It’s more than three hours long, it’s in Russian, it’s black and white, and by God, it’s just painful to watch. That being said, Andrei Rublev is clearly the greatest film of all time and beyond criticism.

Andrei Rublev isn’t great just because Criterion says it is. Rublev has to succeed on the same level as any film. And that includes character development and acting performances. I point you to the chapter on the sacking of Vladimir. The Tatar leader is magnificent. His Mongol face and long, thick Mongol hair. Black of course. And above all, his personality. Here you have a guy, a blood thirsty warlord, whose main hobby consists of raping and pillaging a defenseless village. Rape is a crime of violence. This guy would see that and raise you ten. And yet consider his conversation with the prince:

Tatar: “Strong is your love for your brother. When were you last reconciled with him?”
Prince: “The Metropolitan summoned us to kiss the cross.”
Tatar: “When?”

His interest in his companion’s story plays very genuine on the screen. Makes him seem more human than the going average. (It’s more follow-up than I would have offered.) And this is not some filmic contrivance either—some cleverly inserted bit of dialogue in order to set us up the flashback to the reconciliation scene. No. This guy is the real deal. “It’s that Jungian thing.” Terrifying, captivating and (you’ll see) beautiful. Dennis Hopper may be two of those, but he sure ain’t all three. This was five minutes. There are 175 others just as good.