It's amazing how Zvyagintsev tells a story and fills the background with so many details of the Russian system that the narrative brilliantly combines both aspects in a compelling way. In a way a retelling of the story of Job from Bible but more about how deceptive it is in giving a happy ending and being blind. The film may be thought as pessimistic but I feel it's nothing more than realistic. The system ie both the state and the religion are failing in corruption and the rest can only hope to live without involving in anything.

In Russian style, the story challenges constructs of modern society. In this case, social contract theory is under attack showing how governments can easily become a vehicle of corruption, thereby destroying more liberty than it serves to protect. Along the way, the story provides stunning backdrop of Russian landscapes and a positively warming depiction of Russian culture and it's people. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Andrey Zvyagintsev's movie Leviathan (2014) is inspired by a true story that took place in the USA, the director however decided to shoot the movie in Russian in order to depict the conditions of Russians under a corrupt bureaucratic oligarchy. The movie suggests that the conditions of living under a corrupt leadership system isn't unique to one Nation and hence Leviathan intends to be a universal parable about a rigged and corrupt capitalist political system in our modern contemporary society.The title of the movie refers to Thomas Hobbes seminal work Leviathan, a political philosophy work about the nature of liberty and the nation-state. Hobbes argue in his work that there is a need for a sovereign power that should rule instead of humanity being in a state of nature. Since Human beings are political animals and that antagonism is inherent in them, then for stability and avoidance of anarchy they need to surrender their powers and right to a sovereign institution. As its evident in the movie, Hobbes didn't anticipated that the sovereign will be brutal and corrupt to this extent. Modernity's Sovereign institution- the nation state- is run by 'figures' that dwell in a state of Nature. The protagonist Kolya is a hotheaded and rude car mechanic. He lives with his second wife Lilya and a teenage son named Roma from his first marriage.Lilya is a depressed and trouble young beautiful woman and Roma loathe her totally. Lilya works in a fish factory where she cleans fish. This simple family living in a small town in the Barents Sea coast are haunted by the town mayor who is an ever drunk and corrupt. Vadim, the town mayor wants to evict the Kolyas from their land by a court order, and it is evident that the court is under Vadim's thumb. Dmitri, as sophisticated handsome lawyer from Moscow comes to help his former friend Kolya. The court rules against the Kolyas and as they report a trespassing case against the mayor, Kolya is arrested. While in jail Lilya and Dmitri have an impromptu sex in hotel and this leads to a crisis in the Kolya family. Kolya's calamities lead to catastrophes, Lilya commits suicide after he threatened her after her relationship with Dmitri. He is finally arrested and jailed. Roma the teenage boy is taken by a family friend. Finally we come to learn that Kolya's jailing was planned by the town mayor who demolishes their house and take the land. Leviathan is a tragic drama that beautifully pulls its viewers to contemplate the subjects of morality and justice in our modern present day. Kolya is a modern day Job- the figure from the old testament fable- who endures the brutality and trials of living under a corrupt judicial and political oligarchy. Kolya's world just like ours is a world governed by arrogant corrupt politician, smart lawyers and corrupt priests. A priest who looks like a character from Dostoyevski films advise Kolya to endure his trials and be patient like Job and submit his affairs to God. Kolya doesn't heed this advice and ends up being the bleached whale – Leviathan-that we see in the dried sea basins and the movie hence evokes both Hobbes Political tract and the old testament's Job.Parliamentary representative democracy failed. The working class is under the gaze of a corrupt politician and a bent judicial system. Modern democracy is hijacked by crony politicians who employ the state institutions to control dissenting voices from the public, Kolya is finally behind bars as we have seen. The judicial system and the prison are used as a control 'mechanism'. The church expects and instills into the public the conformity the state wants. Modernity with all its facets and institutions turned out to benefit the few ruling elites and the subjects of modernity virtually live in a controlled society. Leviathan is a critique of the social contract theory that emancipated an absolute sovereign power. Foundational principles like justice, equality and right to own property are no longer sustainable under a modern sovereign power without complying with their rules and needs, and those who dissent are then put under the mercy of a corrupt justice and emergency laws. The state, the Judiciary, the prisons and the church/mosque all cooperate the elites to consolidate power in their hands.

I sometimes think people add an extra 5 points on this site when they see something with subtitles.I give this sleeping, depressing movie a 3, just for the one scene where I get to see how country bumpkin Russians have a fun camp out with 'drinkin n shootn'. They have more in common with the Americans than they would admit.To then have this 'idealic' scene be lost to a strange and bizarre incident that they don't fully explain until near the end of the movie, was just ridiculous and jarring. You are forced to do headcounts in every scene to see who got murdered. Why did the drunk with the AK let off a burst? Was he shooting at the adulterers? What the hell!Another point was the complete lack of explanation how the visiting brother could get away with having sex with his brother's wife constantly without getting caught, yet he's supposed to be there visiting and staying with them.The big fat drunkard mayor, who reminded me of Rob Ford, who suddenly turns into the maniacal dark mob demon, is also jarring and unbelievable.The drinking in this movie is so beyond belief. I understand Russians like their vodka, but are we expected to believe working class farmers and fish packers can afford to drink 2 bottles each a day? How are they not dead at 30? The next thing they do very weirdly in this movie is give you the rare opportunity to observe the entire opening readings, twice, of Russian court proceedings. in... a.... monotonous.... and rapid.... female Russian voice.There is no acting going on in this movie, as apparently the entire cast was encouraged to drink heavily, so we have drunken Russian bumpkins, a snob lawyer from Moscow, and a Rob Ford corrupt mayor look alike, all babbling drunken slosh at each other and spitting.The only acting done was by the teenage boy, as I guess they kept him out of the vodka, and even then his performance at times stretched into hysterical screeching.