Monanieba (1984)

Director:

Tengiz Abuladze

Writers:

Tengiz Abuladze (writer)
Nana Dzhanelidze (writer)

Release Date:

1984 (Soviet Union)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The day after the fumeral of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor of a small Georgian town, his corpse turns up in his son's garden and is secretly reburied...

Plot Keywords:

Son | Mayor | Celebration | Nun | Burial

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 10 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Avtandil Makharadze	...	Varlam Aravidze / Abel Aravidze
Ya Ninidze	...	Guliko
Zeinab Botsvadze	...	Ketevan Barateli
Ketevan Abuladze	...	Nino Barateli
Edisher Giorgobiani	...	Sandro Barateli
Kakhi Kavsadze	...	Mikheil Koresheli
Merab Ninidze	...	Tornike
Nino Zaqariadze	...	Elene Korisheli
Nano Ochigava	...	Ketevan as a child
Boris Tsipuria
Akaki Khidasheli
Leo Antadze		(as Levan Antadze)
Rezo Esadze
Mzia Makhviladze		(as M. Makhazadze)
Amiran Amiranashvili

Also Known As:

Покаяние (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Pokayanie (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Repentance (USA)

Runtime:

153 min

Country:

Georgia | Soviet Union

Language:

Georgian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Company:

Qartuli Pilmi

Trivia:

Director Tengiz Abuladze stated that the idea to this film was based on a real incident (a local dignitary's corpse being exhumed and placed at the family's porch in the western Georgian region of Mingrelia).

Goofs:

Continuity: After Varlam's corpse has been reburied the second time, an iron cage is placed over his grave to protect it from further intrusion. But as the perpetrator starts to exhume him for the third time, there is no cage.

Cinema at its best

A very philosophical movie with easily traceable references to Stalin and Beria but still a general study in tyranny and victimization, beautifully filmed and masterly acted.