Look Mom, No Subtitles! Eritchka Sees Her First Russian Film in Minsk.

Last night Eritchka went with Alona, the logistical assistant at the Joint, to see the acclaimed Russian film, Ostrov, or The Island, an epic drama which was the closing film of the 2006 Venice Film Festival. They saw this film in the Octyabr Cinema, a theater which holds approximately 1,000 viewers. Like all films shown in Belarus, this film had no Englsih subtitles, and even the English films shown across The Republic are dubbed. Don't be fooled by the picture--this film isn't about a cantor and a rabbi. It's actually about the paths of repentence of Russian Orthodox monks living ascetic lives on a remote Russian island. Thankfully for Eritchka, the lack of ample dialogue made the film easily comprehensible.