Papa

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2004 Moscow International Film Festival, Papa is a magnificent Russian drama centering on the antagonistic relationship between Abraham, a poor Jewish Ukrainian businessman, and his son David, a musical prodigy. It is a risk-taking second directorial outing for non-Jewish Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov (Pavel Chukhrai’s The Thief), who also turns in a melodramatic, almost over-the-top performance as Papa Abraham. Growing up in the Ukraine, David is ashamed of hisprovincial roots and Jewish background. His father, who stews in self-hate magnified by alcohol, pushes his son to practice the violin, dreaming of greatness for him. David moves to Moscow and becomes a top student at the conservatory. His romantic relationship with a woman from his hometown continues in Moscow, and there are several other comrades waiting in line. When Papa comes for an unexpected visit, David is embarrassed by his poor Jewish father and his country ways. Mashkov successfully captures the refined world of the conservatory and Moscow in the 1930s--a tenuous atmosphere where party protocol is critical to success and even survival. Fathers and sons are a topic of interest and complexity in both Russian and Jewish culture. Mashkov, adapting Moscow’s Khudozhestveni Theatre production of Alexander Galich’s Sailor’s Silence, has realized an epic addition to the genre, while exploring anti-Semitism and the fate of Ukrainian Jews during World War II.