It’s amazing what Tarkovsky was able to accomplish during the time it was made in regards to the effects, the large epic shots, production design, and the sheer scale of everything. It rivals the big epics of DeMille and other large epics like BEN-HUR or SPARTACUS. The David Lean epics feel comparable and it’s amazing that it was made around the same time as DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. There are a lot of great scenes here: the opening with the hot air balloon and the horse falling down, the pagan woman who speaks to Andrei when he’s tied up and when she swims away, the eyes getting gorged out, etc. Its such a specific choice to shoot this in black & white considering the world should be full of color — the paintings, the blood, etc. The first moment I realized, oh the black & white is great is when the milk pours into the stream and you see the white bleed into the darkness like cream into coffee. It also helps make the art of the actual Rubelv seen at the end more impactful. My favorite part of the film was the chapter about the bell. I could have watched a whole movie just about that. I’ve never seen so much weight put on something as innocuous as, “Will a bell ring or not?”
