Pavel Lungin made his reputation as a post-Soviet Scorsese, with hard-times urban tales (Taxi Blues) set in grubby, materialist Moscow. What a sea change with The Island, a magnificently realized spiritual parable set in a Russian Orthodox monastery on the White Sea. In 1942, a Nazi ship intercepts a Russian barge, whereupon sniveling coal stoker Anatoly (Mamonov) begs for his life. No problem: all Anatoly has to do is shoot his Captain. How will Anatoly live with his crime?

By 1976, Anatoly has become a monk, living in a crumbling shack. Each day he prays fervently, acknowledging his terrible betrayal and murder. Anatoly isn’t just a suffering Christian penitent, however — he’s a mad prankster, terrifying the other monks with his anarchist tricks. Is he a wise fool, doing God’s bidding, or a foolish fool, undoing the Christian work of the Orthodox brethren?

Gerard Peary, Boston Phoenix