Leviathan

Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev ("Elena") drew general inspiration from the story of Colorado resident Marvin John Heemeyer, a man embroiled in a zoning dispute who took matters into his own hands and went on a spree of destruction with a bulldozer in the late spring of 2004. (The rampage ended with Heemeyer's suicide.)

But the story Zvyagintsev and screenwriter Oleg Negin concocted for the film "Leviathan" takes from the Heemayer tragedy only the general idea of a land dispute between an individual and a municipality. The film owes its tone to Russian literary culture, and the bones of its plot to the Biblical story of Job.

The film begins in media res as Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov) and his friend Dmitriy (Vladimir Vdovichenkov) launch a desperate counter-attack in hopes of fending off a greedy city mayor named Vadim (Roman Madyanov) who is after Kola's land, a scenic patch on the Arctic Ocean. Vadim has the city's officials -- including the chief of police and the court judge -- in his pocket; he also enjoys an unholy alliance with the local bishop of the Orthodox Russian Church.

The hot-headed Kolya, meantime, has his indignation, his persistence, and his family and friends. These include second wife Lilya (Elena Lyadova, star of Zvyagintsev's previous film "Elena"), teenaged son Roma (Sergey Pokhodaev), and married couple Angela and Pasha (Anna Ukolova and Aleksey Rozin), who provide comic relief... until they don't.

If this were an American movie, Kolya and his lawyer would ride a rising wave of righteousness to ultimate triumph; but it's not. This is a Russian film, so you take your chances. But if a happy ending is not guaranteed, that at least opens the door to a universe of possibilities, and that's what Zvyagintsev seems most interested in -- that, and the way the remnants of history persist through time, perturbing human history in ways large and small. (The wooden skeletons of half-sunk boats are echoed, with marvelous visual poetry, in the bleached bones of a dead whale.)

This much-praised film deserves every critical plaudit that's come its way. Forget the special features; buy this Blu-ray for the sheer pleasures of the movie. That's not to say there are no extras -- there are. They include a featurette, "Leviathan: Behind the Scenes," which is presented without context or commentary and really just consists of home movies made during the film's production; a segment titled "Toronto International Film Festival Q&A with Director Andrey Zvyagintsev," in which the director muses on his work, via a translator; a Commentary Track with Zvyagintsev and Producer Alexander Rodnyansky, which amounts to another Q and A, with Rodnyansky posing the questions and Zvyagintsev holding forth (all in Russian, with subtitles); and Deleted Scenes.

This is essential viewing for fans of Zvyagintsev, world cinema enthusiasts, or anyone who enjoys layered, intelligent drama.

"Leviathan"
Blu-ray
$34.99
https://sonypicturesstore.com/product.html?productId=219086