Review: Nostalgia
Tarkovsky’s Nostalgia continues the biographical threads that Zerkalo had started. It is a rumination on the faithless man that has been separated from his roots for far too long and he is haunted by the past and an insatiable and unquantifiable desire to return to what once was that will never be again. He is manipulated by forces that are outside of his control as they have been ingrained upon his soul by life experiences that are long since passed and forgotten. We are all unwitting and unwilling products of our roots and our futile attempts to search for answers to fill our existential void only leave us disenfranchised as we try desperately to reconcile our past experiences and tribulations with our current realities.
The path of modern “enlightenment” seems to be plagued by reactionary cynicism as we try desperately to cast off the shackles of our youth and perceived sins of our fathers. It is a modern tendency to deem any act of faith as the quaint byproduct of small minded individuals in their own search for answers. We might not see the hypocrisy in our arrogant condescension even though we may be more lost than those we perceive as our intellectual inferiors, but we can feel a longing that burns within as we are nostalgic for more innocent times when we weren’t so jaded by our undeserved sense of worldly acumen. We aren’t any less lost than the next guy, but we condescend to his seemingly easy fixes to fill the void that occupies us all.
The trick is that the unwritten rules of societal norms dictate a precise amount of faith, and to subvert that by going too far in either direction will lead to derision by other members of society. Faithlessness is perceived as an affront to the core values that the faithful hold dear and unmitigated acts of faith are deemed to be dangerous. We are intended to occupy the great middle, lest we draw too much attention to ourselves. Though we live in rather narcissistic times we are only allowed to outwardly express the core beliefs that help to fill our existential void in a manner that doesn’t draw too much attention. It is this normative suppression that fuels our emptiness and gives it power. It is only through an illogical act of faith that our protagonist is able to reconcile his sense of existential vacancy. It doesn’t matter what the act entails, it only matters that the expression is carried out with conviction and integrity. Maybe then we can try and heal some of the damage done by the knowledge that we can never go back to what once was, and our past has left an imprint on us and the imprint, no matter how painful, will forever define our paths. We are still the child we once were, but scarred by a lifetime of disappointment and so called “objective truths”. Perhaps it is in our ability to perceive this void and feel this sense of nostalgic longing for innocence that defines our humanity. Without our pain we wouldn’t possess the desire for answers. These answers that we will never find drive our need to explore, whether it be introspective exploration or frontiers that exist outside of one’s self.
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