Movie: Leviathan

Leviathan: a Russian movie with subtitles.  The film is 141 minutes long and feels even longer.  It is not a good sign when you are displeased with certain scenes because you know they will only prolong the film.  Liviathan was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign film and received the 2014 Cannes Best Screenplay award.  Clearly, some people have a different view of this movie.  Perhaps something was lost in the translation.  The film is set in the present and takes place in the Northern Russian coastal town of Pribrezhny.  It focuses on an individual who is losing his home in an eminent domain battle.  In addition to the injustice of losing his property by force, life with his family, which consists of a second wife and a teenage son from a prior marriage, is not good.  The mayor of Pribrezhny, the main character and virtually everyone else in the film spends an inordinate amount of time drinking vodka.  The film’s title is interesting; during the middle ages, leviathan was a Christian symbol for Satan and in the Satanic Bible, it represents water.  The film opens and closes with water.  Near the end, there is a long scene in a Russian Orthodox church and there are two major scenes with the mayor, who is clearly evil, and a priest.  There  are also references to Job.  Considering that Liviathan portrays a corrupt political society, I found it interesting that it received the financial sponsorship of the Russian government.   The bleakness of the society is portrayed along with the corruption.  But it is a long film.