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The Sacrifice [VHS] [1986]
 
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The Sacrifice [VHS] [1986]

VHS ~ Erland Josephson
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Synopsis

Director Andrei Tarkovsky's final film. In the hours before a nuclear holocaust, a retired actor promises God that he will gladly sacrifice all he has if the disaster can be averted. By the following morning normality is restored ...now he must keep his vow... Swedish dialogue.

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, but unsummarisable - see below..., 13 Oct 2000
By humpage@musician.org (Bristol, England) - See all my reviews
Yet again, Tarkovsky gives us what he is best at: a deeply moving/worrying/almost spiritual plot, excellent scenery, and his famed long shots (some last up to 10 minutes, the most film that could be fitted to his cameras).

A short plot summary (purists, look away now): War breaks out in Russia, and the family which we are following reacts badly to the planes overhead and the general threatening feeling of atomic bombs. The head of the household prays that night that if only everything were to be put back to how it was the previous morning, he would give up everything. Everything... His house, his family, his small deaf/dumb child; everything.

He wakes up the next morning to find there has never been a war.

To seriously give away the plot ending, an interesting note is that when filming the last dramatic scene for the first time, not only did lots of things go wrong, but finally the camera jammed. This was a problem, since they actually burnt down the house! (No models...) So they rebuilt the house and did the shot again. That particular shot, the climax to the film, lasts around 7 minutes, and is pure genius.

I would recommend this film to anyone that likes any of Tarkovsky's other 6 films, and also to anyone that likes Kubrick's work. The tension mixed with the use of various "proper" music (eg Bach's St Matthew Passion) is breathtaking.

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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars AN AUTHENTIC WORK OF ART, 21 Feb 2006
By Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Sacrifice [DVD] [1986] (DVD)
In decades of movie going and collecting, there are only a few films that keep coming to mind at unexpected moments. For me, this is what great art does; that is, it becomes a part of one's experience and not just a momentary diversion.

THE SACRIFICE is a great film. It touches on the most fundamental questions of being a human in our post-modern world. And it does it with extraordinary grace and a sublime, haunting, beauty.

To miss the point of this film, as some reviewers have, or to call it sophomoric, as others do, is to admit one's own inability to consider that life itself may hold a greater, dare I say, spiritual, meaning and that we are more than an accidental fluke in a cold, uncaring universe.

This film dares to use its considerable art to challenge us like a zen koan and a prayer. It is a meditation on what it means to be fully human and mortal and moral. It asks us to wonder at the unknown and it weeps that we are prisoners of our humanity -- and that we hold the fate of our planet in our hands.

All this sounds kind of pretentious, I know, but this magnificent yet simple film works on a higher level than most movies. It's not easily categorized. But on a big screen, I was hypnotized by the extraordinary cinematography and equally transported by the subtle ideas. It was a transcendent movie going experience that I didn't expect and one that has remained vivid as the years pass.

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29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Surreal - yet so real it scares you!!, 2 Nov 2002
This review is from: The Sacrifice [DVD] [1986] (DVD)
This is maybe not Tarkovsky's magnum opus, but it still deserves five stars, because it is such a great film. Dedicating it to his son, Tarkovsky was diagnosed with cancer during the production, and it shows that this is his final opus.
It is filmed by the world's greatest film photographer ever, Sven Nyqvist, most famous for his work in Bergmans films. And the filming, lighting, scenography and uneasy, almost frightening mood created by these are truly excellent (especially the final scene).

Swedish Actor Erland Josephson plays Alexander, a journalist who has moved from the big city. He lives in his dream house with his family. Victor, a friend of the family and a doctor, and Otto the local mailman, and a very Nietzschean character, are there to celebrate Alexanders birthday. One of the maids, Julia, is also present. During the evening, terrible news of the outbreak of the third world war reach them.

The Sacrifice is really about self sacrifice in the interest of the community, and is therefore a film about Christian ideals as are his former film, Nostalghia.
Central in the film, and the original story (the apocalyptic scenario was added later) was a more pagan idea, which he called "the Witch".

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the Scenes
Just as great as Tarkovsky's film, The Sacrifice, is Disc 2 - about Tarkovsky himself. His searching, depth, perception and perfectionism are essential keys to understanding life... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Index Research

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Sacrifice" suggests an important idea
The director is well-known and this movie is considered a masterpiece.
I can say that the idea that has caught my mind is that everyone can perform a little, daily sacrifice... Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. Di Rienzo

4.0 out of 5 stars A profound and mysterious movie
You will not be punching the air, laughing and dancing after seeing this film but it is a profound and mysterious experience that is worth two hours of the time of anyone who has... Read more
Published 18 months ago by H. A. James

4.0 out of 5 stars "Every gift involves a sacrifice. If not, what kind of gift would it be?"
This was Tarkovsky's seventh and final full-length work for the cinema; he died of cancer shortly after its completion. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Nicholas Casley

2.0 out of 5 stars stiffled yawn
Heavy going. I felt somehow excluded from the psuedo-mystical whatever-it-is that is supposed to make this film so special. Read more
Published 19 months ago by TwirlySue

3.0 out of 5 stars Beware of being 'saved'!
Well I'm am atheist, and I enjoy this film. I also have no intention of criticising anyone who dislikes it. You pay your money and you take your chances. Read more
Published 20 months ago by G. High

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't do it!!
In my younger days, being a Grade A film ponce, my idea of a good time was festering in a cinema watching Godard or Cocteau triple bills. I liked Eisenstein. I liked Fellini. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Tony Floyd

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry in Motion
Do not listen to Eucrid's negative review: this is one beautiful and sumptuously shot film which will appeal to anyone with a sense of poetic consciousness... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ian

5.0 out of 5 stars Häxans kraft
*** Possible spoilers ***

This is the last film by the late Andrei Tarkovsky, who also made masterpieces such as Stalker and Solaris. Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2007 by Litania

4.0 out of 5 stars Your birthday present is....
.... The Apocalypse !

"The Sacrifice" is a bit like a play; most of the action is set in one room ,with only a handful of people making up the cast. Read more
Published on 25 May 2006 by L. Davidson

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