“The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim”: joy and disappointment

The extraordinary journey of Seraphim

Estimated reading time: less than a minute.

1943 The daughter of a repressed priest ends up in an orphanage. Here she is oppressed by adults and children, because she is the “daughter of a priest.” During Holy Week, she is required to renounce her faith... The girl will have a wonderful journey into an extraordinary world and a meeting with her heavenly patron Seraphim of Sarov, who comes to her aid...

On August 27, the full-length animated film “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim,” based on the book by Timofey Veronin, will be released. The creators of the cartoon talk about how the story of the girl Sima came about and how the work on the project went - from test sketches to the selection of music and voices, about the difficulties and their own discoveries.

Timofey Veronin, scriptwriter, writer, associate professor of the Department of History and Theory of Literature, Faculty of Philology, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University

Timofey Veronin

The image of St. Seraphim entered my heart from the first steps towards faith twenty years ago. I remember my first inept prayers in front of a tiny icon of the saint, and my baptism took place side by side with a large, human-sized icon of the elder. The bright joy emanating from Seraphim’s face was so necessary for my soul, withered from Soviet atheism. Through him, she began to recognize the merciful and meek image of the Savior, the gentle warmth of the Holy Spirit. And then it happened that the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate ordered me a book about Orthodox holidays. I remember that blissful summer of 2007, which my family and I spent in a distant village, among flowering fields, soaked in the gentle northern sun. I kept thinking about how to write this book more quickly, and then one day, when my wife and the older children went for a walk, and I was left with my sleeping two-year-old son, suddenly the first phrase was written: “Fimka was crying...” And I was pierced by the image of the girl Seraphima, the daughter of a repressed man. a priest who lives in an orphanage in the post-war years, knows nothing about the Christian faith and yearns for her lost parents, and then falls ill and here, on the verge of life and death, the Monk Seraphim appears to her and carries her to Heaven... And a strange thing, working on book, for some reason I thought that a cartoon could be made from it. And then one fine day (it was my son’s name day) one of the producers of the future cartoon called me and offered to work on the script. I, of course, perceived this as an undeserved gift from St. Seraphim. While doing this, I was happy to look again and again at the wondrous face of the old man. And during the years of making the film, we had a wonderful daughter named, of course, Seraphim. So I want to dedicate this work to her.

Igor Meshchan, producer, board member of the St. Seraphim of Sarov Charitable Foundation

Igor Meshchan

At first we thought of making a feature film. And then a number of questions arose: who will play Father Seraphim? How will it play? After all, playing a saint is very difficult, especially one who is known and revered all over the world. This is how we came up with the idea of ​​a cartoon, because it allows us not to associate the image of St. Seraphim with a specific actor. The film crew visited the places where the saint lived - Diveevo, Sarov, and studied almost all the iconography of the saint, lithographs that were once produced at the Diveevo Monastery. Naturally, we always consulted with the chairman of the board of the Seraphim of Sarov Foundation, Metropolitan Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, and with Abbess Sergius, abbess of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery, because their opinion was very important to us.

Still from the film “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim”

At the very beginning of work on the project, Metropolitan Georgy told us: “I don’t want to see “Mickey Mouse” drawn in such a cartoon.” And indeed, from the first sketches we realized that we could not make the image of Seraphim conventional (which is typical for a cartoon). Seraphim of Sarov is a serious and great figure, so much so that it is impossible to “fit” him into the format of an ordinary cartoon. Therefore, we tried to find a realistic style that is on the verge of cartoon and real cinema. This is extremely difficult work, but it allows us to recreate the image of Father Seraphim as accurately as possible, to show the Reverend exactly as people imagine him.

In search of the image of the main character - Seraphim

We were faced with another difficult task: we had to decide what kind of voice Father Seraphim should have. After all, he was born more than 250 years ago, and there is no information about this. It seemed to us that the priest’s voice should be rich - rich, beautiful, deep, serious. It was clear that, on the one hand, the voice should be given by a talented and experienced actor, and on the other hand, the voice should not be recognizable to such an extent as to “interrupt” the image of Father Seraphim. There are brightly colored voices, for example, like those of Alexei Batalov, Sergei Bezrukov, and if you hear them, you will recognize them from the first words. We searched for a long time, listened to many different voices - and finally found a suitable candidate - the wonderful actor Alexander Mikhailov. We decided to take the book by Timofey Veronin as the basis for the cartoon and asked the author to write a script for us. The result is a touching story about how St. Seraphim helps a girl in a difficult life situation, with an unexpected, but very good and joyful ending - a good family movie that will be interesting to adults and children, church and non-church people.

Sergey Antonov, production director

Sergey Antonov

Once I was walking through Tsaritsyno Park and saw someone left on a bench a book called “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim” - large, beautiful, with a picture of a girl and Seraphim of Sarov on the cover. So that it would not be lost, I decided to take it and give it to my colleague, because his entire family loves and honors the Reverend very much. And after a while, when the Seraphim Sarovsky Foundation contacted our company, my colleague offered to write a script for a film based on this book. And when the author of the book came to meet one of the producers, it turned out that they know each other, go to the same temple, communicate, they just never talked about what they do in life. It was with such non-random coincidences that my work on the cartoon began. Our studio has already worked with spiritual themes - we filmed a four-part cartoon “Biblical Parables”.

Sketched 3D model of Seraphim in development

At one festival, I was able to see the reaction of children: there were about 400 schoolchildren in the hall, tired from watching, noisy, irritated; the screen no longer attracted their attention, but as soon as our cartoon began, there was complete silence. And this pleasantly surprised me. It seems to me that the point is that the spiritual theme in cinema calls on the viewer to some kind of complicity, and it cannot but attract attention. It may not create much resonance, but it still finds its audience. Therefore, it was with great joy that I began working on a cartoon about Seraphim of Sarov. In addition, almost our entire team consisted of church people - the author of the book, artists, and others - so there was complete mutual understanding during the work.

The actress's movements are transferred to the character model (in this case, Seraphim)

Ivan Uryupin, film composer, conductor

Ivan Uryupin

Music sounds in the cartoon most of the time; we recorded many fragments that are completely different in style, but they are all united by a leitmotif - the Seraphim theme. Schumann once said a great phrase: “Music is contrasts.” Against the background of musical fragments illustrating worldly passions, war, repression, dark mystical fantasies, Seraphim's theme sounds like a call for peace, reconciliation, and repentance. While working on music, I at the same time deeply studied the life of Seraphim of Sarov. I was amazed at how much sympathy he had for the suffering and doubters - and it seems to me that this is the very feeling from which everything positive in a person can begin.

Production designer Yuri Pronin is working on the image of St. Seraphim of Sarov

Sacred music has always interested me; in my youth I even sang in a church choir. And since the modern world is moving by leaps and bounds towards cultural aggression, art increasingly seeks to shock, “stun” a person, I began to think more often about what means can alternatively influence the listener. And it was precisely while working on “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim” that I realized that modern film composers are completely in vain to ignore liturgical, spiritual music. I would like to revive in the listener’s memory our musical riches - those expressive means that were discovered in the 19th century and subsequently undeservedly forgotten, to draw on the great heritage of our composers who worked in the field of sacred music - Rachmaninov, Golovanov, Chesnokov, Kastalsky, Grechaninov. The main thing is that these means are absolutely cinematic, and a film about St. Seraphim is an excellent opportunity to reintroduce them into wide cultural use.

Stages of work on characters (Seraphim’s parents)

All the music in the cartoon is live, not computer-generated. I did this on principle: it seems to me that music recorded by an orchestra, “live sound,” is better perceived by the listener. Therefore, we invited a symphony orchestra and choir to record - these are 73 people from the Bolshoi Theater and the Russian National Orchestra, as well as the State Academic Russian Choir named after A.V. Sveshnikov.

Sketches for the film (Reverend Seraphim of Sarov)

Sketch for the episode - St. Seraphim leads Sima to the Kingdom of Heaven

Materials provided by the animation studio "KinoAtis"

“The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim”: joy and disappointment

This article will be devoted to the pros and cons of the cartoon “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim.” The author's opinion reflects his subjective impressions and does not claim to be the absolute truth.

Almost a year ago, on August 27, 2015, the full-length Orthodox cartoon “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim” was released.

A beautiful trailer, support from the Ministry of Culture and the Foundation of St. Seraphim of Sarov, active promotion in the Orthodox media - everything fueled viewers’ interest in this project.

And indeed, the Orthodox cartoons that have been released in recent years can be counted on one hand: “Brothers” in 2013, dedicated to the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, “Peresvet and Oslyabya” in 2008 about the Battle of Kulikovo, “This is my choice” in 2012 - that’s probably everything that can be named offhand, while the public demand for works with traditional Christian values ​​is very great.

Initially, your humble servant was captivated by the demo video and enthusiastically awaited the release of the animated film, but after watching “The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim” he was both delighted and very disappointed by it.

It is clear that the creators of the cartoon did a great job, they tried and put their souls into it, as well as the fact that it is always easier to criticize than to build, but it is necessary to build with all care!

Having weighed all the pros and cons, the author of the review will not recommend this cartoon to children who have not yet developed critical thinking. But first things first…

Let's start with the advantages, of which there are many:

1. If you look closely at the pages of the calendar, you will see that the cartoon takes place in an orphanage during the days of Holy Week 1943 (from April 18 to 24) and ends on the Bright Resurrection of Christ (April 25), when both Seraphima herself and For many other residents of the orphanage, a miracle happens, as it should be on such a holiday.

2. Another plus is the very beautifully drawn heavenly abodes, visions of the main character, a magnificent image of the staircase to the throne of the Most High, round dances of angels and standing before God in prayer on His palms...

3. The cartoon was made using modern 3D technology.

4. The scenery was recreated in detail and quite believably - the furnishings of the orphanage, primus stoves, facsimiles, busts and portraits of leaders, slogans and flags, a map of military operations on the wall, also detailed and very beautifully made frescoes in the closed temple, icons, portraits and other furnishings in the cleaning lady's room and in other locations.

5. The fifth positive point is beautifully and reliably recreated fragments from the life of St. Seraphim of Sarov. This is one of the most revered saints in Rus', and to see on the screen his feat of prayer and pastoral care for people, the way he changed their souls is worth a lot!

6. The providence of God is interestingly shown - when the teacher’s denunciations against the humble cleaning lady disappear from the mailbox, because Margarita needs to draw her “travels to the Lake Country with the fairy.”

And now about the disadvantages, of which there are even more:

1. Constant “time jumps”:

The year is 1943 (according to the calendar), and Seraphima was born in 1931 (according to her personal file, which is shown twice in close-up in the cartoon), she looks about eight or nine years old, like all girls...

Things are even worse with her “friend” Rita. Her personal file says that she entered the orphanage a year before she was born, and her mother actually died three years before the birth of her daughter... Oh yes, at the time of the main events she was also thirteen years old!

2. Graphics.

In some places it is beautiful, in other places it “sags” a lot - the characters’ faces become “plastic”, and their movements become sluggish and angular, at the level of low-budget games of the mid-2000s.

3. Ignoring history:

If the action takes place in April 1943, then the Red Army cannot “advance on all fronts, and in some places already cross the border of the Soviet Union,” which is mentioned twice by the director of the orphanage and once by Katya Volkova. The strategic offensive on all fronts will begin only in 1944.

If our people are really already persecuting the Germans, then the whole story with the calendar and Easter is in vain, as well as the motive of the “religious persecution” of Seraphim for, as we remember, on September 4, 1943, Stalin met with three Orthodox hierarchs and allowed them everything: seminaries and churches and worship services, and ordered the return of survivors from the camps. In this case, who is Olga Semyonovna (the evil teacher) to challenge the new party policy.

4. Characters in the cartoon periodically go mute.

5. Numerous logical holes and strange character motivations:

In the temple, and then in his cell, the Monk Seraphim explains to the priest’s daughter what Easter is.

Seraphima's father, priest Pavel, was shot for professing the Orthodox faith (see personal file), i.e. he is a holy new martyr, standing before God in the Kingdom of Heaven (which is additionally shown in Seraphim’s vision), but for some reason the girl is helped by her heavenly patron, the Venerable Seraphim, and not by her own father (an equally saint), who also distances himself from his daughter: “obey Father Seraphim."

The director of the orphanage is a determined military officer, wounded more than once, who lost an arm in the war and often risked his life; in the orphanage he is afraid of the teacher. Being a boss, he cannot put a presumptuous subordinate in her place and, being a believer himself (as his behavior at the beginning of the cartoon indirectly indicates), he is not only ashamed to speak honestly on this topic, but also almost beats the child with a stick, forcing out his renunciation.

The daughters of Soviet officers take away bread, glasses and in every possible way abuse the weaker children in the orphanage, and also regularly gossip and brag. Two of my grandmothers, just from the generation of “children of war”, were the children of an artillery major and in their house, for some reason, there was no greater sin than to lie or offend the weak.

Everything is predetermined. There are children chosen by God, there are ordinary children, and there are those who are possessed - who from an early age see fairies and burn crosses, despite their kind attitude towards them.

At the beginning of the cartoon, security officers brought three hefty boxes of explosives into the temple. As a result of the explosion, even the bell tower fell. When Seraphima returns to the abandoned church, not only is it intact, but the frescoes inside have suffered little deterioration.

The professional teacher has favorites in her team and a constant object of bullying - Seraphim, who is so unloved that she can give her an ugly chase with knocking over things even in the director's office. The teacher is clearly in the wrong place... She should be in the SS!

On the wall in the director’s office hangs a map of military operations in the Tuapse and Novorossiysk region. It is there, according to one military officer and the daughter of another, that the border of the Soviet Union is located...

St. Seraphim, who lived in the 19th century, holding in his palm the stars of the orders of St. George the Victorious and St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, for some reason calls them “medals.”

The children are completely illogical - they either take away the bread, then suddenly give it back, then they lie to the director to avoid punishment, then they tell Seraphima that “she is owed for this,” and poor Taraskina (the girl with glasses) is generally kicked out of her company - and the officers' daughters and Sima and Rita, but in the end, of course, they give him an egg.

At night, the children see the ghost of a woman walking up the stairs. If the cleaning lady was meant, then it is unclear why she did not call out to the children when she saw them and why she glowed in the dark, and if she was a ghost, then why her story was not revealed.

For some reason, there are only 8 children in the orphanage.

Being Soviet children of the war generation and greeting an officer, Katya and her friend suddenly forget that “you don’t put your hand on an empty head.”

Seraphima fell into unconsciousness, jumping onto a wooden staircase from a height of only two meters... The turbulent experience of my childhood testifies to her extreme fragility.

The girls and the director actively helped the teacher send Seraphima to a colony. But before sending her away, they sharply “not to blame” and unanimously feel sorry for the girl: “you’ll be the first to beat them there.”

Absolutely no one in the orphanage was amazed by the little miracle with a cross, whose rope did not burn out in the oven.

If a nine-year-old child wears a cross and talks about God, the evil communists will certainly send him from the orphanage to a colony. But if his mother came for him, then the colony is replaced with... a happy family life at home.

The policeman on the motorcycle doesn’t know that Serafima ran away from the orphanage, and cell phones haven’t been invented yet, but it’s unclear why he starts chasing the first girl he meets.

Summary:

The cartoon is beautiful, but too “anti-communist”. The trouble is that its shadow falls not so much on the Bolshevik ideology, but on ordinary people (including military men) who lived and fought during the war.

Watch “Only Old Men Go to Battle”! Do you believe that the hero of Leonid Bykov could be afraid to reveal his faith or force someone to renounce Christ before battle? What about the fact that the teacher from “Spring on Zarechnaya Street” would rip off people’s crosses, write denunciations and put her students in a colony?

People, for the most part, were different - lighter and cleaner than today.

Overall, Seraphim's Extraordinary Journey is more disappointing than enjoyable. There are more decent Orthodox cartoons and good films like “Proverbs” that can be shown to children.

Andrey Szegeda

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