MovieChat Forums > Izgnanie (2018) Discussion > Spoiler! - Only for the ones who'd alrea...

Spoiler! - Only for the ones who'd already seen the movie.

posted 16 years ago by batz_yarok
9 replies | jump to latest

Like many others, I'm a big fan of "The Return" and I was really looking forward seeing "The Banishment" also. I sew it last year (2007), in Russian, with no sub-titles or dubbing. For everyone who hasn't seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend seeing it, I loved it!

--------------------The spoiler starts here---------------------------------

Although the "flashback" segment at the end of the movie clarified most of the questions which popped up while watching the movie, I still feel that I have some issues that I don't fully understand. I have some possible answers and I was hoping you would help me confirm (or disprove) them.

1. The letter which was found next the Vera's body: There were pregnancy test results on one side and letter, which Vera wrote after receiving the test results, on the other.
What was written in that letter? Was it addressed to Alex? Why did the doctor (who found the letter and probably read it) ask Mark not to tell Alex about it?
Why did Mark leave it in the glove compartment, so Alex would surly find it?

2. What happened to Mark? What was the reason to his sudden death?
3. What happened to Alex's parents? Georgy (the old farmer) had mentioned something about it, very vaguely.
Why there's nothing written on the tombstone?

[–] Kari_Le 16 years ago

I think it was a suicide letter.

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.

[–] mario-158 16 years ago

1. Probably a suicide note. The doctor asked Mark should he tell about letter (the truth) to Alex, but Mark said No, probably to protect his younger brother from more pain that would come after realising that the unborn child was his.
Mark put the letters in the glove box probably in the moment of sudden weakness and realisation that he holds those letters in hand. He probably didn't have any back intentions for Alex finding the letter in the box, but the director surely had.

2. Heart condition probably combined with the stress. Alex left Mark's body to doctor (he left him money too) to deal with the body (burial and paperwork).

3. He probably died of old age. The tumbstone has no epitaph probably because no family members (Mark and Alex) organised/attended the funeral.

[–] chibilute 16 years ago

I thought the letter said that it was his child. Which Alex didn't know, and maybe it was some last minute sympathy for him.

[–] bipovia 16 years ago

Would the preganany test really have stated the paternity of the child?
Everyone who read it seemed shocked, as if this was what they were reading.
I, too think there was a suicide note on the back. In fact, we see her writing it in her house in the city in one of the flashbacks at the end. i think.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bogwart-1 15 years ago

Of course not. But Vera knew that she had not slept with anyone else, and knew that the only person whose child it could have been was Alex's. It wasn't a DNA test, just a pregnancy test.

[–] Despiracy 14 years ago

"Why did the doctor (who found the letter and probably read it) ask Mark not to tell Alex about it?
Why did Mark leave it in the glove compartment, so Alex would surly find it?"

This whole film is about social problems and lack of verbal communication. Mark and Alex relationship is very chilly even though they always stand up for each other. They talk, but only of practical things. When Alex first say to Mark that Vera is bearing another ones baby, all Mark gives him is an practical answer: "Kill, if you want to kill. Forgive, if you want to forgive".
Like the white-haired old man (can't remember his name) said while they were going in his car "It's impossible to get any words out from you and Mark".

I think Mark knew from the moment he read the letter that Alex had to find out sooner or later. But he said No to the doctor when asked if he would tell Alex because, simply put, he would have to read it himself. When the doctor first told him that Vera was dead, he couldn't even tell Alex about it himself. Alex saw it in his face though.

When Mark realized that he was about to die, he put the letter in the glove box by the letter, to once again remind Alex "Kill, if you want to kill. Forgive, if you want to forgive". Also i think he didn't want Alex to kill anyone innocent, having read the letter himself, he knew that it was Alex child and nobody else.

What i'm really wondering is Why was Mark shot in the arm in the beginning of the movie? Was he a gangster? Is that why he didn't want to see his children any more because he didn't want them to follow his path?

[–] przgzr 14 years ago

Why was Mark shot in the arm in the beginning of the movie? Was he a gangster?

Mark probably wasn't a gangster in the West-European or American meaning of the word. However, in transition East-European countries, and even (much) more in Russia there is a weak border between legal and illegal. A lot of legal business has some illegal additions, either because one can't legally earn enough for surviving and keeping the work going on, or because he couldn't even begin doing it without some arrangements with criminals (e.g. through loans or blackmail). So Mark, who spends his time gambling and knows people performing illegal abortions etc most likely doesn't belong to classic criminals like bank robbers, burglars or killers, but living on the edge he is exposed to all the risks (including getting a bullet).

[–] Despiracy 13 years ago

Thanks for clearing that up. Makes sense.