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"rusalky" or Water Sprites. Although the Water Mas ter does not appear in the movie, the Water Sprites do, interacting with Mavka, the Spirit of the Forest, who gives the film its title; she is the grand-daughter of the Forest Master, who appears in both the drama and the film, and is, in both, the main protagonist. Two geometric figures can be applied to the construction of the drama as well as to the construction of the film. The first figure is the full circle, represent ing the cycle of seasons that the reader/spectator is about to witness. The story begins in the Spring, develops during the Summer and the Fall, and ends in Winter. The second geometric figure, placed within the full cir cle, is the triangle, or more specifically, a series of tri angles. The first triangle is created by the three pro tagonists as they enter the forest: the woodcutter Leo, his sister, and her son Lukash. This triangle changes as Mavka enters the picture. The triangle is now made up of Lukash who plays the flute, Mavka the forest nymph who is attracted to him because of the music, and her grand-father the Lisovyk who tries to persuade her to forget the world of the human race because it will only bring her sadness, pain and desolation. But Lukash's flute has awakened the Mavka from her Winter sleep and in spite of the Forest Master's efforts, she finds Lu kash, falls in love with him, and becomes human. In the film and in the drama, the relationship begins when Mavka stops Lukash while he is cutting a birch tree to drink its sap. The passage of Mavka from nymph to human reaches its climax when she discovers that she has ac quired the power to shed tears, and therefore, to know pain as well as joy. In Ukrainian literature and Ukrain ian folk songs, tears can signify joy as well as sorrow, but more importantly, they symbolize empowerment over one's destiny. Mavka's destiny, however, is just as the Forest Master predicted. She enters a world she does not comprehend and for which she has not been prepared. A new triangle develops which involves Mavka, Lukash and his mother. Lukash's mother com plains about Mavka's actions, her dress, her work. The turning point in the relationship between Mavka and Lukash occurs at harvest time. A creature of the forest, Mavka cannot participate in the harvest. She does not want to cut the wheat and thus betray the spirits of the meadows. As she is unable to take part in the harvest, a new triangle develops with the appearance of Kelena, a distorted pronunciation of Kalyna. The kalyna is one of the most symbolic trees in Ukrainian folklore and a woman's beauty is often compared to the bloom or the red berries of the tree. In The Forest Song, however, Kelena is a widow, a prosaic and practical woman who works fast and well. She impresses Lukash who forgets and abandons Mavka. Alone, rejected and despondent, Mavka enters the underworld but is allowed to come back during the Fall. She comes to the cottage where Lukash's family lives, but Lukash is not there. He is roaming the forest like a war wolf. Mavka appears to Kelena in the form of a birch tree. Kelena is angry and wants to cut the tree with her axe. At that moment the force of nature, symbolized by a mad man, takes revenge. Her cottage bursts into flames. Later in the movie the women are shown leav ing the burned down cottage in a cart loaded with all their possessions and the children. Mavka finds Lukash dying in the snow. In the literary drama she softly speaks to him, asks him to play his music and to re member that nature is everlasting. She leaves him hope; she assures him that she will return next Spring. In the movie, it is the Forest Master who closes Lukash's eyes as he dies; he takes the flute and plays. One of the chil dren, hearing the music, slides down from the cart, takes the flute and begins to play. The landscape is bare, fro zen and desolate, yet something intangible ... the music ... suggests that there is life beneath the snow. When Spring comes, the forest will come alive again. The fi nal triangle in the drama is Lukash, Mavka, and the mu sic; the final triangle in the film is the Forest Master, the women, and the child awkwardly playing the flute. Several metaphors in the film are closely con nected to the Ukrainian mythology of the forest, the double belief system which combines pagan belief and Christianity and the reality of oppressed life. First is the nymph who metamorphoses herself into a human woman through the process of tears when she falls in love with a man. The tears, often symbolic of the hard ship of human existence, are also a source of strength. The second metaphor is that of the axe, symbolic of hard work for survival. It is needed to clear the woods to get land for farming, for building a shelter, and for provid ing fuel for the fire. The red berries of the kalyna sym bolize the heart and blood of Mavka when they are crushed. In the Spring, the kalyna blooms with white snow-balls; in the Fall, its red berries pull heavily on the branches and the tree becomes a sad, over-burdened silhouette. As the third metaphor, it symbolizes inno cence and passion, despair as well as sacrifice. The forest animal associated with the forest nymph is the doe, a symbol of the princely origin of the Forest Nymph as well as of her human status. Mavka is holding a doe while Lukash and Kelena work and flirt. When Mavka stands, she lets the doe go. In the next scene of the film, Lukash and Kelena make love. When Mavka reappears, Lukash and his mother are carrying a НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ", ГРУДЕНЬ 1998 19
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