by Mark Deming
synopsis
This impressionistic, visually arresting documentary offers an unusual look at a mental hospital in Russia. Located in a rural community, many of the hospital's patients are delusional, though harmless, and believe they are in fact on a farm, and go through the motions of the daily chores that are part of raising crops. In their obsessive activities, director Sergei Loznitsa finds a sort of visual poetry, and a peace that suggests that the tilling of the soil, even when it's merely play acting, has soothed the inner demons of many of these patients. Pavel Kostomarov's cinematography for Poselyeniye received a special award at the 2001 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
