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Repentance

Original title: Monanieba

“A masterful, nightmarish political vision from Georgia's foremost modern director!”

1984 · 2 h 33 min
Directed by Tengiz Abuladze

Cast

Avtandil Makharadze Zeinab Botsvadze Ketevan Abuladze Edisher Giorgobiani

Plot

After the death of the mayor Varlam Aravidze, a tyrant who ruled a Georgian town, his body keeps being dug up and left in the garden of his family home. The woman responsible, Ketevan, is put on trial and exposes the terrors of the past. Tengiz Abuladze's 1984 film, an allegory of Stalinism with elements of fantasy and comedy, was shelved at first and then released at the beginning of glasnost, becoming a sensation.

Sinekatalog’s take

Tengiz Abuladze's Georgian satire follows a dead tyrant's body repeatedly dug up from his garden. Surreal, bold and furious, it was a sensation of glasnost-era cinema and remains a gripping anti-totalitarian parable.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 8.0 / 10 (5,535 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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