If you must pigeonhole Sokurov, he has more in common with Gus Van Sant in his experimental mode with films like Last Days, Elephant and the recent Paranoid Park. Like Van Sant, Sokurov's films have seemingly straightforward narratives, but are then made brilliant by an unconventional way of telling the actual story as well as a utilizing unique ways of manipulating sound and image.

What ultimately happens if you allow yourself to be seduced by the film, is the whole thing becomes an allegorical examination of the Russian soul and a meditation on why they often find themselves in no-win situations like Chechnya, which Alexandra is clearly about.

But there are many things that I, as an American may not appreciate fully. For example, the solemn type of poetic love that Russians have for their mothers that is evident in everything from their literature to their music to their theater, (Americans loves their mothers too, but it is a bit different).

I also can't fully understand the helpless feeling they have of being a "former" world power that finds itself bogged down in a country it could have once blown right off the map, but can now do nothing. (Don't worry; America could get there yet if we don't stop these Neo-Con morons with their selfish pursuits disguised as patriotism.)

Then there is the casting of the film. The soldiers are all well played by handsome young actors with sweet, youthful faces, but it is the solid presence of Galina Vishnevskaya as Alexandra that holds this film together. I have read she was a well-known opera singer in Russia and considered a national treasure, although I was not familiar with her before this film.

Considering what Galina Vishnevskaya had to do; literally embody Mother Russia as a concept while never ever losing her humanity, her performance is wonderfully understated, yet never less than powerful and compelling.

It won't happen, but if Daniel Day Lewis can get an Oscar for grossly over-playing an evil oilman in There Will Be Blood, I hope Galina Vishnevskaya can at least get an Oscar nomination for portraying the historical soul of a nation all the while making her human and understandable.

It is rare that films ever tackle things allegorically. That is usually reserved for the theatrics of the stage or the interior realms of the mind in a novel. Even if it were something that could be done more often, most Americans would not accept it.

The American style of story telling is straightforward and blunt; whereas allegory relies on symbolism, and a transubstantiation of ideas and concepts into dramatic characters and situations.

To many people, this all feels like trickery and they remain closed off to the richness of allegory, especially in the arts. Yet, crazily enough, they have no trouble accepting it every Sunday in church where Christians by the thousands believe that ordinary wine and bread get turned into the Blood and Bone of Christ.

It really doesn't happen folks, (except symbolically) or that would make you cannibals. So if you can accept that kind of symbolic allegory and transmutation of concepts in church, it requires only a little bit more imagination to accept it in a film. Please try. You don't know what you're missing.

Getting back to my opening citation of Love And Death and why Alexandra made me think of it, well, at the end of the film, as Alexandra is on her way back home, she looks at the passing Chechen countryside through the door of her train.

It is dry, hot, and pretty much a wasteland. Yet, this is the very land the Chechens are more than willing to die for and really, what possible use could it be for the Russians?

I hope Alexandra is considering Woody Allen's surprisingly simple, yet devastating question, after all the terror, all the horror and all the killing is over, "What do we win?"

It turns out the answer is rolling right past Alexandra's eyes, outside the train door.

Nothing.

Grandmother and son

[frankde-jong · 6/10 · 26 May 2021]

In "Aleksandra" a grandmother visits after a long time her grandson. The grandson is a soldier stationed in Chechnya during the civil war of 1994.

"Aleksandra" is not a war film in the usual sense of the word, but the fact that the grandson is a soldier and lives on an army camp does have an influence on all the relationships the film illustrates.

In the first place the relationship between the grandmother and her grandson and his colleague soldiers. The arrival of an 80+ woman is not a daily event in an army camp and to be honest the soldiers have some difficulty adopting an attitude. Not however Aleksandra herself, who (despite her age) is still headstrong and can't be put aside very easily. Ín this respect it helped that Aleksandra was played by an aging opera diva.

The army camp and the local community are two seperate worlds. Despite (or thanks to?) her headstrong character Aleksandra and a local woman of her age succeed in building a bridge where the younger generations failed.

In 1997 Sokurov made "Mother and son", in 2003 he made "Father and son". "Aleksandra" can be regarded as a sort of "Grandmother and son". I am curious if somewhere in the future he will make "Grandfather and son" (whatever the title).

I have a weak spot for war films that are not (only) about the war. Excellent examples are "The best years of our lives" (1946, William Wyler) and "The deer hunter" (1978, Michael Cimino). "Aleksandra" is not on par with this examples. The main reason being that character development in "Aleksandra" is less interesting. Perhaps it is also a bit over-asking to expect character development in an 80-year-old.

Seriously bad

[tony-540 · 1/10 · 2 March 2008]

I do hope that people with some link to the Russian-Chechnian conflict get something out of this movie. Because as an outsider, I thought this movie was a horrendous creature, possibly one of the worst I have ever seen. The script seems to be non-existent, the dialogues are one big mumble, the supposedly 'meaningful' parts are so forced that they make one gag, but most importantly, the main actress, Galina Vishnevskaya, renders an awful performance, most of the times she just scared the hell out of me. I suggest - with all due respect, she has lived many years already - that she either sticks to opera, or offers her services as a soon to be cult horror character.

Here and there, the director threw in some close-up shots (the braided hair, the Chechnian boy's face) and one time also the ominously outlined clouds in a Bergman-style; they made things only worse, because they gave me the awkward feeling that the director WAS actually trying to deliver something.

I will not remember a powerful older lady putting her stamp on the young ignorant soldiers and the civilians living in a difficult conflict. All I will remember is an old woman, shuffling through an army camp, obviously lost, in every possible sense.

A look into a strong woman's journey in a war torn zone

[Gordon-11 · 23 March 2008]

This film is about an old woman travelling miles to Chechnya to visit his grandson who got stationed there as a soldier.

"Aleksandra" is aptly titled as the film evolves entirely around her. She is strong, tough and is not intimidated by other soldiers. On the other hand, she has a loving side, as she unconditionally cares for other people. She cares for the soldiers she does not know, or the other women in the market whom are supposed to be "on the other side" of the conflict.

I am also glad that there is a lot of positivity, as shown by Malika inviting Aleksandra back home. People on the different sides can still be friends. Another impressive instant is that the young man who walked Aleksandra home points out that it is not "her fault" but the Chechnyans are tired. It breathes rationality and hope in the rather stagnant situation. A brief shot of ruined building still lived by Chechnyans is rather heart breaking. This anti-war message is very subtly hidden, and feels more human than a propaganda.

Trying to Understand

[fran-6591northstar · 7/10 · 13 January 2019]

Thought proving even then when the film was made, rising questions as to 'why we are here' to present day what conditions must be on both sides of this tragic almost faded from media war, having sound acting without political intervention from its director 'Aleksandra' played by Galina Vishnevskaya in itself reflects truth behind all wars as she roams through the film trying to grasp what the world has come to.

Vishnevskaya shines as Sokurov's Alexandra

[gpadillo · 10/10 · 15 June 2010]

What an absolutely magnificent, overwhelming and ultimately satisfying film this is.

Sokurov stated he had never written his own screenplay before, but felt it his duty to write a film for Vishnevskaya, partly to honor her as a great actress, but also to hopefully expiate his sins as a young man who said nothing, did nothing while people like Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich openly decried the soviet regime and their belief in democracy and human freedom generally.

Few people make more beautiful looking films than Sokurov, and "Alexandra" is no exception, despite its location and subject matter. Shot in the barren wastelands of war ravaged Chechnyan border, Sokurov's ever changing palette moves from brilliantly captured colors (a tree's leaves rustling in the breeze against a dusty background) to dreamlike darkness, black and white and sepia tone - the visual equivalent of a symphony or sonata. I always forget how frustrated I become at the beginning of one of his films because his soundscapes always begin almost inaudibly, the ear straining to catch bits of dialogue that seem almost not there. It's an effect which ultimately works drawing the viewer into the world he's creating, not unlike one's initial inability to figure out what's going on when entering a party or event.

There is not much to the story: an old woman, going to visit her long absent grandson, Denis, an army captain, at his base camp on the Chechnyan border. After an arduous journey she arrives to the camp, a makeshift military tent village and settles in as images of her journey pass through her mind (this happens frequently throughout). She awakens to find Denis asleep and a truly touching reunion ensues, as he parades her through the camp watching the soldiers going about their mundane duties. Denis is often gone, but the base soldiers stare at and interact with this independent, feisty, rule-breaking old lady and we sense the soldiers' longing for home and love. A day long journey to a Chechen village to buy cigarettes and cookies for the soldiers, finds her in a pitiful marketplace and at the point of exhaustion, where she is befriended by another old woman, the rest of the villagers fascinated by this "foreigner." Vishnevskaya's performance is nothing short of astonishing as is her physical appearance: stripped of elegant costumes, hair color, and make up, her crusty, tired old Russian grandmother still radiates an undeniable beauty, and Sokurov's camera frequently lingers on it. That face, at once world weary, angry, frightened somehow almost always registers a kind of hope that infuses the entire film. Alexandra mumbles - constantly, even when no one's around, or her grandson has left their quarters, an almost endless monologue. Scenes of her wandering the camp, the roads, shuffling along in her old lady shoes, complaining of her bad legs is precisely the type of thing that would bore one to tears in most films, but here, oh there is something underneath all of that.

Sokurov's uses his usual casting tricks and lights his actors with a radiance that everyone - even angry young men - look beatific, with a belief that everyone really IS beautiful. There is a bit of naiveté in such thinking and that (for me) is what makes all of the films I've seen of his, seem "more than a movie," but never preachy. The actor portraying Denis really could be Alexandra's grandson as when they sit together on his cot, their faces are so similar it's uncanny.

"Alexandra" is a war movie that never shows a single fight scene but rather the "real" price of war and in so doing, is a powerful, sometimes heartbreaking statement.

The movie is almost overloaded with moments of extreme tenderness and poignancy - which against the ravaged, brutal and stark background, makes them all the more moving. Alexandra's new Chechen friend asks a teenage neighbor boy to accompany her on the walk back to the base and their brief conversation is one of the film's most powerful moments, when he asks "why won't you let us be free?" "If only it were that simple, my boy," telling him the first thing we should ask God for is intelligence . . . strength does not lie in weapons or in our hands." The movie is filled with these little pearls that could almost be cliché, but not when uttered by this remarkable old woman.

The scene of her last night with Denis almost undid me completely . . . never mind "almost" it did just that. Only 90 minutes, the movie felt even shorter and I can't recall a recent film that had me smiling and near tears so many times with so seemingly "little" to it. A truly remarkable achievement by a wonderful filmmaker and an 81 year old actress in her first non-singing film. I hope others will take the time to see what may be Sokurov's most human film to date.

A Meditation On War & Aging

[Seamus2829 · 10/10 · 13 July 2008]

Alexander Sokurov has directed some of the most beautiful visual poems I've managed to see since the films of the late Andrei Tarkovsky. His 'Russian Ark' still ranks for one of the best films of post Soviet Russia. 'Alexandra' is a tale of an elderly woman who travels by train to see her grandson,who is a soldier fighting the Russian/Chechen war. Despite the potential for graphic,bloody war scenes, the film instead focuses on the sad faces of soldiers,as well as the Chechen peoples who were not involved directly in fighting the war (but still had sons or daughters who died in battle with Russian soldiers). This is the kind of screen poetry that could never be allowed to see the light of day in pre Glanost/Perestroika Russian cinema (Soviet censorship was astringent about subject matter). What I really appreciated was the film's photography (that makes every scene look arid & devoid of colour). It reminded me of Sokurov's film 'Mother & Son' at times (with the loving relationship of Grandmother & Grandson depicted on screen).

A cantankerous portrait of Russia

[paul2001sw-1 · 5/10 · 17 November 2010]

In Aleksandr Sokurov 's film 'Alexandra', a cantankerous old woman, not yet senile but with a markedly inflexible mindset, visits her grandson, fighting in the Russian army in Chechnya. She wanders around, expressing her unhappiness that the world does not concur to her preconceptions, makes some friends anyway (in spite of being in the middle of a war zone), then goes home. It's a plausible portrait of old age, with Galina Vishnevskaya good in the leading role, but there's not any real narrative here, nor any true insight into the Chechen war. But it is a reminder of a place (as the film itself asserts) too often forgotten.

a different world in one's own

[lee_eisenberg · 9/10 · 14 April 2017]

Aleksandr Sokurov's "Aleksandra" depicts an elderly woman visiting her grandson on a military base in Chechnya. We don't see where the title character comes from, but we get a feeling of how this is a new world to her. In that sense, one might interpret the movie as a look at how our tendency to stay in comfort zones blinds us to the rest of the world.

"Aleksandra" is one of those deliberately slow-moving films; it takes time to get to know the characters. The cast is not anyone likely to be recognizable to non-Russian audiences, but that doesn't matter. The point is that this movie is not a political statement about the situation in Chechnya, it's merely a look at this one woman's exposure to this new world within her own country. Not a masterpiece, but I found it to be a good movie. Intense, but worth seeing.

Was it a bad translation?

[Aristides-2 · 4/10 · 21 April 2010]

Much of the shorter dialogue read in subtitles to me as almost being non-sequiturs. "You're pulling my arm out!" This being said when the visual action showed nothing of the kind? This repeated sort of response had a deadly effect on me since it caused me to remain a great distance from most of the characters. If the translation was right on the money then Is this how they speak to one another? Mamet-speak? From the visual performance of Alexandra I found a largely cold and unsympathetic person, seemingly caring only for herself and occasionally for her grandson. I also found something strange about how many of the young soldiers looked at her. On a couple of occasions, even though I instinctively knew the story wasn't going to go there, I thought some minor indiscretion was about to take place. I found A.'s wandering into a war-brutalized Chechnian town unbelievable; she would have been waylaid and robbed. All in all I found situation after situation of the interactions of the soldiers with each other as well as with her strange and hard to fathom. Is the director saying this is what war does to soldiers? Having been in service during a war, though not in a combatant role, any time a female civilian dropped into our midst away from the shooting, at a base or facility, we were solicitous to the point of high sentiment: these were our mothers, sisters, girlfriends, grandmothers. Are we to believe that the unemotional looks the young Russian soldiers were aiming at Alexandra meant they are a species so far, far removed from their young American counterparts? Strange and remote movie, this 'Alexandra'.

Silent cry for normal life

[vlaisav · 9 May 2008]

A sublime ode to ordinary people in times of war; a cry, a silent scream for a drop of normal and decent life which was taken away with no particular reason. As the plot, deceptively uninteresting, is dragging towards the end of the film, this silent scream is raising in viewers throats, making you want to explode of anger, finding no answers of why are such things happen if the only thing you want is to live and let live! An excellent display of anti-war emotions, shown through long scenes of shattered and dusty life in a war zone. This film is not only about Chechnya and Russian - Chechen conflict. Every person who experienced grieves of war can find relief after such movie. Very nice peace of art!

Wonderful acting in the title role

[Red-125 · 9/10 · 26 April 2021]

Aleksandra (2007) was written and directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. The movie stars Galina Vishnevskaya as Aleksandra Nikolaevna. Aleksandra is an old woman who travels to Chechnya to visit her grandson, who is an army officer.

The movie is set in a time when Chechnya was a war zone, and the Russian troops were seen by the residents as a foreign occupying force. Of course, people did business with the Russian soldiers, but never on a friendly basis.

Because Aleksandra is a dignified older woman, people--both Russians and Chechnyans--treat her with respect. The movie plot is basically the story of her trip, from arrival to departure.

The success of the movie depends on Galina Vishnevskaya. She is an amazing actor, and also a famous Russian opera singer. Her acting is brilliant, and it's a pleasure to watch such a talented star inhabit her role so thoroughly.

We watched the film on the small screen, where it worked well enough. Aleksandra has an anemic 6.8 IMDb rating. I thought it was much better than that, and rated it 9.