Hoary and nurturing, Alexandra serves as a metaphorical image of the Russian Mother, representing Russian identity and civilization, visiting her grandson, or grandsons, who fights in the desolate land of Chechen. Basically holding a view of anti-war and attempting to reconciling with local people, Alexandra, however, bears both the pros and cons of Russian tradition: on one hand, she is wise and tolerant; on the other hand, her superior identity as the occupier of Chechen could not be wore away, which is also in consistent with the narrative of the film itself, where basically, the voice of Chechen local population is not fairly exposed. Therefore, in a story of tender loving care between the grandmother and the grandson, the reconciliation
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When the local boy, with obvious aggression resulted from her identity as a Russian, accompanies her back to the camp site, she responds to him request for freedom that “who is we?” and then sighs that “if only it could be that simple”. She then advises the boy to “ask God for intelligence”, then her role is superior as a teacher or missionary, to the boy as an innocent student. The response to a large extent reveals Alexandra’s as well as Sokurov’s determination on the inseparability of the Chechen and Russia, because their civilization and tradition has always been intertwining from the root. This argument is also supported by the friendly side of Chechen people, represented by Malika, who as a Chechen woman, bears the same concerns with Alexandra. Her concerns on he youth would be contaminated by the war and violence are exactly echoed with Alexandra’s quarrel with Denise later. The great friendship between the females across the the border embodies the idea of unity and tradition, which, however, takes risk of being the one’s own wishful thinking.
What is also questionable is the tendency of portraying Chechen local as hostile barbarians, and the underlying logic that it is their own responsibility of triggering the war, which in ’s words, doubtfully legitimizes
When the local boy, with obvious aggression resulted from her identity as a Russian, accompanies her back to the camp site, she responds to him request for freedom that “who is we?” and then sighs that “if only it could be that simple”. She then advises the boy to “ask God for intelligence”, then her role is superior as a teacher or missionary, to the boy as an innocent student. The response to a large extent reveals Alexandra’s as well as Sokurov’s determination on the inseparability of the Chechen and Russia, because their civilization and tradition has always been intertwining from the root. This argument is also supported by the friendly side of Chechen people, represented by Malika, who as a Chechen woman, bears the same concerns with Alexandra. Her concerns on he youth would be contaminated by the war and violence are exactly echoed with Alexandra’s quarrel with Denise later. The great friendship between the females across the the border embodies the idea of unity and tradition, which, however, takes risk of being the one’s own wishful thinking.
What is also questionable is the tendency of portraying Chechen local as hostile barbarians, and the underlying logic that it is their own responsibility of triggering the war, which in ’s words, doubtfully legitimizes