butskhrikidze This movie has amazing cinematography, phenomenal screenplay, incredible acting, it's a masterpiece.

pgma14-901-604053 This film was absolute genius and, in my opinion, one of the best films produced in the 20th century. It is on par with films like the Seventh Seal and Schindler's List in terms of symbolism and philosophy. The only way one can not like this film is if one does not understand it- which is quite possible, if one is only haphazardly watching it and is not fully engaged, or is expecting the film to chew up the messages for you and give you something simple you can quickly take away without actually appreciating the movie- then this is the wrong film for you. In order to properly appreciate this film you have to engage in higher philosophical thought and reflect both on the lives of individuals of the Stalinist era as well as your own era, since this movie is timeless. It explores human nature at its basest level, and what causes humans to act in the ways they do.

sanni-seven For me, that's what a true movie should do: make you think, discuss what you saw with others and, as importantly, with yourself... So many incredible scenes... So many questions, for which you should find an answer suitable for yourself... Many things seem ingénues and at the same time a little absurd: the medieval guard in the middle of the 20th century, the Barateli court scene, the deadman being dug from his grave... makharadze plays in a way that makes you sit open-mouthed... the scene of killing the sun is a masterpiece, as well as the scene of Abel on a confession... simply brilliant...The character of Varlam Aravidze is also an incredible creation of both Makharadze and Abuladze: can you imagine Beria, Stalin and Hitler fused in one person? well, you get this person here, and the horror is that this person looks just like you and me, not a monster everyone sees drawn in their fantasies...Quotes, dialogues and phrases take special place in this film... By listening to how Varlam talks, how he addresses people, you get a template of how a person can become a tyrant, dictator... "We will catch the black cat in a dark room, even if this cat is not in the room"and, of course the question of the century: "is it worth to kill millions to save hundreds of millions?" publicly everyone will say "no, it's not"... but in reality...I'll finish with one of the main things said in the movie, one of the reasons this film is a masterpiece: "will this road lead me to the temple?"...."why do i need a road that does not lead to the temple?" these are the questions of the 20th century as well... you decide what a "temple" is and whether or not we are on the proper road...this film truly deserves all the praise it got from the world community...

bbcd64 This is a very good film. It works on several levels. I don't know whether this was intended by it's authors or no, but the general outline of the film has obvious Alice in the Wonderland (or Through the Looking-Glass) allusion. The confectioner woman imagines (or dreams about) a story of revenge and justice (a real cruel fairy tale adventure full of evil and good characters, colorful and strange images) and as in `Alice' right when the story gets kind of `out of control' (grandson kills himself with grandfathers riffle, son digs out the corpse of his father.) we get back to the cosy room of confectioner, from where our adventures to the past and future have begun.It was really interesting to see the story of Totalitarian regime through this `fairy tale' angle. They make a lot of films that are meant to be much more historically precise than `Repentance', but most of them are flat and look more like TV dramatizations of some definite actual events than the works of art. And `Repentance' is an art-film in a very good sense of this word.The closing sequence of Old Woman walking up the street (looking for the Temple - justice, freedom, happiness?) accompanied by heavenly classic music is one of the most beautiful film episodes I've ever seen.