Review of Leviathan (2014) by George M — 02 Mar 2016

Gorgeously shot and with some fine performances, Leviathan is striving to bring the story of Job to modern Russia. What answer can a man who is showerd by suffering give to life? And the protagonist of this film suffers a lot and without a reason.

Suffering comes from outside, from the symbolic Leviathan - be it the the corrupt mayor, the unpredictable human emotions (his wife's, his friend's and his son's) or life itself. Unlike the story of Job, the protagonist's adventure does not have a closure.

We never see what answer, if any, he gives to his story of suffering. The finale is a very pessimistic one then. This lack of closure leaves an usatisfactory feeling in the end and makes the film's finale less nuanced by turning it to a bitter satire.

(See the last scene with the church, the mayor and the shot with the expensive cars.) I was left with the impression that while the film tried to fish out Leviathan, the monster managed to break away in the end and dived into the depths from where it came.

In other words, the big questions this film invokes are left hanging on the air. The existential symbols and the social satire do not compliment each other very well here. Despite this flaw though the film's atmosphere and desolate landscape of northern Russia is haunting and the film stays with you.