Calling Russian Ark a documentary on the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is akin to dismissing Michelangelo as a painting contractor. The 2002 film by Russian director Alexander Sokurov caught the eyes of astute cineastes for its uncut 96-minute Steadicam shot, tracking up, through and around the galleries of the famed art museum. But it’s also a journey through the surreal and a meditation on the history of Russia, once a great empire, always troubled by autocracy, yet rich in culture.
Not unlike a Kafka story, Russian Ark’s narrator awakens and becomes aware of sudden, uncanny changes. He is invisible much of the time, and a time traveler, zigzagging through the centuries inside the Hermitage. He encounters another refugee in time, a French diplomat from the era of Revolution and Napoleon; they sally forth amidst the masquerade balls and pageantry of the czars and the tourists of now. Sometimes they focus on particular paintings, sculptures and architectural details; sometimes they pass through the veil and converse with passersby. Often, the urbane Frenchman delivers a monologue on Russia, criticizing its Europhiles for aping an alien civilization, mocking the pretentions of the Czar Peter to “Greatness” and aghast that a Revolution inspired by the one in France held power for 80 years in Russia.
Occasionally they eavesdrop on historical figures, such as Catherine the Great or Pushkin; more often, the people they see are simply unremembered participants in the long ago drama of everyday life. In one particularly unsettling scene, they step into a room and get a sense for the carnage surrounding the Hermitage during World War II. “A million deaths?” The otherwise unflappable Frenchman is briefly taken aback.
An astonishing work of filmmaking, The Russian Ark is out on Blu-ray.
