In Search of Cinematic Holy Foolishness as a Form of Orthodox Peacemaking

In a beautiful scene near the end of Andrei Konchalovsky's film on war and peace in Chechnya, Dom Durakov, the viewer is offered a scene of madness and reconciliation. A young woman, haunted by the atrocities of war, has become a resident of a mental hospital, in which she is surrounded by suffering characters, whom she comforts as they eke out an existence amongst the chaos. One of these inmates, a mysterious aging gentleman who believes he is God, captures the woman's attention, and she lovingly offers him an apple. As he cradles the fruit, the gentleman takes a God-like view of this miniature planet, seeing within it the faces of 'people who love and destroy each other fighting for generations and dying'. Pained by the image, the patient refuses to consume the gift, fearing that he will complete the destruction. For a viewer familiar with Russian Orthodox spirituality, the scene inspires thoughts of God and His Holy Fool musing over the fate of the world.

The ideas that Konchalovsky brings to mind can be seen as part of a wider heritage within Russian film, in which folly and reconciliation often work in tandem. The way in which this phenomenon operates has often been overlooked, and yet it remains a distinctive mode of dealing with problems of conflict and resolution in Russian filmmaking. In this article I will analyze this model of reconciliation in relation to three modern Russian. Rather than suggesting concrete solutions to human conflicts and the way in which politics should be conducted, my article will throw light on the way in which peacemaking can operate from a personal perspective that begins with self-reconciliation. In order to sketch this vision the article will fall into six sections. I will first describe how several aspects of Orthodox spirituality and asceticism can inform and even enrich approaches towards peacemaking. Second, I will explain the significance of the holy fool as a Russian cultural model. Third, I will show how this trope is developed in Russian film, using Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev (1969), Andrei Konchalovsky's Dom Durakov (2002), and Pavel Lungin's Ostrov (2006) as case studies. Finally, I will offer some thoughts on the power of holy foolishness as a means through which filmmakers can explore the theme of peacemaking. Behind my discussion is the question: how far can the holy fool bring a divine perspective upon human affairs?

An Orthodox Model of Reconciliation

Before turning to consider the cinematic representations of holy foolishness I will present an Orthodox model of reconciliation. A well-known piece of spiritual advice in Russia is that of the nineteenth-century Orthodox mystic St Seraphim of Sarov: 'Make peace within and thousands around you will be saved'. Viewed from this perspective, achieving reconciliation between the warring factions inside one's own self will lead not only to reconciliation with one's neighbours but also, ultimately, to their redemption. St Seraphim's advice makes it clear that social reconciliation, while implied, is not the final goal. It is merely a by-product of reconciliation in a salvific sense: the bottom line is that peace is nothing less than reconciliation with God. Therefore, coming to terms with oneself is the foundation for all peacemaking, out of which can be established reconciliation with others and the Other par excellence.

This Orthodox model of reconciliation, which takes less the form of an instrument and more that of an existential process, is deemed by the contemporary Russian theologian Vladimir Zelinsky as the most exemplary Christian model. Zelinsky frames this model in opposition to a second that he describes as 'humanistic': the latter is 'elaborated in the democratic type of society' and amounts to 'the skill and wisdom of existing together, the capacity to accept another person, another idea, another mode of cultural expression, another confession in its difference from one's own.'¹ This pluralistic model attempts to resolve conflict in a negative way: space is made for the parties to pursue their own ends, so long as it does not contravene an agreed...