''Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia'', is a 1993

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

written and directed by

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

, produced by

Werner Herzog Filmproduktion Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

Summary

''Bells from the Deep'' is German director Werner Herzog's documentary investigation of Russian

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

. The first half of the film is concerned primarily with

Vissarion Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop (russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич То́роп, ''Sergej Anatolʹevič Torop''; born 14 January 1961 in Krasnodar, Russian SFSR), known as Vissarion ( rus, Виссарио́н, p=vʲɪsərʲɪˈon, "He ...

, a Russian

faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

claiming to be the reincarnation of God as was Jesus. Herzog uses primarily interviews with Russians and scenes from the religious services of the two holy men. Herzog also has several segments on the religion of

Siberian Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

s. The second half of the film is primarily concerned with the legend of the lost city of

Kitezh Kitezh (russian: Ки́теж) is a legendary and mythical city beneath the waters of Lake Svetloyar in the Voskresensky District of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in central Russia. Reference to Kitezh appears for the first time in ''Kitezh Chronicle ...

. This myth is about a city that was in peril of being destroyed by marauding

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

, but whose citizens prayed for rescue. Hearing their prayers, God placed the city at the bottom of a deep lake, where it resides to this day. Some even say that one can hear the bells from the city's church. The story is recounted by a local priest and pilgrims visiting the lake. Towards the end of the film, Vissarion blesses the viewers of the film.

Embellishments

Herzog, as he often does, embellished the story of the Lost City considerably, acknowledging his fabrications fully: :"I wanted to get shots of pilgrims crawling around on the ice trying to catch a glimpse of the lost city, but as there were no pilgrims around I hired two drunks from the next town and put them on the ice. One of them has his face right on the ice and looks like he is in very deep meditation. The accountant’s truth: he was completely drunk and fell asleep, and we had to wake him at the end of the take.""Herzog on Herzog", by Paul Cronin (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 2002) Herzog defends the fabrication as reaching a greater truth: :"I think the scene explains the fate and soul of Russia more than anything else." This is in keeping with Herzog's beliefs about truth in film. The film also contains shots of pilgrims, which are in fact people ice fishing. The chanting Siberians are only performing religious services in one of their two major scenes. In the other they are simply singing a love song.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bells From The Deep 1993 films Films directed by Werner Herzog Documentary films about the paranormal Documentary films about spirituality German documentary films 1993 documentary films Films about Orthodoxy 1990s German films Films about faith healing