The Plea

Tengiz Abuladze's 1967 Georgian film covers the conflict between two communities in the mountains. Each side defends its own land, but some, in respecting the enemy's courage, come up against the tradition of their own people. The film builds a series of tableaux rather than a plot. The scenes are poetic, the dialogue sparse and the images deliberately symbolic; the black and white compositions are arranged like paintings. It is adapted from the epics of the Georgian poet Vazha-Pshavela and the speech is largely in verse. It counts as the first film of the trilogy Abuladze completed in later years. Although made in the Soviet period, religious and moral themes are openly present. Who it's for: those who like Soviet-era Georgian cinema and poetic narrative. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a followable story; the film is allegorical and knowing the source text helps.