Prof. Subetto A. I., Honored scientist of Russia, Laureate of Russian Federation Government Award, President of the Noospheric public Academy of Sciences, member of the International Higher Academic Council, Grand PhD, Professor of Oxford.

TRUE LOVE : STUDENT SHORT FILM

The 29th of December, two days before the new – 2016 year, at the ceremonial meeting of the International Higher Academic Council and rectorate of the International University of Fundamental Studies in the House of composers in St. Petersburg, after resolving the issues on the agenda, the premiere of the short film “True love” was held. Staging, directing and the script of the film are made by one author – Shanti P. Jayasekara, a citizen of Russia (he has been living here more than 30 years and Russia became his second homeland), a native of Sri Lanka, Grand Ph. D., Full Professor (Oxford), Rector of the International University of Fundamental Studies and President of the International Higher Academic Council.

A film can be described as a novelette about love, done in the epic style. Aside from the specifics of the “language” of cinema, this episode picture can be put on a par with such  work as the “Girl and death” by Maxim Gorky.

The movie presents the game of three young people, still inexperienced in the art – the blind Oleg Tokarev (in the film he plays a young blind pianist and composer Ruslan), Sergey Ermolayev (in the film he plays a young artist Pavel, who is deaf from the birth) and Dina Danshina (in the film she plays Anna, a friend of both young people who don’t know about each other). The “classical triangle”. The movie is about the first, purest love that is born in young hearts for the first time in their lives. Anna is affected to both boys. Each of them attracts her not only with the purity of their intentions in his work, and his sincerity, but, as subtext, with its otherness, what is known as individuality in the manifested creation.
The style of the executed art “technique” – attention to details, close-up, when the acting is manifested in few words (although there is enough of good, deep, philosophical and moral dialogues addressed to the audience), but in the eyes, the corners of the lips, in the play of hands, fingers, everything that lovers know. This style reminded us the novelette of the movie “Zerkalo” by Andrei Tarkovsky. In general, the style of the film echoes the style of Tarkovsky’s cinema, may be associated with the style of several Italian films of the 60-ies. Each of the characters who played a role in this magnificent scenario, is good in his own way.

  The movie about the inspiring power of love, its influence on the art work, about the good itself in love as a feeling, about the delicacy of relations between girl and boy, about trust and honesty, which is so lacking in modern times, when love was replaced by sex and vulgarity. The film is about the purity of love, which, for example, is in the famous, genius Shakespeare’s drama “Romeo and Juliet”. 
But the film, unlike other cultural works, dedicated to the first love, is about the man is manifested in love as an entire creation, as universal, holistic person, when defects in contact with the world – blindness (eyes do not see), or deafness and dumbness (people can’t hear and can’t speak, forced to communicate with hands), are gone. Because they, the main characters of the film, carry out the principal mission – to create, build, and the love their raises them to the height of talent, and perhaps genius in the art work whom they have devoted the life.

But there is drama in the film. The blind Oleg finds out during a first date with Pavel – and obviously the last one, in the presence of Anna, when leads hands on artistic portrait of Anna made by Pavel and says that it’s “love” (i.e. in this portrait Pavel’s love is shown for Anna), is that Pavel loves Anna, and Anna, as she led Pavel to Oleg, loves Pavel, he does a deed: he unites the hands of Anna and Pavek, and he leaves, tapping his stick and stumbling. And the spectator feels in this act the entire tragedy of blind Oleg’s love.

In the movie there is always a creative action – here Oleg writes music (improvising), dedicating it to Anna, and there, as if in Anna’s “parallel space” or “parallel life”, Pavel paints a portrait of Anna and in the eyes of the viewer, this portrait is born under the artist’s brush.
One main theme permeates the movie – the theme of purity of human relations in younger age, those relationships that serve as a “breeding ground” for the growth of a pure, true love. The film like teaches the viewer the simple truth – love does not tolerate hypocrisy.

I congratulate the young debutants, who have played perfectly their roles. But especially I would like to note the play of Anna: her eyes are shown close up, radiate the nascent love. There is a symbolism in the movie. For example, the scene with a white rose. White rose is the symbol of purity. 
The hieromonk Roman wrote a poem, I would call it a hymn to the purity, which has this refrain:
“O Earth, what do you miss? – Purity, purity, purity…”. 
“Oh, Soul, what do you miss? – Purity, purity, purity…”. 
I congratulate Shanti P. Jayasekera with a wonderful author’s debut, who claims: “There is a True Love in the wide world!”, and if it exists, then there is a wonderful future for the people on Earth.

In the eve of the New year 2016, watching this short story was a good spiritual gift, encouraging everyone who touched this story about the first, pure, true love. 
Of course, obviously, the film critics, art historians will find a lot of errors in this work – technical, stylistic, and compositional. 
But the main thing – the film turned out – or rather, appeared a work of cinema art, made in the best traditions of classical Russian culture, dating back to Pushkin, Turgenev, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Gorky.

In concluding this short essay, about what we saw, I want to wish Santhi P. Jayasekera new success in his chosen creative path in the “space” of such a complex, synthetic art, which is cinema, and even in the beginning of the XXI century! The beginning has succeded!