Nearly 50 years after its release, Tengiz Abuladze’s pastoral fable remains one of the great treasures of Georgian cinema.
Tengiz Abuladze’s 1976 feature The Wishing Tree (‘Natvris Khe’) has one of the most visually stunning opening scenes in Georgian cinema: a beautiful white horse dying in a vast field of blood-red poppies. This gorgeous image is a warning that in this film, as in life, beauty and death are intertwined.
Adapted from stories by the Georgian writer Giorgi Leonidze, the film offers a view of pastoral life in a pre-revolutionary Georgian village. It is memorable for its visuals, shot by cinematographer Lomer Akhvlediani, and for its poetic narrative that blends folklore with human emotions.