Ostrov (The Island) (2006)

There have been many films over the years with the title of “The Island”; I believe that the one most familiar to American audiences is the 2005 Michael Bay-directed version starring Ewan MacGregor and Scarlett Johannsen (not a particularly bad film for a Michael Bay movie, BTW, and has since become a cult classic.)

In any case, the movie that I am writing about today, is a Russian production in primarily the Russian language, from 2006.

The movie starts in 1942, during the “Great Patriotic War” (World War II).  In what is likely the North Atlantic Ocean off the shores of an island in northern Russia, a Nazi German naval vessel encounters what appears to be a derelict barge hauling a tugboat full of coal. Further investigation of the “ghost barge” leads to the uncovering of a hidden Russian sailor of the Northern Russian Fleet of the Soviet Navy.  The sailor, a cowardly man, begs for his life in no uncertain way.  The sailor is pressed, under penalty of death, to reveal the location of his hidden captain, which he promptly does.  Further, this treacherous sailor is promised his life will be spared, if only he executes his captain.  The sailor is given a pistol, and after some consternation, shoots his captain, who promptly falls overboard off the ship’s deck into the cold sea below.

The Germans keep their promise and leave the Russian sailor alive, who scrambles atop the tugboat of coal.  However, as the German vessel leaves, the Nazis activate explosive charges that they have hidden within the mound of coal, detonating the coal pile in a huge explosion, and casting the sailor into the sea in the process.  The sailor wakes up the next morning washed up on the beach of a nearby island, alive, but barely conscious.  He is found on the shore by Russian Orthodox monks that have a monastery on the island, and taken into their care.

Fast forward to the year 1976.  The Russian sailor, Anatoly, has become a part of the community of monks on the island.  He is much older now, perpetually in a repentant state over his murderous past.  Strangely, he lives separately on the island as a stoker from his brethren, who regard him as a mischievous prankster.  But Anatoly has been granted by God the gifts of healing, and prophecy.  Folks from all over the country seek him out, regarding him as a “Holy Man” who can rescue them from their various miseries.  Then one day, Anatoly receives a visit from a Soviet admiral and his daughter, that will change his destiny forever….

I thought I should include these notes from Wikipedia, regarding the spirituality of the movie:

The film is focused on father Anatoly's repentance of his sin (therefore the virtually continuous occurrence of the Jesus Prayer); but the transgressions of the depicted character (a fool for Christ) and their impact on the others are the means by which the actual plot develops. The film's director Pavel Lungin, speaking of the central character's self-awareness, said he doesn't regard him as being clever or spiritual, but blessed "in the sense that he is an exposed nerve, which connects to the pains of this world. His absolute power is a reaction to the pain of those people who come to it;" while "typically, when the miracle happens, the lay people asking for a miracle are always dissatisfied" because "the world does not tolerate domestic miracles."

Screenwriter Dmitry Sobolev further explains: "When a person asks God for something, he is often wrong because God has a better understanding of what a person needs at that moment.  Pyotr Mamonov, who plays the lead character, formerly one of the few rock musicians in the USSR, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 1990s and lives now in an isolated village. Pavel Lungin said about him that "to a large extent, he played himself." Mamonov received a blessing from his confessor for playing the character.

The simplicity, the humbleness, the remoteness, the miracles converge into creating a timeless snapshot of Orthodox spirituality, apart from the historical circumstances. The Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II, praised Ostrov for its profound depiction of faith and monastic life, calling it a "vivid example of an effort to take a Christian approach to culture."

This picture is a great, uplifting, inspiring, spiritually-rich movie, the kind that are in short supply from Hollywood these days.  I find it wholly original and unpredictable, and entertaining as well. 

Though the film is framed by the spirituality of the Russian Orthodox clergy and religion, I find its messages of faith and hope relatable to viewers from all sorts of wisdom traditions.  Highly
recommend!