The Wishing Tree

Abuladze's film is a magically sustained fantasia about life in a Georgian village on the eve of the revolution, poetry rather than narrative thrust carrying it from one incident to another. The characters are eccentric, and their dreams and longings are gently indulged, from the simpleton who searches for the tree that will fulfil his wishes, to the dishevelled lady fortune-teller who promises herself the return of a long-lost lover. The central focus is a tragic love story (sweethearts denied marriage by the village elders), and this, more than any overtly political points, serves to intimate the social changes to come. Best seen in the original Georgian version (rather than the Russian-dubbed one), with its delicate aural lyricism matching the pictorial splendours.