I first saw this film in my mid teens, too young to fully appreciate just how much of a masterpiece Mallik had wrought in the jungle. But old enough to see the quality and appreciate that this was something different, this was not Saving Private Ryan.

Seeing this at that time has meant that each time I have returned to it I reach a greater depth with it. Another facet of the filmcraft that helps shape the story, themes or tone reveal themselves. And the impact it has had on my own tastes and filmcraft aslo make themselves apparent.

When I was 14, I did not (from memory) appreciate everything the crocodile in the first shot represented. But I did however, fall in love with the introductory sequence and the Melanses choir song. Watching it over and over and letting my developing critical eye become informed of the filmic grammar at play in this sequence.

Letting the medatitive pacing guide my eye around the composition, changing and leading what I was thinking about. Of what the camera was doing and how the shots read differently when the camera was held and the shot “breathed” compared to a smooth “hollywood” dolly style shot. How the lack of motivated sound created and otherwordly poignancy.

This form of poetic liltingly paced film making is something that I think only Mallik can do as well as he is here. Tarchovsky builds slow poetic tension, revealing new meaning as he holds the shot, but he is achieving a subtly different thing from Mallik.

It is a thin line that Mallik walks, as he runs the risk of pushing this style too far. And when he does, it strays into self indulgence, which some of his other later films, arguably have done. But this film, this film doesn’t, and this film teaches you everything you need to know about filmcraft.