22/05/2025
Doğma torpaq ( Motherland) by Ilgar Safat, 2025
Film Review
The film Motherland (2025) scripted and directed by Ilgar Safat, is a work constructed on the juxtaposition of history and symbolism. Inspired by the real events that took place during the Khojaly massacre, this film is a stark reminder of the devastating human cost of war, conflict and ethnic hatred. In February 1992, Armenian forces, including the Armenian army and separatist militants, heavily attacked the Khojaly district in the mountainous Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, carrying out the indiscriminate brutal murder of hundreds of women, children, and older adults. Through these events, the film analyzes meaning, materiality, love, epistemology, and even metaphysics. Motherland seems to unconsciously refer to Jean-Paul Sartre’s belief that war kills those who make it even if they survive it, while it explores the emotional and moral crisis between people bearing in mind the fragility of human nature as it becomes affected by the evils of others. In the role of the two main charcters, Emil and Miranda, skillfully played by Rustam Jabrailov and Alina Vorontsova, a Tarkowskian trace is even detectable as their philosophical depth grows, clearly paying close attention to their development in relation to life, reason, and human nature. Through the secondary theme of the narrative, the making of a documentary about the Caucasian leopard by Miranda, Safat uses symbolism to address a sense of timeless and genuine existentialism. The film seems to assert that man is often defined by uncertainty and anxiety over the growing recognition of his failure, and that this can lead to the use of violence in order to give meaning and purpose to existence. The leopard in Motherland is placed in direct opposition to human nature and it is elevated to both a physical and metaphisycal level that signals strength, transformation and renewal. The leopard is in fact seen to appear at some crucial turning points in the developmen of the plot. In addition, as Emil calmly stares directly into the eyes of the leopard we are reminded that animals kill instinctively for the sake of fulfilling their survival needs, whereas people can kill intentionally, beyond mere survival necessities. Each image in this film is given an emotion that resonates with viewers on a deeply personal level, while encouraging mindfulness and intentionality in every shot, from the colors and tones of the landscape to its timeless and nostalgic feel.This deliberate approach in the film enhances the quality of Ilgar Safat’s work but also fosters a deeper connection between this film director, his subject, and the art that that he is creating while trying to relive and reassess the painful historical events that helped to shape the modern identity of his Motherland.
P.S. Angela Tumini is an Instructor of Italian Studies at the University of South Carolina where she also teaches courses in Italian Cinema.
Even though she has a Doctorate in Literature from the University of Oxford/ UK her interest in film has led her to write several articles and a book on the subject of cinema. She also taught courses in European Film at Columbia College Hollywood. A film school in Los Angeles.