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A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa
'A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa' unfolds during an interesting era in the history of Eastern Europe when Russia, under Peter the Great, and Sweden, under King Charles XII, struggled for power; the Ukraine was the pawn in the middle. In 1709, Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire, signed a pact with the Swedish king promising to support Sweden in its war against Russia provided that the Ukraine was given its independence.
| Release : | 2002 |
| Rating : | 5.4 |
| Studio : | Dovzhenko Film Studios, |
| Crew : | Production Design, Director of Photography, |
| Cast : | Bohdan Stupka Liudmyla Yefymenko Nikita Dzhigurda Viacheslav Dovzhenko Viktor Demertash |
| Genre : | Drama History |
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Reviews
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Absolutely Fantastic
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
The film seems to me to be an interpretation of Hetman Ivan Mazepa and Ukrainian history of his time as seen in a phantasmagoria dream in the mind of the director Ilyenko. There is much in the film that I liked and much that I admired without necessarily liking it. Much of the cinematography was very effective, some of the symbolism, many images, the occasional humor. There were many very striking parts, in particular the vertep sequence, the devastation of Baturyn, the representation of Peter I. The other strength is the image of Ukraine which is represented in many ways in the women that populate the screen, or the map of Europe with Ukraine as a woman that gets raped by the powerful men around her, and other symbols. I think that the combination of this image of Ukraine as a victim of violence and the image of Mazepa who attempted to do something for this country that was probably doomed to failure are the main messages that I got from the film.On the other hand, the film is simply too long. It would benefit from editing and pruning, which could enhance its effectiveness both as a piece of art and as a medium to convey its message. It lacked a certain sense of economy particularly in the last half-hour. Some of the sexual and scatological imagery (especially that involving Peter) seems to me artistically valid and effective, but some seems gratuitous and by its overuse weakens the point it tries to make.
I've made a brief quiz through my friends, colleagues and relatives (about 60 people in all), after the "Hetman Mazepa" was shown on the wide screens here, in Ukraine. The question was simple: "Did you like it?". Everybody said "no", except for one person, the professional critic, who admired it much, and compared with "Plan 9 from Outer Space".And this is true. "Hetman Mazepa" compete with films by Edward D. Wood Jr. for the right to be called the worst movie ever made. Don't expect, that you'll make it through all the 2 h 32 min of the show. Usually, 98% of audience left after the first 40 minutes.
