Andrei Rublev [DVD] [1973]

If picture quality is your main concern, then this is the edition for you, as the image is splendid, a restored version the sharpness of which adds considerably to the majesty and impact of Tarkovsky's masterpiece. Purchasers ought to be aware however that the director's Soviet masters took exception to the sex and violence in the director's original and this, a cut down version, is the result. For this edition originally the BBFC have also very kindly lopped out a few more seconds - because of a horse falling down some stairs (though I have heard it may have been accidently reinserted for the DVD release). It's still a great film, of course, but I'd argue it ultimately lacks a dimension originally intended, in the process making the film much more static and contemplative than the director conceived. The 'red cover' version, also on sale here on Amazon I see, offers 15 mins more, albeit with a picture which is less impressive.

Like all of Tarkovsky's films, "Andrei Rublev" stays with the viewer long after it ends and it fully warrants repeat viewings. The film is a semi-biographical account of the life of the mediaeval Russian icon painter Andrei Rublev. It is filmed as a series of discrete episodes, most of which see Rublev as merely a spectator to various events, rather than the central focus of the viewer's attention. Each episode provides the viewer with a deep insight into the life and politics of Russia in the early 15th Century, which were heavily influenced by the monastic, religious vision of life ,coexisting uneasily alongside extreme barbarity, personified by the Tartar hordes. However "Andrei Rublev" is much more than just a Russian historical epic. Each scene is sculpted exquisitely by Tarkovsky creating a haunting ,melancholy ,yet uplifting film that is a work of art of supreme quality. The sack of Vladimir and the Bell Casting scenes are particularly memorable and the cinematography throughout "Andrei Rublev" is exceptional. The film is ultimately a tribute to the indefatigability of the human spirit, battered and bruised by acts of brutality, cruelty and injustice throughout life's journey , but capable of sublime acts of creation, love and forgiveness which transcend the baseness of the material world and the inevitabilty and omnipresence of sin.

I have owned the Criterion edition of this film a long time; I recently bought the Ruscico (Russian Cinema Council) edition and think I should try to make clearer the differences. This is not a critique of Tarkovsky's work -- that is beyond my capabilities.

As you may already know, the Criterion edition is taken from Martin Scorsese's personal print and represents the penultimate version of the film, while the Ruscico edition represents the release version, which is about twenty minutes shorter. However, Tarkovsky did more than pare twenty minutes off the film -- it's actually a somewhat different film, though the differences are not major.

To begin with, the Scorsese print (Criterion) has a completely different set of credit titles and intertitles, and at that stage the film was titled "Strasty po Andreyu" (Passion of Andrei). The release version (Ruscico) is titled "Andrei Rublev" and is not merely shorter: it contains shots that do not appear in "Strasty po Andreyu" (Criterion). Commenting on the DVDs themselves, the Ruscico DVD is much better looking. The subtitles (as one might imagine) are written by someone whose native language is Russian, and that is very important to me. When the subtitles are written by an English-speaker they are rendered in English idioms and subtle, specific meanings are often lost. Sometimes one cannot even tell what a scene is about. (There is a scene in Criterion's "Ivanovo Detstvo", for example, where the English-written subs completely obscure the point of a scene, while the Russian-written English subs in Ruscico's version make it perfectly clear.) Russian-written English subtitles are sometimes ungrammatical, use idioms whose meanings are unclear to non-Russian speakers, and sometimes even inadvertantly use a word from yet another language (French, in one case that I saw), but I'll take subs written by someone whose native language is that of the film any day. In fact, if you see a version of any foreign film with English-written subs first, then see a version where the English subs were written in the film's country of origin, it will be like seeing a whole new film. (A spectacular example is the difference between Kino's "Zerkalo" [Mirror] and Ruscico's -- there is NO comparison [Ruscico wins!], except that you have to avoid Ruscico's 5.1 audio remix and select the original mono.)

Additionally, an extra of great interest is hidden away on Ruscico's "Andrei Rublev" DVD. In the individual filmographies certain titles are highlighted: these are accompanied by trailers, three of which are for Tarkovsky films. These trailers are made up largely of shots that are entirely different from anything that appeared in the final film, so should be of absorbing interest to any fan of his work.

To sum up: Although I prefer the long version represented on Criterion's disk ("Strasty po Andreyu"), the Ruscico disk has a superior image, better subtitles (to my way of thinking), and fascinating extras if you can find them. Get both DVDs.