Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
(1965)
★ 7.5 IMDb · 193 votes
Year: 1965
Runtime: 97 мин
Country: Soviet Union
Director: Сергей Параджанов
Cast: Иван Миколайчук, Лариса Кадочникова, Татьяна Бестаева, Николай Гринько, Спартак Багашвили, Леонид Енгибаров, Нина Алисова, Александр Гай, Неонила Гнеповская, Aleksandr Raydanov
Plot
In the Carpathian Mountains of 19th-century Ukraine, love, hate, life and death among the Hutsul people are as they’ve been since time began. Ivan is drawn to Marichka, the beautiful young daughter of the man who killed his father. But fate tragically decrees that the two lovers will remain apart.
In a Carpathian village, Ivan falls in love with Marichka, the daughter of his father's killer. When tragedy befalls her, his grief lasts months; finally he rejoins the colorful life around him, marrying Palagna. She wants children but his mind stays on his lost love. To recapture his attention, Palagna tries sorcery, and in the process comes under the spell of the sorcerer, publicly humiliating Ivan, who then fights the sorcerer. The lively rhythms of village life, the work and the holidays, the pageant and revelry of weddings and funerals, the change of seasons, and nature's beauty give proportion to Ivan's tragedy.