Sacrifice

Theatrical Release Date: 1986 11 07 (USA)

UPC: 738329014926

Studio: Kino

Summary: The Sacrifice, director Andrei Tarkovsky's final film, begins in Bergmanesque fashion on a small, remote island, where friends and family gather for drama critic Alexander's (Erland Josephson) birthday celebration. The revelry is interrupted by a radio announcement: World War III has begun, and Mankind is only hours away from utter annihilation. Each of the guests reacts differently to the news: the most dramatic response is Alexander's, who promises God that he'll give up everything he holds dear--including his beloved 6-year-old son -- if war is averted. Allan Edwall, a local mailman with purported mystical powers, offers to intervene with the Creator on Josephson's behalf. The Sacrifice is so dependent upon its visuals and overall mood that any attempt at a detailed synopsis would be woefully inadequate. The willingness of Tarkovsky's protagonist to forego all his possessions may well have sprung from the cancer-ridden director's awareness that he, too, would soon be giving up everything to face his Maker. The Sacrifice won four awards at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Grand Prix. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Artistic Contribution – Cannes Film Festival Special Jury Grand Prix – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival

Features: [None specified]

Sacrifice

Format: DVD

Release Date: 03/07/2000

Runtime: 246 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) Russian

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Titles [5:33]
2. Birthday Philosophy [16:02]
3. The Shame of the Actor [8:04]
4. Otto's Gift [13:47]
5. Chaos [11:09]
6. Anguish and Fear [15:04]
7. Prayer of Sacrifice [8:52]
8. "Go to Maria" [16:52]
9. Visiting the Witch [14:55]
10. Awakening [12:48]
11. The Ultimate Inferno [14:06]
12. "In the Beginning" [5:24]
1. Opening Titles [:39]
2. Time in Cinema [8:01]
3. Collaborative Spirit [11:53]
4. Conception Vs. Realization [6:12]
5. Psychology of Characters [9:28]
6. Truthful Acting [11:16]
7. Dream and Reality [13:25]
8. Evilness in Man [9:51]
9. The Purpose of Art [5:58]
10. The Upcompromising Climax [15:02]
11. "A Time to be Born, and a Time to Die" [9:41]

Elbert Ventura

Andrei Tarkovsky's final film is an appositely apocalyptic work that serves as a fitting capstone to a brilliant and much too short career. Incorporating many of the thematic and formal concerns of the Soviet master's career, the film has a twilit, haunted quality, no doubt imparted by its ominous nuclear holocaust scenario and Tarkovsky's death from cancer just months after its completion. This parable of belief and redemption seems located on the edge of the world. The children of an esteemed, retired actor gather at the family's far-flung country house to celebrate his birthday. The eerie tranquillity is shattered by the roar of passing jets and news from the continent that a nuclear war has broken out. As always with Tarkovsky, the plot is hardly the point. The eschatological story occasions the kind of grave philosophical and spiritual inquiry that has defined Tarkovsky's movies. Shot by Ingmar Bergman's longtime cinematographer Sven Nykvist, The Sacrifice contains some of the most powerful images in Tarkovsky's monumental oeuvre. Perhaps it's most transcendent moment is the penultimate scene, an epic, six-minute-long take that stands as one of the wonders of cinema. A powerful statement of humility in the face of the unknown, The Sacrifice is an exquisite parting word from one of the great artists of the 20th century. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Tommy Kjellqvist  Actor 
Sven Wollter  Actor 
Katinka Farago  Producer 
Lisbet Gabrielsson  Producer 
Watazumido Shuoo  Composer (Music Score) 
Andrei Tarkovsky  Director 
Andrei Tarkovsky  Screenwriter 
Anna-Lena Wibom  Producer 
Erland Josephson  Actor 
Susan Fleetwood  Actor 
Allan Edwall  Actor 
Gudrún Gísladóttir  Actor 
Valérie Mairesse  Actor 
Filippa Franzen  Actor 

Country: France,Sweden