An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.
Rublev was a minor icon-painter of the early 1400s. Tarkovsky re-imagines him as a Christ-like cypher for the sufferings of a divided Russia under the Tartar invaders.
– ,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
Stuns with the sort of unexpected poetic explosions we've come to expect from Tarkovsky.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
9 Apr 2005
rotten:
Since there always seems to be more going on in the head of the film's director than in the head of the man playing Andrei, the system did not work for me.