A bickering family shelters in a remote part of Sweden, helpless while
the world descends into nuclear war. Josephson, the family's
patriarch, prays that by sacrificing all he holds dear, he might save
mankind from its folly. When his prayer is answered, he follows through
in a visually stunning orgy of destruction. Tarkovsky's last film is a
bleak affair, the work of a man dying in exile from his country and young
son. As a study of redemption through selfless generosity, it is an
ineffably wise film but one which tests the viewer's patience:
entertainment is not its remit.
