there s some philosophic schools that teach we can not learn
they took platon and his writing in twist them for their owns doom.
anyone who have seen tarkosvky s films prior to discover this true gem could say with all dignity and righteousness:
that we could learn.
its clear that tarkosvky learn a lot from his school teacher mr romm, from his fruitful collaboration with the great vadim yusov
and that he learned a lot from movies and mostly from himself( my last statement would get us closer to the philosophic schools that i rejects but what can i say?)
this movie have some wonderful shots, a really nice use of diagethic musicand sound, and is also a great adaptation of his source material( ernst Hemingway s short story of the same name) and happens to be one of the few great use of black and white imagery of mr tarkosvky (very few indeed: “ivan s childhood” “andrey rublov” and some scenes of latter movies).
i can recommend this short to anybody who has ever enjoyed cinema; buy the criterion edition; expensive yes, but its also comes with two movies one of them: “the killers” 1946 a wonderful noir that the “American cinematographer” readers believed to be one of the best shot films of the first 50 years of cinema, Nestor almendros said almost the same thing on his memoirs: “el hombre y su camara” and the other: "the killer " from the seventies, one that i ve yet to see. and i m learning to talk about things i ve read or seen or experienced…

what s the premise of this film?
is that or destiny is impossible to dodge…
the corrosive power of money;the root of all evils;(as the final shot seems to imply)
o…its about the capability of man hurting his fellow man and hurting himself; as the swede s attitude proclaims…
the scope of this film lies and this and also rest on the shoulder of two giants: one soviet(or Russian) and one American. but as an standalone work of art it could we found alcking; the histrionic quality of its cast is uneven(that show tarkosvky;he learned; to take time with actors; the editing is rough(as should be expected for a student film) and there a lot of shot that are just done…
anyhow the assets of the film are as good or even much better than the majority of film been produced since its day.
its not only a film for tarkosvky fans(or completist) but also for “noir” fan.
this disc(the criterion one)have a very nice transfer; with very good contrast; some scratches (probably found on the source) and its looks fairly decent when upconverted to 1080i for hdtv presentation.
buy or rent it; you ll enjoyed it.