It has taken me years to watch again ' Andrey Rublyov ' and in the running time of 186 mins that Tarkovsky preferred. I came to the conclusion that the religious art work was superbly filmed in colour against the grim black and white of his depiction of 15c Russia. Rublyov watches and sees the life around him and in various episodes of his existence are depicted. He never really challenges the evil that surrounds him, but in my opinion puts ' art ' above the cruelty that surrounds him. He watches as one fellow monk betrays a buffoon to the police, realising that he will be tortured. He acts once and kills a man who is about to assault a woman, and vows to be silent because he has taken a life. He is told by a priest that only God forgives and that he must never forgive himself for what he has done. Years later he witnesses the casting of a bell by a youth and speaks to the youth asking him to join him while he paints churches and the youth called Boris casts bells. I wondered a lot about this crucial scene as the youth had tortured a man and had heard his screams while he was being flogged, probably to death. No way was Boris innocent, but complicit in the evil around him. Would Rublyov remain complicit as well putting ' art ' over the cruelty of his country ? A disturbing masterpiece made during a disturbing time, and in my opinion it disturbs today. Inaction is an evil in itself, and ' art ' however fine and ' good ' can never be above the world that surrounds it.
Review of Andrei Rublev
