2023 ‘მოქალაქე წმინდანი’ Directed by Tinatin Kajrishvili
On the main square of a mining town stands a cross depicting a saint, regarded by the local miners as their protector. One day, the cross is taken down for repair and the statue of the saint suddenly vanishes. When a mysterious stranger subsequently appears among them, the residents put two and two together…
Svatý občan
Czechia
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Czechia
When I saw this, I had a lot to say, but I let it sit with me for a day. The ideas started to simmer down and consolidate, and now I can't say enough. This movie is beyond unique and all too familiar at the same time. The first thing one might think when seeing the trailer or reading its description before watching, would be something along the lines of it being a dark movie about some miners. It's not. None of the hundred of its parts, be they the love, pain, holiness, loss, trauma, resurrection, society or defiance of god, are about miners. This story does not require such a unique concept to drive it and yet it has…
"Protect us from misfortune, we haven't done anything wrong."
The concept that if pseudo-Jesus came back to life we would have to nail him back to the cross because he's more important as a symbol than a person is a genius dark-comedy premise. The inversion from the current double-standard, where fortunes are attributed to mythologising but misfortunes are not, is insightful for how people treat differently a human verses a symbol. The slow progress from a religious revival to the blame, mistrust and return to persecution is wonderfully handled, especially as people apologise to the Saint for returning him to "where he belongs", and the ultimate subversion to anyone being a stand-in for a martyr.
What I can't land on…
Por favor, lancem este filme no Brasil com o título de "Deus Não Está Morto" só para os crentes confundirem com o filme evangélico.
I feel like there was a lot of humour in this film though no one was laughing.
In a small, unnamed Georgian mining town, a saint’s statue stands atop a small craggy hill overlooking a desolate valley. Legend has it he was tortured, crucified, and on the third day turned to stone. Now, everyone comes to pray to his visage: the miners see him before they venture into their perilous tunnels, elderly couples arrive from far away to pay tribute, even the local gangsters ask for protection and absolution. Everyone tells him everything. When the statue is taken down for restoration, however, the man on the crucifix disappears. A mute foreigner (George Babluani) later arrives who can perform miracles. Is he the Saint personified?
In the Georgian director Tinatin Kajrishvili’s “Citizen Saint”—premiering in the Crystal Globe competition—the…
Degradação da fé.
Citizen Saint não percorre caminhos inéditos, e por vezes até recai no previsível. Mas o faz com um charme tão afiado que não dá pra ignorar. Da fotografia preto e branca – que por algum motivo me lembrou Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol, embora sem relação nenhuma –, e uma bem vinda acidez do texto, o filme faz rir e segura a atenção até seus revoltantes minutos finais.
“There’s no place for you amongst us.”
Citizen Saint is the International Feature submission for Georgia. Strikingly shot in black and white, the film takes place in a small Georgian mining town. A saint’s statue stands atop a small hill right beside the entrance to a mine. Mine workers pay tribute to this saint before starting their gruelling shift in the dark confined underground world of tunnels. Elderly couples arrive to pay tribute to this statue. Even local gangsters ask for protection and absolution. Legend has it that this saint was tortured, crucified and on the third day turned to stone. Now he’s the town people’s saviour.
One day, the statue is taken down for restoration in a nearby…
Profound drama that examines questions of faith, how it reflects what people want to believe in and not what actually is.
Gorgeous cinematography
Allegorical yet emotional, a cautionary tale on human nature
უტყვი, მკვდრეთით აღმდგარი, ჯინსებიანი წმინდანი მშვენიერი მიგნებაა. მაღაროელების ფრესკებიც და ის ერთადერთი მელოდიაც მთელ ფილმს რომ გასდევს და ჟუტკ ატმოსფეროს ქმნის
