THE SACRIFICE by Andrei Tarkovsky- Film Analysis

Krutika Shinde

The Sacrifice was the final film made by Andrei Tarkovsky. Since this was his last film, maybe he wanted to show the audience what he thinks and feels in his last moments rather than actually entertaining them.

This film is not easy to watch as it is really very slow but that's the whole beauty within it. This was one of the slowest films I have ever watched. It's like you can feel the weight of how slow the film is. While watching it, I felt like jumping from one scene to another but then it would've lost its essence. 

In this film, instead of just focusing on the characters, Tarkovsky has also taken wide shots with long distances between the camera and the scene so it makes the audience sit back and observe not only the characters but also the whole environment around it. I've seen many films where I had to pause just to process the film in my mind but this film gives us, time which makes us process as well as think about the film without pausing it. 

The Sacrifice starts with the opening titles which swim over a painting that portrays a tree. The fun fact is that the painting portrays a tree and the first scene starts with a tree and ends with the same tree which has some beauty behind it.

After the opening titles, the first scene comes up with a long and wide scene that contains Alexander and his little man planting a dead tree on Alexander's birthday. Alexander is an actor who on stage works as a journalist, a critic, and as a lecturer on aesthetics. 

In this scene, the angle is pretty wide and long which also shows the lake, the sky, a small house by the lake, ground filled with grass as well as the characters. The screen consumes all these factors into one shot which is the most amazing thing about this film. 

After this, Otto the postman is shown who is coming closer to alexander to give him his Birthday letter by one of his friends. Then they have a very friendly chat which contains so many beautiful quotes. As otto is cycling his bicycle he faces obstacles like small dead plants but then he turns his cycle and overcomes it which means that people tend to ignore the thought of death because it's the reality that scares them. 12 minutes of this movie made me realize that the film is about the fear related to death.

The below quote says more about the director and how he feels in his last moments. Andrei Tarkovsky was making this film when he was dealing with his illness and he knew that this film was going to be his final film.

There's a certain meaning which is behind the colors which are used in this film. There are only limited colors like the color green of nature, the blue color of the sky, pale green, pastel green, and white. The color scheme of this film is a cool color scheme but some scenes are in black and white which gives a nostalgic touch to it. Some scenes are darkened out because of no electricity due to the nuclear holocaust which brings all the characters closer to death. 

The Sacrifice is a very silent film that depended on the sounds of planes flying above the sky, the sound of a television box, the sound of air, and the sound of leaves rustling. 

Otto the postman who is a close friend of Alexander asks him one question " How is your relationship with the god?" to which Alexander replies " Non-existent or it could be worse" but he is the one who later on puts faith in God and tells the God that he is ready to sacrifice anything to save his family and friends from the upcoming nuclear holocaust.  The fear of death of his friends and family scares him the most which make him vow to God that he is ready to give up all the things he passionately loves just to make things normal like they were yesterday. He was ready to sacrifice his beautiful house, his family, and his little man to save his family and friends from this war. He also promises that he will go on a silent mode if God listens to him.

Alexander's wife Adelaide mentally breaks down as she hears the news of the war. Her sadness and her fears struck me the most. Victor who is a family doctor and a close friend of Alexander, who also has an affair with Adelaide tries to calm her and her daughter.

The quote which struck me the most is from Adelaide. 

 Otto suggests to Alexendar to lie down with his maid maria because she is a witch and it's the only hope which would save them all from the war and from death. Alexander escapes his house and rides his bike to the place where maria lives. 

Alexander tells Maria that he knows she is a witch and begs her to make love to him in order to save everybody from the dark war. She calms him down, and they make love while floating above the bed which is magical. Maybe, this scene shows that maria really is a witch and she needs love to do magic.

 The next morning, when alexander wakes up everything comes back to normal as if Alexander had a bad dream but he remembers what he had promised to God that he'll give up everything he loves if things come back to a normal place. As he promised, he sacrifices his beautiful house by setting it on fire and goes on a silent mode. His friends and family rush back as they hear the fire alarm.

The boy who was called 'the little man' waters the tree which was planted by him and Alexander. Lying by the foot of the tree the little man who was silent throughout the film starts to speak "At the beginning was the word. Why is that pappa?" 

There are various details mentioned in this splendid film- most of the scenes portray dead or dried trees even the grass on the land seems to be dead.
 The stories that Alexander keeps on sharing with his kid at a certain point where he doesn't even realize that the little man has disappeared from the screen say that all he wants is someone to listen to him.The scene where Alexander tells his little man about the death but also makes sure that he is not scared about it is a scene that makes our hearts warm. 

My most favorite scene is where the little man makes a small carbon copy of the house to gift his father on his birthday because he knows that Alexander loves his house the most in this world. The connection, the bond between the little man and his father is so beautiful, which I absolutely adore. 

 The Sacrifice is not entertaining but gives meaning to the audience. It is artistic and so powerful. An absolute masterpiece by Andrei Tarkovsky. I would rather watch such slow and silent films which have a deep meaning within them rather than watching movies that are just for entertainment purposes without any meaning.

 PS: I've fallen in love with so many quotes from this film.