"The Island", or Ostrov, the Russian film, is a parable of impossible yet plausible faith.It is a story of a corner of Russia where god and faith are as unquestioned as air and earth. With a habitat so harsh and unsparing, the place could well be mistaken for another planet. Yet the habitat is only a backdrop of the story and not once directly mentioned, just as air and earth are not mentioned in other stories. Both the faith and the environs are always present, yet the former is what everyone aware of, the latter is almost ignored.In a land of unacknowledged yet unsparing harshness and unquestioned faith, the one who is abjectly faithful is the giant. Despite his uncouth ways and almost insane behavior, Father Anatoly towers above the other monks because his faith is complete. His submission to his god is total. Not a shred of vacillation, not an inkling of doubt. The other monks, with all the trappings and tinsels of organized religion fear him for the reason. They try disciplining him. But how does one tame a person by punishments when he is burning from within from the awareness of his own sins. They even try mocking his funny ways. But how do you shame someone who is so sure of his crazy beliefs. He seems to be living a spiritual life his own, at the periphery of the monastery. He seems to be aware of something beyond what other monks follow pedantically and ritually. They submit to him for there was not much else they could do. He cares naught for their submission, because even their submission is a distraction from his own journey of expiation.I confess, as I watched the movie, I felt ashamed of the comfort that I live in. I confess that I became acutely aware of my faithlessness. Then I consoled myself that if one must be faithful, it has to be to the degree of Father Anatoly's. Any less, it would dissipate like an snowflake touched by sun. Unfaith accepts fractions, faith brooks none. So I return to my shameless existence, having unburdened myself of the momentary guilt.

Somehow, Father Anatoly, (born again Christian ex rock star Pyotr Mamanov) a rather unorthodox Orthodox monk who lives on the titular Russian Baltic island, is very much his own island.Anti-social, dirty, and a prankster that both annoys and causes discomfort to his fellow monks, Anatoly is a troubled old man who is harbouring a soul-destroying act that he was forced to commit, over forty years previous.Strangely, this unkempt and rather obnoxious figure seems to hold healing powers that his superiors do not understand or particularly approve of. A string of characters visit the almost impossible to reach monastery and they target Father Anatoly, who is dressed in rags and not in the Orthodox robes of the others.This film reminded me so much of the excellent south Korean film 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter....Spring', which in some ways is unfortunate for The Island as I am comparing it against the former. That's why I'm awarding 7, not 8/10. Whilst hauntingly beautiful throughout, with its poetically arctic landscapes, it lacks the subtlety and ultimate tenderness that would really make it special. The comical moments are just a little clumsy and some of the miraculous undertakings a little beyond credibility.Spiritually, the ending is glorious and special, with the silent soundtrack before rousing to a joyous climax.I rented this DVD from my local library, showing how diverse and useful their collections can be. Try them!

This movie just arrived to Mexico and since I read very good reviews here about it I decided to go watch it with my friends and girlfriend, but i was greatly disappointed, I don't understand how people can rate it 10/10 I mean screenplay and directing were beautiful, but a great overall movie need a good story which this flick lacked altogether.I've enjoyed several dramatic Asian and European films but they had a good story, watch this movie at your own risk unless you are eastern European or orthodox i don't think you will like it.Half the people on the theater left including my 4 friends who waited outside since they were really bored so was I but I always wait till the end of the movie.Regarding the movie, it was extremely slow paced, with a lot of time wasting scenes, the full length of the story could have been shown in no more than 40 minutes, but they made it longer by having scenes of the monk getting coal that is like 15 minutes of the whole movie plus panoramic views and so on, until they made it a full length movie a really boring one.I recommend you listen to me if you still watch it come back and rate this comment as useful after wards to help people avoid this waste of money.

There's an island in Father Anatoly's mind where no sins are pardonable and the sentence for such transgressions is thirty years-to-life. As it happens, there's a physical island, too; an island surrounded by a watery grave, and in this grave, Father Anatoly hears the ghost who has haunted him for decades in the ripples of the lapping water.He used to be a coward. It was the war. He was just a boy. First mate to a ship captain, Anatoli stoked the furnace with coal, staring at a hell forthcoming without realizing it. When a Nazi ship pulls up on the Russian isle, his mettle is tested by German savagery, a test he flunks, as the first mate pleads for mercy and betrays his captain. And ever since that fateful night, forevermore, the coward tries to atone for his lack of valor by adhering to a rigorous spiritual life of manual labor and prayer. From sunup to sundown, Anatoly pushes around a wheelbarrow full of coal he dislodges from the cold winter ground with his pickaxe. By all appearances, the omission of a personal, or even an intellectual life, suggests that Anatoly never deviates from this self-effacing routine."Ostrov" is a modernist film. Modernism itself is symbolized by the explosion that Anatoly survives, in which a new man emerges out of the blast, a new consciousness. Modernism, as you know, came to fruition during WWI, when the fractured psyche of the English people prompted a new form of literature to address the country's new reality. In "Ostrov", Anatoly wakes up on the beach with newfound mystical powers that allows him to be a "magician". But he's no charlatan like Albert Emanuel Vogler(Max Von Sydow) was in Ingmar Bergman's "Ansiktet". Father Anatoly is a popular fixture amongst the order of bishops as people come from miles away to seek out this uncompromising and gruff old man for guidance. If only Anatoly himself could guide his soul out of the thin air that permeates throughout this desolate island.God can pardon any sin, according to Father Filaret(Viktor Sukhorukov); god forgives, but Father Anatoly prays to a god that he customizes to his own specifications. During a communal praying session, Anatoly deliberately faces the wrong way because he believes that the bishops' god is a false one. He believes that penance from one's past transgressions can't be attained while the sinner is still in corporeal form. Anatoly's reverence for god is so profound, the renegade bishop doesn't readily assume that he's forgiven in god's eyes, even when Tikhon(the captain that Anatoly sold out) forgives the bishop for his cowardice. Death, not mere words, is the only way Anatoly can come to terms with his inner demons.