‘Swan Lake--The Zone’ . . . Beauty Amid the Bleakness

A gaunt man (Victor Solovyov) in a filthy white uniform escapes at night from a prison in an industrial area, making his way to a large hammer-and-sickle monument made of rotting sheet metal and standing on a bridge embankment. He peels back a section in order to take refuge inside.

Yuri Illienko’s “Swan Lake--The Zone” (at the Monica 4-Plex) is a film of such astonishing poetic beauty and such constant surprise that what happens after this opening sequence really should not be revealed. The film’s title refers to the escapee’s memory of a trio of perfect white swans that suddenly appear in the prison yard at night, an all-too-fleeting symbol of beauty and freedom in an otherwise bleak universe.

There is not a word of dialogue until nearly 40 minutes into the film, and very little thereafter. There’s no need for any, so strong is Illienko’s talent in telling a story visually. With his camera and an acute ear for natural sounds he takes us into a world that looks much like our own. Through holes in the sheet metal we can see as well as hear, along with Solovyov, cars constantly passing over the bridge. We can glimpse a prison guard, laughing as he walks along, a woman on each arm.

A world of normalcy, of everyday routine, is so tantalizingly near yet so out of reach for this desperate, distraught man. As a symbol itself, the monumental hammer-and-sickle is ambiguous, a kind of womb but also a kind of tomb.

Everything that happens in the film speaks of the absurd evil and brutality of the gulag mentality that prevailed for so long and until so recently in the Soviet Union. Yet there is a metaphysical dimension that suffuses this film as it does the greatest works of the Soviet cinema; indeed, the film works as a contemporary Passion Play with the escapee as the Christ figure.

The film’s transcendent quality is not surprising, for it is based on stories by the late Sergei Paradjanov, director of “The Legend of Surami Fortress” and other films of awesome mystical power, and was shot at the actual Ukrainian prison where Paradjanov was held for years on trumped-up charges. Cinematographer for Paradjanov’s lush “Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors,” Illienko found his own 1968 film of Nicolai Gogol’s “The Eve of Ivan Kupalo” banned for the next 20 years.

As a work of pure cinema, “Swan Lake--The Zone” (Times-rated Mature for complex style, adult themes, some violence), which last year won both the international critics prize and the young critics prize at Cannes, ranks right up there with not only the best of Paradjanov but also the best of the late Andrei Tarkovksy.

‘Swan Lake--The Zone’ Victor Solovyov: Man Liudmyla Yefymenko: Woman Maya Bulhakova: Old Woman Pylyp Illienko: Boy Victor Demertasch: Prison guard

A Zeitgeist Films release of a Video Ukraine/Kobza International Corp. production in association with Swea Sov Consult (Sweden) and Dovzhenko Film Studio (Ukraine). Director Yuri Illienko. Producers Virko Baley, Illienko. Executive producers Mykola Moros (Canada), Bori Bilotsky, Robert Gardine (Sweden). Screenplay by Sergei Paradjanov, Illienko. Cinematographer Illienko. Editor Eleonora Summovska. Music Virko Baley. Art director Oleksandr Danylenko. Sound Bohdan Mikhnevych. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (complex style and themes, some violence).