The Island (Ostrov) poster & wallpaper

Dmitry Dyuzhev, Olga Demidova, Pyotr Mamonov

Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the ...( read more  read more... )power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.

Flixster Users

87% liked it

1,622 ratings

Critics

57% liked it

7 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 52 min.

Directed by: Pavel Lungin

Release Date: October 26, 2007

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: March 4, 2008

Stats: 176 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Piotr Mamonov
Upload a Photo |

View All The Island (Ostrov) Photos (1)

Your Rating


clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (176)

  • bort16
    July 13, 2009
    bort16
    I think pretty much every generation has had its fair share of folks to declare "they just don't make them like they use to." By and large, this is true. But, look hard enough, and you'll see that some people still do. The Island is one such example. It recalls to mind many of th...( read more)ose old boldly artistic Russian films of the years gone by. It has the look, the determination and the strangeness to draw connections between itself and the films of the great Tarkovsky, rightfully so.

    The film opens during WWII. Nazi's take a Russian tug, near a small island. Two men hide in pile of dirt, buried. But as the Nazi's open fire on the mound, one jumps up begging for his life. It is spared only because he gives up the other man, and then shoots him rather than accept death. The German's have planted a bomb in the dirt and detonate it as they leave. The next morning we see monks from the island come carry the wounded man away.

    The movie then jumps to the 1970s. The cowardly soldier is now a low level monk on the island, named Father Anatoly. He works in the coal shed, shoveling it in the furnace. He also sleeps there, on the dirty hard coal, much to the others dismay. He's an utterly bizarre man to the others, like by some, disliked by others. Mainlanders believe the man has spiritual powers, and can heal the sick and wounded. Some come to ask him to bless their child and heal his leg, others to bless their unborn children so they may have an abortion. He greets them all with sympathy, unwelcome to himself, while also berating them for any marginal hint of selfishness. He roars at one woman who says she can't stay any longer to help her child because she must work.

    Whether or not he has any spiritual powers it's difficult to say. One scene suggests no: a woman comes to have a mass done for her husband, believed dead in the war years ago. In a humorous scene, Anatoly introduces himself as someone else, and then goes to speak to Father Anatoly on her behalf, telling her to listen in. He moves around the room speaking to himself, changing his voice, and then goes and tells the woman her husband is not dead but alive with another woman because he abandoned her. Yet still other scenes suggest yes. A boy on crutches is able to walk without them, and a seemingly mad woman returns to sanity after an encounter with Anatoly.
    The Island is a spiritual puzzle of a film, wrapped in a cloth of orthodoxy. I would think the more you know about orthodox religion or its themes, the more you'll get from the film. At it's centre is Anatoly's struggles with guilt. It is that guilt that has nearly driven him to the point of insanity. As he puts it at one point, he is a slave to his passions - passion in this sense referring to suffering (i.e. passion of Christ).

    The opening scene is one of those scenes that you know is going to come back in someway. Usually in some mocked up cheap attempt at a dramatic punch. The Island takes its time getting back to that point, but when it does it doesn't feel cheap. Instead it feels poignant and profound.

    The film was directed by Pavel Lungin with a serious eye for cinematography. The island is a bleak place, with its rocky out crops covered in snow and the still seas which surround it, yet has a profound beauty about it. The camera sits at unexpected angles and captures some incredibly stunning images. The film is in no rush to get where its going, and takes its time to build up an ethereal atmosphere and metaphysical mood. The island itself looks as if it were a place not subject to earthly time.
  • Siilenced
    September 17, 2009
    Siilenced
    I thought this Movie was Very Interesting..

    and to me ..i was Fascinated with the Story..
    and the Possibility..


    My favorite book was similar to this Film...

    so


    i was Bound to Enjoy it ...
  • jfvirey
    July 26, 2009
    jfvirey
    For about two thirds of its length, "The Island" felt very much like a five-star movie. That's how much I appreciated it. And I was not predisposed to love it, because I couldn't even finish "Andrei Rublev", which also dealt with Orthodox monks and their icons, or "Dersu Uzala", ...( read more)which was also a contemplative story of a reclusive eccentric haunted by an inadvertent killing in the Russian wilderness. So there was a chance I might not like this one at all.

    "The Island" is a beautiful story about lifelong compunction, and the graces God showers upon those who acknowledge their lowliness and do their utmost to sin no more. Aesthetically speaking, it is a masterpiece of superbly composed shots, enraptured with the beauty of Creation, and yet also stark and grimy (Andrey Zhegalov's cinematography is definitely worth five stars, if not the film itself.)

    I don't know why all my good impressions failed to convince me that this was a masterpiece, but I can at least attempt an explanation.

    First, I think I was a bit let down by the last sequence, beginning with the arrival of the admiral and his daughter. Breaking with the series of quirky vignettes reminiscent of the lives of the Desert Fathers, it was a twist I had expected from the very beginning, and I felt it cheapened the story, perhaps more than a bit. As this is such a repressed film, I also expected some emotional payoff in the end, the way the remake of "The Browning Version" for instance finally breaks the dams with the subtle power of understatement. Moreover, the daughter's "possession" felt more like just a strong case of regression caused by denial, i.e. a purely psychological condition with nothing perceivably demonic about it.

    Second, I was a bit disappointed that more was not shown of Orthodox rituals, and more was not heard of Orthodox songs. My last trip abroad about five years ago was a cruise in Russia, where I attended an orthodox mass and choir songs. I wish the film had captured some of what I felt then, as it captures the beauty of those isolated wooden villages like Kiji, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. But as it focuses on a unconventional monk with very idiosyncratic ideas about how God wants to be worshiped, it delves much more on his personal devotions and prayers than on those of his church.

    And third, I may have a problem with Orthodoxy itself, insofar as it affects the message and outlook of the film. This may seem like quibbling, but I found it rather strange that in his prayers, Father Anatoli should twice beg for forgiveness of his sins, "whether deliberate or not", because deliberate intent is part of the very definition of sin, at least in my theology. Now do the Orthodox differ from us Catholics on this point? I don't know. But since the whole film is about the long term consequences of an action that may or may not be deliberate, I felt a bit dissatisfied with the overall meaning of the film.

    Contrary to some reviewers, however, I did find "The Island" better, more poetic and more beautiful than Kim Ki-duk's "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring", and I wholeheartedly recommend it, if only for its breathtaking cinematography.
  • RThornhill
    July 14, 2009
    RThornhill
    recommended by bort16.
  • TobiasXimenez
    July 13, 2009
    TobiasXimenez
    Add a review (optional)...
  • mydearself
    January 10, 2009
    mydearself
    o4eni dushestvenii ii krasivii film...dakazatelstvo shto ruskaia kinoindustria nakonetzto vazradilasi
  • SoulSweeper
    January 3, 2009
    SoulSweeper
    ??? ???????? ?????? !
  • vasyorindaru
    November 26, 2008
    vasyorindaru
    a story filled with symbols, if you are willing to see them...
  • nsbell
    September 10, 2008
    nsbell
    A film of small virtues, not least being Mamonov's compelling lead performance.
  • ZlatkoGR
    August 6, 2008
    ZlatkoGR
    Well, it's about faith. If you believe, you may find yourself captivated and shaken to the bottom by this. Now, me? Not so much! Great direction and excellent art direction, with an amazing Pyotr Mamonov in the leading role of Father Anatoli.

View All The Island (Ostrov) Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

View more The Island (Ostrov) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "The Island (Ostrov)" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
    Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (50%)

More Movies like The Island (Ostrov)

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

The Island (Ostro... : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for The Island (Ostrov). Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add The Island (Ostrov) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?