The film The Return that we viewed last week in film class was a very different type of movie from what I would typically watch. I feel like the main reason for this was because it was such an open-ended movie, and as we discussed the film after watching it in class this became very apparent. Everyone had a his or her own opinion on a number of aspects of the movie, but the main subject everyone seemed to want to talk about was the father in the movie. After watching The Return and listening to various opinions/ideas on the subject, I believe that the father in the film was returning from some criminal background of some sort, and was trying to reconnect with his kids and get them to understand his past. I feel this is supported by his attitude towards the older brother, his longing for respect from the two boys, and his behavior of trying to hide something from his sons.
After thinking back about the film The Return I came to a realization that I had not thought of immediately after watching it. Throughout the film the father tried several times to win the “approval” I guess you could say, of his older son, Andrei, and didn’t seem to care too much about what his younger son, Ivan, thought of him. He always seemed to be very concerned that Andrei was satisfied, while he was almost acting the opposite way about Ivan, such as when they were eating for the first time in the diner. I then began to wonder if the father believed that once he had won over Andrei he felt that Ivan would immediately follow in his older brothers’ footsteps. This would make sense, being that we were shown a couple circumstances throughout the movie in which Ivan wanted to be just like his big brother, such as in the opening scene when they were all jumping into the water. It’s very common that boys want to be just like the older male figures in their lives, and since their father had not been around, Ivan had Andrei to look up to.
We were shown from almost the beginning when the family was having dinner together right after the father returned that he wanted to earn the respect from his boys. This became even more apparent as their trip progressed. He insisted that Ivan answer him with “Yes, Dad.” or “No, Dad.” and so on. He was very strict with them when it came to rules and regulations, and in many cultures people see setting boundaries for children and having the children follow them as a way to enforce respect between the children and their elders.
In my third point is where I come to touch on why I believe the father is hiding some sort of criminal background. It may be a stretch, I’ll admit, but I feel it is one of the only reasons he could just come back into their lives with no explanations and expect to be treated as nothing had ever changed between them. He easily could have threatened their mother without anyone knowing, and then just like that he’d have free reign to do with the boys as he pleased. He obviously had connections with various groups of people, as we saw when he was talking to the men on the boats at the dock. He also seemed to always be hiding something or not giving the boys all the details they asked of him, which is just another reason I feel he was a shady character and I didn’t trust him.
These ideas could be right, and they easily could be completely off the charts wrong, but I feel that is an important point of an open-ended film such as this.
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