Leviathan depicts a very different notion of religion and the church than we’ve previously seen so explicitly in other works. We read a handful of works from the time of transition into the Soviet Union, in which, on the surface, we saw how the state conveyed the message that people must turn away from tradition and religion in order to pursue a new society based on communal hard work and reason. Of course, in reality, those works (such as Engelgardt’s Letters from the Country, and Platonov’s “The Motherland of Electricity”) showed us how complicated this transition away from religion was for people.

Whereas in the short film, “Bezhin Meadows,” we saw how the film itself supports religion by showing peasants denouncing it, in Leviathan, we see how the filmmakers denounce religion by showing the state supporting it. In “Bezhin Meadows,” the surface-level destruction of religion actually has an underlying suggestion that religion is a necessary part of those peasants’ lives. Leviathan achieves the opposite effect. In Leviathan, we see that the post-soviet transition back toward a nonsecular government changes how we should perceive religion. Toward the beginning, we see three icons on the dashboard, not far from three stickers of sexualized naked women. For me, this was the first visual hint that we, as viewers, are supposed to be suspicious of the ways in which people (particularly the state) turn to religion. Later, when asked by both Vadim and Lilia whether he believes in religion, Dmitri, as (arguably) the most sympathetic character, responds, “I am a lawyer. I care about facts.” These moments set up the idea that religion and facts are mutually exclusive, similarly to the surface-level contrast between religion and reason which we saw in Platonov and Engelgardt’s works.

As the film progresses, these hints of doubting religion turn into a clear denunciation of religion. The Bishop himself tells Vadim, “I am in the same business as you,” (paraphrased), which indicates how interwoven the state and the church are, not only with one another, but with notions of corruption. When we ultimately discover that the destruction of every aspect of Nikolai’s life and home are for the purpose of building this new church, we learn just how different the role of religion is now, compared with during the transition into the Soviet Union. According to this film, if anything, religion encourages corruption by the state, because it serves to atone the government officials from any possible feelings of guilt. The priest’s monologue is brutally ironic, because it centers around the necessity of truth for ultimate freedom. The filmmakers thereby masterfully suggest that this new post-soviet state is devoid of truth.

With space, I would talk more about how images of nature complement these ideas. I’d also like to think more about the Leviathan itself.