Watch A Gentle Creature

"A Gentle Creature" from 2017 is a haunting and surreal Russian film directed by Sergei Loznitsa, based on the short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The movie follows a woman, played by Vasilina Makovtseva, who receives a package back from her husband, who is in prison. But the package is returned without explanation, and the woman sets out on a journey to a distant prison town to find out why. Along the way, she encounters a surreal and nightmarish world of poverty, corruption, and violence.

The film opens with a scene of a dark, foggy landscape, with the sound of a train whistle in the distance. We see a woman, the protagonist, arrive at a post office to pick up the package her husband sent her. She is told that the package cannot be delivered because there is no address on it. So, the protagonist decides to go to the prison where her husband is being held to deliver it herself.

The journey takes her to a remote, impoverished part of Russia, where she encounters a series of bizarre and surreal characters. There's a man who sells dried fish, a woman who lives in a broken-down truck, and a group of young men who are fond of beating each other up. The protagonist also faces several challenges, including a series of hostile border guards, corrupt officials, and a train driver who refuses to take her where she needs to go.

As she moves deeper into the prison town, the protagonist becomes increasingly disoriented and alienated. She starts to question her own sense of identity and her place in the world. At one point, she is arrested and thrown into jail, where she has a disturbing encounter with a female inmate who tells her a harrowing story about her life.

The film is full of breathtaking, surreal imagery and dream-like sequences that add to the sense of disorientation and strangeness. One of the most striking scenes is a long, uninterrupted take of the protagonist walking through a crowded street, surrounded by strange and grotesque figures. The camera never cuts away, and the noise and chaos of the scene seem to mirror the protagonist's own confusion and fear.

Throughout the film, Loznitsa uses the setting of the prison town as a metaphor for the larger social and political issues facing contemporary Russia. The town is depicted as a place of poverty, corruption, and lawlessness, a world where individuals are ruthlessly exploited and marginalized by the forces of power and authority.

Overall, "A Gentle Creature" is a powerful and haunting film that explores themes of identity, power, and corruption in contemporary Russia. The film's dream-like quality and surreal imagery create a lasting impression on the viewer, leaving us with a sense of the bleak and harsh reality facing many people in the country today. The performances by the entire cast, particularly by Vasilina Makovtseva as the protagonist, are excellent, and the cinematography and direction by Loznitsa are masterful. This is a film that deserves to be seen and discussed for years to come.