The Sacrifice1986

There’s one whole monologue about the protagonist’s dying mother sitting at the window looking at their naturally overgrown garden. Then later protagonist tries to cut it out and make it more even. (Not a spoiler) - But before his mother sees it, she dies and later when protagonist himself sits at the same window and looks at his work, it looks disastrous and all the beauty was gone which was all natural.  This masterful scene alone explains the cryptic symbolism or metaphors that expectedly Andrei throws more often than not. Emotionally a very very challenging film to watch. It’s a film that is very theatre like (Properly staged - maybe because protagonist was a theatre actor in the past). It seems all deliberate. This film is open to many interpretations actually.  Andrei is totally magician in setting up a longer scenes with multiple  monologues about life and hope. Andrei in a cryptic way telling the world to believe in spirituality or a ritual that involves sacrificing for the world so that the natural beauty prevails in the world more than the self-destructive nature of human beings including war. This is very debatable and subjective. It’s very clear that Tarkovsky was very spiritual or religious guy. He showcases through this film that believing in god and sacrificing to the divine will give way to the future children a hope or a faith in the form of a beautiful world rather than a destructing world where people are just waiting for something to happen or just speak without contributing to the world in some way or the other. Andrei’s yet another masterwork which yet again involves metaphors that are relevant even now, powerful imagery with stunning camera work that seems like a companion to his earlier masterpiece - Stalker.