Truly Dreadful Film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film follows two orphans, a sister and her younger brother, separated when the youngest is stolen for his magical ability to feel gold, something which at the same time tortures the young boy. The sister runs, looks, even sees him at a distance, but her struggles only continues. Luckily she gets aide from a philosopher and healer, who in many ways serves as the film's main comic relief, but his journey is not a happy one either. From the very beginning, as the camera closed in on the town, as the music played, as the colors exploded, I knew I would love this film. Almost every frame was perfect, and they drew up the magical world we are visiting in the most perfect way imaginable. This is a beautifully dark and twisted fairytale, in the way only Eastern Europeans can make them. It created it's own world with an amazing eye for details, and managed to be absurd and funny, at the same time as it told a very, very bleak story. It could be described as an odyssey, a tragic chase, a voyage into strange lands, and visions we will see. And beyond it all, there is color. Nearly every image seems perfectly crafted. The full glory of soviet cinematography. It was so masterly directed and shot I bookmarked all films directed by Aleksandr Mitta, and even looked into other films by the cinematographer, Valeri Shuvalov. Two names I had never heard of before. This was a truly amazing discovery, and I can't wait to search out more.

I first saw "Skazka Stranstviy" in my early teens. Loved it but waited almost ten years to see it again. The film is brilliant, and invokes a lot of emotions and thoughts. Until I was adult it was too dark and too deep to comprehend and deal with. I definitely wouldn't recommend showing it to children. But for adults it's a must see. Every time I've seen it I've ended up crying through most of the film. Especially touching are the part where Orlando dies, and the end when Mai draws the diagram in the ruins. While dark and disturbing, the film provokes thoughts and emotions that modern films fail to touch. Like one reviewer mentioned it's a true classic fairytale. Not a Utopian fairytale we're used to in United states, but a true dark fantasy. The score is wonderful and adds on to the overall mood of the film. While the whole film is dark and gloomy, the end is very beautiful and hopeful.At the time I first saw it, I just became a sister. So for me, at the time the plot and the story were particularly real and threatening. I wouldn't let my baby brother out of my sight after seeing the film. I could understand what Martha was feeling when she lost her brother, and the end of the film provoked thoughts on what I would feel if my brother grew up to be an individual I wouldn't be proud of. Even with all the fantasy involved, the film is really easy to connect to.

One reviewer said that you won't want to watch this film twice, because it is so dark. And she was right. Ironically, over the summers of '83-84, this movie was shown CONSTANTLY at my camp, which was located in New York for all Soviet kids. I guess because we had so few Soviet films in our library. And yes, the scene with the "chuma" -- plague -- I had to watch, through my fingers -- more than once. This movie was so horrifyingly scary for a child, so dark and unbelievable that I would have rather watched "Hellraiser" at that age. No joke. Yes, the special effects are silly, but they're beside the point. From the scene in which Marta's brother is kidnapped (absolutely chilling) to the journey through the dark plague-ridden land (really, beyond words) and many other scenes, the film never ever lets you off the hook. There are some light moments, but darkness is never far behind. The plot, however, makes sense, psychedelic as it is. It is like a fantasy realism. I haven't seen it in its entirety since I was a kid, and I wonder if I should just leave it that way...

This movie is supposed to be a fairytale. Is not. I saw it some years ago and I tell you: it's really dark, dark fantasy. The plague, personalized as a female beggar or beautiful lady brought me several nightmares. Well, this movie is really good! But don't allow your children watch it!