English film documentarist, Paul Rotha, pointed out that a documentary film, first of all, should reflect today's problems and reality. Giorgi Mrevlishvili's film "Twelve Lessons" (2019) is an excellent example of this. It tells the story of Valerian Kotrikadze, a grandfather living in a village, who tries to pave the way for his autistic grandson, Vako, by developing his personal skills and overcoming difficulties so that he can integrated into society independently in the future.
Many feature films have been created on this topic, but when a documentary film is chosen to discuss such a painful issue, the primary task of the director is to convey the main message to the audience in such a way that it neither imagines this issue as an insurmountable problem, which is already a burden to family members and relatives, nor disguises it with unrealistic illusions.
This film tells us about the warm and caring relationship between grandfather and grandson, where the "roles" are changed, where the "laws" of life are violated, where age does not mean anything, nor who is older and who is younger. The main thing here is to support those who need it unconditionally. There are no rules and laws of care. Sometimes the grandson takes care of the elderly grandfather and sometimes the grandfather takes care of the grandson. There is no place for selfishness, nor only a sense of duty, there is only one thing – love. The grandfather spends all his energy and efforts on his grandson and this gives him more strength, courage and perseverance in the hope that one day, when he is no longer in this world, Vako will take care of the yard, the house and have a profession that will allow him to live independently.
The director mentioned in one of the TV programs that the most important thing for him was the character in the documentary. He also talked about the trust that builds between him and his characters. He gained the trust of grandfather and grandson. Grandpa's pleasant and free speech, actions, gestures and facial expressions blend naturally with the skillfully harmonious movement of the film camera. The barrier between the audience and the screen is gradually broken, and with them you go through the steps on the village cart-road, from home to school, trying to subconsciously help Vako to give the answers that are used as an exercise for his mental development and to improve his memory. You become an invisible hero of the film.
From the very first shots, the sound of a news programme can be heard, which informs us of the invasion of Asian insects and the futile struggle with them, due to which the locals may be left without crops. The topic of the relationship between nature and man is also discussed in the film. The invasion of harmful insects, like other natural disasters, can leave villagers starving.
Like the villagers, the grandpa and Vako also suffer from inappropriate attention from the state. The director divided all these stories in the film into 12 lessons. In each of them, the step taken forward by the grandfather to help Vako is outlined step by step. In each "lesson," the main character is the grandfather, around whom a new issue arises. Nevertheless, there is always hope and thanks to Grandfather's strong drive, not every problem is an insurmountable barrier. His behavior is indeed equal to heroism, his strength, self-sacrifice and perseverance are shown not only towards Vako, but also towards others. To reach this stage, Valerian Kotrikadze overcame many obstacles. First of all, as he himself notes, the first obstacle that he had to overcome was coming to terms with the idea that his grandson is autistic and giving in to despair, which led almost to a tragic end. But suddenly his mind brightened, the spiritually fallen man gathered his strength and awakened those qualities that were dormant in himself, when life acquires a meaning that is worth fighting for.
It is clearly seen in the film that the state's inadequate attention to the people with autistic spectrum is the main problem in the regions. The state program for the treatment of autism is relatively active, unfortunately, only in the capital city so far. Its expansion requires the training of more qualified specialists elsewhere. The grandfather is also forced to take it all on himself, he goes door to door in the village with the organization "Union of Parents and Children with Disabilities" and tries to help their family members to raise the issue of opening a rehabilitation center for such persons in his region. Other people's problems are as close and painful to him as his own.
For Vako, his grandfather is a pastor, a teacher, a friend and a psychiatrist. Although Vako goes to school, he gets most of his knowledge from home. Apart from the battered village school, an empty bookcase standing in the classroom and a group photo of well-known Georgians: Ilia Chavchavadze, Akaki Tsereteli and Iakob Gogebashvili stretched out on the piano, he can see the caring attitude of the teacher who tries to illuminate the gloomy environment of the village school with the light of knowledge.
By frequently using close-ups, the director wants to make the audience a participant in the emotions that the grandfather and grandson feel. The grandfather’s image reflected in the pupil of Vako’s eye is shown in the closest view and perceived as a symbol of their solid and trusting relationship. The spiritual closeness between Vako and Grandpa is as strong as the physical touch, when Vako touches Grandpa's hand, constantly looking for his bare fingers to hold and love. After all, he is the biggest supporting force for him, warmth, love, hope. Grandfather feels the same towards him – hope and warmth, that's why he utters these words: "We are two people representing one." The frequent alternation of Vako and his grandfather’s close-up views, the fast dynamics of the subjective and objective camera will make you look into the characters’ inner feelings, which will remind you that you are one of the members of the society that is obliged to share the fate of such families and sympathize with them.
Music has its own meaning in this film and adds expressiveness to such episodes, where together with the dynamic movement of the camera, the speed of changing images and the alternation of close-ups, it creates a harmonious perfection. The POV shot of Vako racing his bicycle as he speeds up and moves forward at a fast pace is seen as quite an impressive and hopeful episode. The camera quickly changes its orientation from subjective to objective, and the road appears in the shot with the same rapid rhythm, and finally, birds gracefully flying in the sky, which is metaphorically associated with Vako’s inner strength and overcoming difficulties. Episodes depicting the main problems are replaced by beautiful pastoral shots. The camera work is flawless. This is the director’s function too.
In the plot, we can see step by step what results the grandfather achieves with his grandson after overcoming each new task, which is hopeful for everyone. A character who talks about the evolution of the computer draws a parallel between the processor of the previous century and the difference in the apparent dimensions of the new modern processor. Talking about this progress can be seen as a hope for the advancement of medicine. Everything is developing, moving forward, and hearing this gives you hope that one day, perhaps, a drug will be invented that will prove to be a panacea for Vako and many other people of the autistic spectrum.
Despite the high artistic value of the film, a car mechanic, as a character periodically appears in the shot. His pathetic, excessively artificial intonation, gestures, facial expressions violate the naturalness characteristic of documentary cinema and give rise to a feeling of fakeness. Also, the excessive talk of the foreman is completely meaningless. Cutting off nut trees destroyed by harmful insects is agitating and completely useless with melancholy music playing in the background. It is painful to see how huge dry branches fall to the ground and how tenderly grown trees, in which a lot of work has been invested, are destroyed with a single movement of the hand.
Sooner or later something ends, then it starts again. is born and dies. Then the hope for a new one is born again, and so life continues in endless suffering, hope, justification, disappointment and again in a positive vision towards the future. The main thing is to have determination and never give up.
Grandfather says goodbye to the old car, with which he made many "journeys" full of good missions, and disposes it for scrap. Instead, he buys a new one, which will serve more energetically in the implementation of even more noble deeds. Many difficulties have been overcome. With his grandfather's support and faith, Vako’s lessons progress, which is hopefully crowned by the song they sing together. Valerian Kotrikadze is ready to fulfill Vako's promises and teach swimming. He ties a rope on Vako’s swimming ring, which he also ties on himself, and so they both enter the vast sea.
The camera pans away from the sea in slow motion with a vertigo effect. The area of the sea expands, and the grandfather and grandson appear as a point in this vast space. Despite the changing nature of the sea, they still move forward relentlessly towards their goal.
Ketevan Ghonghadze
