This is the firstfilm in fifteen years by Armenian-born Sergei Paradjanov, thought bymany to be the greatest living Soviet filmmaker on the basis of hisextraordinary masterpieces, Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors (1964,see October 26) and Sayat Nova (The Color of Pomegranates, 1968). TheLegend of Suram Fortress, co-directed by Dodo Abashidze, is amagnificent paean to Georgian culture, its plot based on a legend aboutthe repeated efforts of the Georgian people to construct a fortressagainst invaders. The fortress continues to collapse until a fortuneteller recalls a prophecy that a handsome young man must be walledinside the fortress alive in order for the building to stand. The son ofher own lover is the sacrificial lamb. The story, at once simple andmarvelous (in the literal sense), unfolds in a circular rather thanlinear manner, and its mythic possibilities are realized most wondrouslyin the film's visuals. As painterly as Shadows of Our ForgottenAncestors, yet elegant where that film was lusty, Legend is exquisite inthe manner of a painted miniature. Its jewel-like colors and decor havethe feel of a medieval illuminated manuscript.