It is a most unusual story about the great Hermitage Art Museum located in St. Petersburg, Russia. You (the moviegoer) are part of the story line, an evening tour of the Museum... which becomes a trip through Russian History along with a thousand "ghosts" of different historical periods.

Only one "ghost acknowledges your presence; to all the other ghosts, you are but a silent witness of the unfolding events.

The entire movie (about 96 minutes long) is shot in one, continuous, uninterrupted take. It seems like the camera never stops moving. Indeed, the entire movie was captured digitally on a hard drive as the cinema photographer with his mobile camera travels just under a mile in and around the galleries of the Hermitage Museum.
You will witness life scenes of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, a formal high ceremony in Russian court (an apology by Persian diplomats for murdering Russian diplomats in Tehran), a family dinner scene of the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II, art tours of the galleries and it all ends up with a most grand Court Dance... as you are treated to a historical recreation of a last great ball held by the Czar.
The film is a creation by Aleksandr Sokurov. It is entitled the Russian Ark because the Hermitage is an "ark" which preserves Russian culture and history for future generations. It is well named as Christians cannot fail to note another cargo theme which is stored aboard the "Russian Ark".... Christianity. A history of Christianity is told in numerous paintings on "your" tour of the galleries. In the movie reviews this author read, none took note of this powerful quiet theme- but you will indeed, as your companion ghost certainly does (this is certainly no Sister Wendy) and he seems to linger over the religious paintings... such as the dual portrait of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. This is one end of the Christianity timeline, but soon you are taken to the beginning of the Christian timeline (Abraham, according to Saint Matthew's genealogy of Jesus Christ ...Mat 1:2), to that of Abraham and the "Binding of Issac, " skillfully painted by Rembrant Harmensz van Rijn in 1635. This painting captures the highest moment in the testing of Abraham's faith... the angel halts Abraham's actions and the knife is suspended in mid-air. In the background, the sacrificial lamb caught in the thicket of thorns prefigures a future sacrifice of a "Promised Son" near the same Mount Moriah.

Here's the reason you'll love the movie... we are all "ark" people. Noah had the Ark to preserve life for a replenishment of earth. The Ark of the Covenant preserved "the testimony" (Exodus 25:22) of the laws given to Moses by God, which form the bedrock of our laws. Our Bibles are an Ark preserving God's word. And in Sukurov's movie Russian Ark, the Hermitage is featured as an Ark of Russian History, but actually preserves much more precious cargo than is professed.
Part of the previous cargo of the Russian Ark is the visual scriptures of Christianity that can speak to all... the paintings and artwork which transcended two barriers... a) the curse of the Tower of Babel and b) the thousand year edict which had existed to limit the Bible in one language only... Latin. Sukurov made a conscious decision to honestly display the cargo of the Ark. For sure, the Hermitage "Ark" preserved a visual Christian history in a nation that had for decades sought to separate its people from their God.

You are urged to book the 96 minute voyage aboard the Russian Ark... as you'll be enriched and rewarded on several levels.

certainly one of my favorites... it is slow, grand, beautiful, subtle. it is what every other period piece isn't.