Declan's blog

“The Return” could be interpreted in several ways. On the surface level, it is the return of the father to the children. It can also be interpreted as the return of the children from the trip with their father. The irony is that, in both interpretations, the characters do not return. The father is unable to return, and the children could never return to their way of life before they met their father.

The more abstract interpretation of the title is the cycle of rise and fall of civilizations. 12-year-absence is not an unintentional detail of the plot. The film was released in 2003, exactly 12 years after the dissolve of the Soviet Union in 1991. People had initially found freedom when the communist regime disintegrated, which is mirrored by the boys' unconcerned and carefree lifestyle at the beginning of the film. When a new regime came out of nowhere to impose its rule, ambivalence arises from the people. At first, the boys feel joy and excitement from the return of the father. But the lack of communication between the father and his sons strains their relationships, not unlike the lack of transparency of a government to its people. The sons represent the two archetypes of citizens: Andrei is the typical, compliant and average citizen, while Ivan is critical, independent, and stronger of the two. Although one may think that Ivan’s fear of height at the beginning of the film contradicts with his gut to rebel against his father, a closer examination reveals that unlike the other boys who follow the first boy that jumps into the water, Ivan resists the force of conformity and does what he thinks best for himself. Andrei, on the other hand, has not the courage to protect his younger brother when Ivan is being made fun of, and he is also complaint to his father's demands.

Near the end of the film, Ivan sticks out his knife and is ready to rebel, and Andrei is fed up with his father’s behaviors. The father realizes that he has lost control over his sons, just like during a revolution when the government has lost control and confidence of its people. Ivan is now ready to jump off the watchtower, as revolutionaries were ready to give up their lives and overthrow their government.

As the boys drag the corpse through the forest, Ivan says that they are lost, a symbol corresponds to the immediate chaos and loose sense of directions of the future of the country after the revolution. The people were unable to completely escape the influence of the previous government, represented by the weight of the father's corpse. The leaders that emerge after the revolution often carry, in his rules, some resemblance with the previous dictators. Post-revolution marks the beginning of a more changeling road ahead for the country to find its suitable form of government. The people had to return to the beginning and start anew.

The mother in this film symbolizes the motherland. When Ivan is sitting on the watchtower, afraid, she is there to accept him, regardless of what the other children would think of him. This motherland is always ready to accept any event that takes place on it. She does not object nor shares the joy from the return of the father, and she does not object when the father takes her sons away. When the boys are experiencing hardships, she does not interfere in anyway. Very symbolic of the land of a country.