A Gentle Creature, written and directed by Sergey Loznitsa - 9 out of 10

A Gentle Creature, written and directed by Sergey Loznitsa

9 out of 10

You may be reminded of Leviafan aka Leviathan - another wonderful Russian motion pictur - when you watch Krotkaya aka A Gentle Creature, for they share quite a few similar aspects.

Corruption, meanness, violence, flawed authorities, lawless cities seem to be everywhere in Russia, although the strong man at the top, Putin the czar, likes to project an image of power and stability.

Seeing this splendid film, short listed for the most important cinematic award in the world, The Palm d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, one is shocked to see life in small villages, in a country that interferes in American elections - and elsewhere - occupies Crimea and large parts of the Ukraine, attacks Georgia, organizes the largest war games since the days of the Soviet Union, while many of its citizens live in destitution.

The institutions there are not just flawed, they seem to be organized to oppress the people and not to help them when they have a problem, furthermore if they complain or even worse, they act for their rights or God forbid they address their petition to an NGO, then they will really see what the state can do for them.

Actually it will be against them, somehow in the manner of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, when he has the Ezechiel speech, with "I will strike down upon thee with great fury and vengeance and you will know that I am the Lord"...in this case, it would be the police state.

Krotkaya aka The Gentle Creature is a simple woman who lives somewhere in Russia, where she receives a package she has sent to her husband, who is in prison for murder, although she states that he is innocent and this being the country of the tyrant Putin, it is very possible that the man is a victim.

The is no explanation as to why the package has returned, the woman at the post office is rude and says that she has no idea...most state employees - and for that matter the thugs, interlopers are indifferent, annoyed, arrogant or even hostile, abusive, violent - one mobster says the cops are pigs, others are pigs and when asked by the heroine, he admits he is also a pig.

The protagonist decides to travel to the prison, but the trip is a difficult one, she has to find some room, with her large package in a packed bus, where a woman complains, another talks about gruesome discoveries of chopped bodies...this will be the kind of tale we will hear often - the crime lord who is supposed to help the heroine talks about one of his men who has worked at recycling, which means disposing of mutilated bodies and parts, where he found a hand with a ring that had belonged to his lover and then went mad.

The characters we see in this feature are very interesting, challenging, intriguing- even the driver that takes the Gentle Creature near the prison has stories to tell, a philosophy to share with passengers and gratitude to express- if it were not for the jail, there would be less business in the town, which seems to depend on the inmates and their visitors.

The officials at the penal institution are not helpful in the least, on the contrary, they give out the forms that outsiders have to fill and reject the heroine for no reason - when they inspect the items destined for prisoners, they often destroy them, even if it looks like a pair of slippers for instance cannot hide inside a revolver.

Krotkaya receives no explanation, she is only told that there is no answer and anyway, this is no bureau for information - if she has a complaint, she just has to file one with the authorities suited for it.

When she insists, coming again, the clerk is rather furious, repeating again that she has no answer, does not care even if she does not say as much, she does not have to do anything and she closes the small window where people come with demands, parcels.

One plaintiff is upset with the Gentle Creature, because the all powerful official is now angry and they will all have to suffer, those waiting outside, powerless and victims of the whims of such functionaries who operate in the manner described by Kafka...not just in Russia or the land of the genius writer, but where I live as well.

When she tries to protest, Krotkaya waits in front of the gate of the jail, only to have the police called on her, who threaten to place her in prison - in one of the revealing scenes, while the corrupt police officer explains the rules of the game, two men beat a third so bad that the victim is sent to the ground where he remains.

Amazingly, the man with rule book and the uniform goes to the two aggressors and instead of taking action against them, he looks with what seems like amusement at the victim and shakes hands with joy with the violent thugs...

Welcome to Russia!

Furthermore, we learn about the terrible state in which NGOs and people who try to help where officials and the state fails have to work, with stones thrown through their windows, water poured on their steps in winter, so that they cannot get out and a continuous, vile, abhorrent attack from brain washed villagers who are told that NGOs and those working for them are Nazis and the scum of the earth.

Russian propaganda!

Krotkaya is a phenomenal motion picture!