The Plea (1967)

The next movie on my list is called The Plea, directed by Georgian director Tengiz Abuladze. It was made during the Soviet Union when Georgia had one of the best filmmakers in its history. The Plea is a very unconventional movie; it is based on two poems by one of Georgia’s most influential writers Vazha-Pshavela. Unlike Volver, it is very difficult to summarize The Plea in any way; however, I will try to do my best.

The Plea deals with multiple plots. In the first part, Georgian Christian soldier Aluda Ketelauri is sent to a nearby Kistin Muslim village to deal with one of the soldiers, Mutsali. Despite the tradition, Aluda decided not to cut off his enemy’s arm as a sign of respect for his bravery, which forced his villagers to send him to exile. In another plot, Kistin soldier Jokhola meets Christian soldier Zviadauri in the mountains while hunting. He invites him to his house and lets him sleep there, but his fellow Kistins recognize the enemy on their territory, take him away, and murder him. As Jokhola is unable to protect his guest, he kills himself. These two plots, however, are not the defining features of the Plea. The movie’s sole purpose is to analyze and bring to light the philosophy of Vazha Pshavela. At certain points, the storyline seems absurd because there is no consistency. As the plots mentioned above progress, three unusual characters appear and wander through different scenes. One is the wanderer (a poet), the other is a woman in white who signified virtue and goodness, and the third character is the man who is constantly hiding in the darkness and represents evil.

Overall, the movie does not have a consistent plot; it is based entirely on poet Vazha Pshavela’s world and how the wondered navigates his way through different manifestations of evil and reaches conclusions on the meaning of life. The kindness exhibited by the characters in two separate storylines ends up in a disastrous ending, which further confuses the poet because he starts to believe that good actions are not being rewarded. However, despite evil's attempts to discourage him, the poet continues his quest to find the goodness in life. The last scene perfectly captures the essence of the film. The woman in white, who is the personification of goodness, is hanged, but the bright light emitted after her death is not dimmed. Overall, viewers understand what the personifications of evil and goodness mean; it shows that they are both interdependent. The poet realizes that giving up on the quest for goodness in life is not the right action. He concludes that even though evil exists, goodness will always be there to fight it. Overall, without the existence of evil, we — just as the poet — will not be able to identify what goodness means. Enduring evil is the most significant victory one can attain, and that the goodness of humanity will never cease to exist even if it is discouraged.

The movie's name comes from Vazha Pshavela’s poem called “My Plea,” where he, just as the poet depicted in the film, asks god to let him maintain his will and hope in fighting evil.

I always feel a sense of pride that such a masterpiece was filmed by the Georgian director. It was made in the Soviet times when censorship was prevalent and were making movies was always hard due to government regulations. The idea of this movie is universal and timeless (just as the setting depicted in it), however, I still think that its meaning could have been suitable in the Communist regime, where hope for decent life was lost among the majority of the Georgian population.

As being a Georgian myself, this movie is very important to me and I believe that it is a big part of the Georgian identity. As it is based on the poems of Vazha Pshavela, it is not just a cinematic masterpiece, but a masterpiece of Georgian culture.

I first watched The Plea in high school during Georgian class. At first, I honestly did not understand it properly, and I rewatched it sometime after. I had to pay close attention to the text and to the details in order to understand the meaning, which I still think is open to interpretation, but I was able to reach the conclusion that has had a strong influence on my personality and on my worldview. The journey depicted in this film is the journey of every human being who at some point might experience an existential crisis. I, for example, had to deal with it for much of a long time, particularly in pandemics, and I was able to find peace after reminding myself of this movie. Even if it sounds very banal, I still think that movies have a much stronger influence on shaping our morals and worldview than anything else. Of course, Vazha Pshavela’s poems were always taught in different grades, and of course, we learn much of what goodness evil mean from our parents. However, the best way to reach conclusions and understand such complex concepts is to see the depiction of a character's journey with the same issues. The Plea shows the journey, combined with poetry and outstanding visuals, which helped me understand why it is important always to show resistance to life’s problems, and why this action is the ultimate manifestation of goodness.