It is hard to exaggerate the value of "The Lost Letter" - in some way it catched the inner spirit of Ukrainian culture and resonate with the souls of Ukrainian viewers on a deepest level. That's the reason why this movie is a mindcracker for foreigners but almost every Ukrainian loves it and understands most of hidden metaphors without any explanation.
Considering this, i'll try to shed a little light on some of non-obvious nuances that should help non-ukrainians to understand this masterpiece a little bit more.
The plot is pretty simple - movie tells us a folk comedy story (which follows Gogol's novel, but not very thoroughly) of Vasyl and Andrij - two cossacks who make bizarre journey in attempt to deliver a letter from Hetman (cossack military leader) to the Queen (russian empress) in Petersburg and their return to their native village afterwards. Sounds not so complicated, but to understand what that journey means is a very hard task, because creators of the movie put deep allegories almost in every detail of the film.
First of all, to understand the setting, you should know the history of Ukraine and its relations with the Russian Empire in cossack period, as it establishes in Ukrainian National Mythos. According to that, Ukraine of 16-17 centuries was warring land full of calm provincial villages with fierce warriors that lived ordinary life, while was not in war campains against muslim Turkey and their vassals. The life of common folk was pretty simple and not used to the rigid rules of court etiquette, ball dresses and white wigs. So the journey to heavily German and France influenced russian capital was a journey to almost another world, most would even not believe that such thing as Petersburg is even real enough, at least not as the travellers will describe it. And so there is a first layer of journey.
The second is a spiritual one - its even harder to explain than the previous. Lets start from the statement that foreign land is different, oddly surreal - then in a mindset of a common Ukrainian villager it must be somehow connected with the diabolical spirits (which are always somewhere around). And I use the worlds "diabolical spirits" because its very hard to explain the real role of underworld and demons in ukrainian folklore, which is just the "other" force, different, uncommon - but not inevitably evil, as in west-european world. The devil and his companions always try to steal and entrap your soul, but thats their nature - mean people that betray The Faith (christianity) or harm their neighbours are far, far more evil than even The Satan himself. The Cossack, on a contrary, is quite the opposite in ukrainian mindset - the champion of truth and The Faith, glorious defender of weak and poor but a trickster and bon-vivant as well. Ad so, the journey of Vasyl and Andrij somehow takes place in a spiritual realm - its the journey through strangely connected devil's plans to dishonor the overall cossack pride and dignity by hampering the attempt of delivery the important letter or even trapping Vasyl's soul. Devil and his minions tries many times, but cossack prowess fascinates even one of devils minions - "good demon" Kuts, proving the superiority of virtue over most elaborate mind-tricking.
The third and most important layer of symbolism is metaphor of Ukraine's fate as a nation. The period, which is described in a movie, is the reign of Catherine II as russian empress (who eventually destroyed the heart of a cossack movement - fortress-city of Sich). Its the time when other people commanded Ukrainians what to do and how to live. In the reality of the movie cossack Vasyl is a legend - excellent fighter, unconquered and loyal to The Cause - the one, whose time is closing its end under the pressure of necessities to find a good place in a new world such as find a good servitude or buy a good position for oneself. This is portrayed by the woman that asks Vasyl for a place of servitude near the Queen for her young sibling. The final moment - when Vasyl gives a horse and his hat for that boy, telling him that his fate is to be free as he wanted to be and the only servitude worth to be done is a servitude to his People - that moment is crucial for reinstaitment the prevalence of Truth over the False after the supposed victory of devil's forces in the Queen's palace. Vasyl's message to the young boy corellates heavily with the higher idea of freedom in Ukrainian mindset and even more - there is a hidden message for independance of Ukraine from others, who want to chain it with the foreign influence by bureaucracy, promises of payment and protection. It is worth reminding that the movie was shot in a period of total Soviet domination over Ukraine, when any discussion about the national idea and heroic figures of pre-soviet Ukraine's past was immediately banned and all media was meticulously checked for censoring all mentions of it. That (with the fact that cossacks in a movie have no admiration towards the russian reign) was the reason the film wasn't allowed for the big screens for 12 years even after it was lightly corrected due to censorship of art comittee in Moscow.
This list could go on and on - as i said earlier, authors sow a cultural subtext almost in every movie detail, but my task was to show most important layers, and if you have read this far - I hope now you understand why I believe that this movie catched the spirit of Ukrainian nation.
Considering this, i'll try to shed a little light on some of non-obvious nuances that should help non-ukrainians to understand this masterpiece a little bit more.
The plot is pretty simple - movie tells us a folk comedy story (which follows Gogol's novel, but not very thoroughly) of Vasyl and Andrij - two cossacks who make bizarre journey in attempt to deliver a letter from Hetman (cossack military leader) to the Queen (russian empress) in Petersburg and their return to their native village afterwards. Sounds not so complicated, but to understand what that journey means is a very hard task, because creators of the movie put deep allegories almost in every detail of the film.
First of all, to understand the setting, you should know the history of Ukraine and its relations with the Russian Empire in cossack period, as it establishes in Ukrainian National Mythos. According to that, Ukraine of 16-17 centuries was warring land full of calm provincial villages with fierce warriors that lived ordinary life, while was not in war campains against muslim Turkey and their vassals. The life of common folk was pretty simple and not used to the rigid rules of court etiquette, ball dresses and white wigs. So the journey to heavily German and France influenced russian capital was a journey to almost another world, most would even not believe that such thing as Petersburg is even real enough, at least not as the travellers will describe it. And so there is a first layer of journey.
The second is a spiritual one - its even harder to explain than the previous. Lets start from the statement that foreign land is different, oddly surreal - then in a mindset of a common Ukrainian villager it must be somehow connected with the diabolical spirits (which are always somewhere around). And I use the worlds "diabolical spirits" because its very hard to explain the real role of underworld and demons in ukrainian folklore, which is just the "other" force, different, uncommon - but not inevitably evil, as in west-european world. The devil and his companions always try to steal and entrap your soul, but thats their nature - mean people that betray The Faith (christianity) or harm their neighbours are far, far more evil than even The Satan himself. The Cossack, on a contrary, is quite the opposite in ukrainian mindset - the champion of truth and The Faith, glorious defender of weak and poor but a trickster and bon-vivant as well. Ad so, the journey of Vasyl and Andrij somehow takes place in a spiritual realm - its the journey through strangely connected devil's plans to dishonor the overall cossack pride and dignity by hampering the attempt of delivery the important letter or even trapping Vasyl's soul. Devil and his minions tries many times, but cossack prowess fascinates even one of devils minions - "good demon" Kuts, proving the superiority of virtue over most elaborate mind-tricking.
The third and most important layer of symbolism is metaphor of Ukraine's fate as a nation. The period, which is described in a movie, is the reign of Catherine II as russian empress (who eventually destroyed the heart of a cossack movement - fortress-city of Sich). Its the time when other people commanded Ukrainians what to do and how to live. In the reality of the movie cossack Vasyl is a legend - excellent fighter, unconquered and loyal to The Cause - the one, whose time is closing its end under the pressure of necessities to find a good place in a new world such as find a good servitude or buy a good position for oneself. This is portrayed by the woman that asks Vasyl for a place of servitude near the Queen for her young sibling. The final moment - when Vasyl gives a horse and his hat for that boy, telling him that his fate is to be free as he wanted to be and the only servitude worth to be done is a servitude to his People - that moment is crucial for reinstaitment the prevalence of Truth over the False after the supposed victory of devil's forces in the Queen's palace. Vasyl's message to the young boy corellates heavily with the higher idea of freedom in Ukrainian mindset and even more - there is a hidden message for independance of Ukraine from others, who want to chain it with the foreign influence by bureaucracy, promises of payment and protection. It is worth reminding that the movie was shot in a period of total Soviet domination over Ukraine, when any discussion about the national idea and heroic figures of pre-soviet Ukraine's past was immediately banned and all media was meticulously checked for censoring all mentions of it. That (with the fact that cossacks in a movie have no admiration towards the russian reign) was the reason the film wasn't allowed for the big screens for 12 years even after it was lightly corrected due to censorship of art comittee in Moscow.
This list could go on and on - as i said earlier, authors sow a cultural subtext almost in every movie detail, but my task was to show most important layers, and if you have read this far - I hope now you understand why I believe that this movie catched the spirit of Ukrainian nation.