Review by HALfie

Although there is no a unique interpretation,  the concept of Gift and Sacrifice pervades the Tarkovskij’s last movie.

Clearly inspired by the Shakespear’s Hamlet and also the story of Abraham’s sacrifice, this movie is a clear condemnation to the materialism.

In a bid to avoid the inevitable destruction, Alexander offers his life and all he possesses in place of salvation for the mankind, it’s the vow of a desperate man who complained about a world dominated by the lack of spirituality and the Nietzsche’s statement of the eternal recurrence.

[...] "What if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: “This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sight and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!” Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: “You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.” If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing: “Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?” would lie upon your actions as the heaviest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal? "[..]  

Tarkovskij clearly intends for us to see salvation worked through genuine abandonment of self to irrational faith.

Remarkable lateral movement of the camera, together with the choreography of the figures, creates an exceptional sense of space, which is enhanced both by the spare furnishing of the interiors and the careful control of lighting.