Gorbatschow. Paradies

A look at the banality of old age that conceals testimonials to some of history's greatest. The first and best part is actually a documentary variation on Sokurov's Taurus. An infirm Gorbachev in his darkened villa reminisces about his wife and his early youth, while we see a scythe leaning around every corner. It's cold outside and the walker catches against the threshold. The middle section is a flustered effort by Manskij to take one last opportunity to learn more about the political background to Glasnost, Perestroika, the military coup, and the transfer of power to Yeltsin, except that Gorbachev speaks ambiguously, in platitudes, bouncing off banal stories from the set, and it's impossible to tell 100% whether senility is speaking for him or if he is deliberately obfuscating for fear that history might catch up with him before he dies. In this case, he most resembles a demented grandfather who, on a family visit, hid his grandson's cell phone, which everyone is now looking for, while he smiles at what a joke he's made, though he no longer knows where he hid it himself. Manskij is at his best when he purely observes the action and lets the viewer form connections (The Pipe) rather than stepping in and asking vague questions (Putin's Witnesses). Gorbachev. Paradise, then, is a particularly interesting study of the proximity of death. As political commentary, it will probably disappoint most people. (03.02.2022)