VELNIO SĖKLA

Written by Vytautas Žalakevičius
Cinematography by Donatas Pečiūra
Music by Olegas Karavaičiukas
Art director Algirdas Ničius

Kostas Smoriginas, Eugenija Pleškytė, Vytautas Paukštė, Inesa Saulite, Bronius Talačka, Algirdas Paulavičius, Algirds Latėnas, Algirds Latėnas ir kt.

Algimantas Puipa’s The Devil’s Seed (1980) already shows the distinctive features of the then still emerging director’s style – a strong focus on the visual, his liking of surreal details, his ability to combine the psychological acting of actors and a unique vision of the world.

At first glance, this film may appear as a typical Soviet-era Lithuanian picture that grew out of the tradition of depicting the interwar-period Lithuanian village as an arena of class struggles, exploitation and lawlessness. The author of the script, Vytautas Žalakevičius, who freely interpreted the prose of Petras Cvirka in writing it, did not renounce the familiar characters – lack-all serfs and greedy, cruel kulaks. However, here it is only the point of departure: the protagonists of The Devil’s Seed will go much further than the scheme allows, and Žalakevičius and Puipa will give the story about a “love child” Jonis (Kostas Smoriginas) unexpected twists and turns. This is what makes The Devil’s Seed stand out as not yet another drama about the countryside but an auteur’s film, a contemplation on human nature, perhaps even a reflection on the Lithuanian mentality.

At first glance, Algimantas Puipa’s The Devil’s Seed (1980) may appear as a typical Soviet-era Lithuanian film that grew out of the tradition of depicting the interwar-period Lithuanian village as an arena of class struggles, exploitation and lawlessness. The author of the script, Vytautas Žalakevičius, who freely interpreted the prose of Petras Cvirka in writing it, did not renounce the familiar characters – lack-all serfs and greedy, cruel kulaks. However, here it is only the point of departure: the protagonists of The Devil’s Seed will go much further than the scheme allows, and Žalakevičius and Puipa will give the story about a “love child” Jonis (Kostas Smoryginas) unexpected twists and turns. This is what makes The Devil’s Seed stand out as not yet another drama about the countryside but an auteur’s film, a contemplation on human nature, perhaps even a reflection on the Lithuanian mentality.

The rich farmer Banys (Vytautas Paukštė) hires teenager Jonis. The youth works very hard, yet is constantly prompted to work and insulted. Jonis hates Banys. The only thing he loves is horses. At the beginning of The Devil’s Seeds, the director allows the viewer to look at the world through the eyes of Jonis. Horses give him what people cannot. When Jonis looks out the window, the boy’s gaze reflects all the traumas of his childhood. But he will grow up, become stronger, and his relationship with Banys will turn even more dramatic.

Banys, embodied by Paukštė, is a cruel, mean man. He reproaches his wife Morta (Eugenija Pleškytė) for not being able to have children and exploits Jonis. He plays tricks with the tsar’s officials, is capable of betrayal, selling out, beating animals, being heartless, but is strongly attached to the land, just like the stump that is so very hard to pull from the ground in one scene of the film. Banys’ subsequent physical disability is inseparable from his pain of not having anyone to leave the land to. The narrative spans quite a long period, and the actor gradually reveals more and more aspects of Banys’ character - his anger, his mistrust. It is interesting to observe how Banys treats the already somewhat older Jonis, who could be his son, while realising that his wife is not indifferent to the youth. Or how he quotes the Bible. Or how he nestles up to an oak and looks at the sky from its hollow, still unable to come to terms with his impending death.

Jonis, too, is an ambiguous character. Pushed by Banys to become a recruit, he will return, labour, risk his life to save the horses, see his master die and marry Morta, although he has loved only Teresė (Inesa Saulytė) since his very young days. Jonis will question his choice only once, when returning from his nuptials at the church. Donatas Pečiūra’s camera will accurately convey Jonis’ drama as he runs along the road striving to get as far away from his wife as possible, but suddenly stops, regains control over himself and returns to Morta. It is a turning point: from now on, Jonis will live only to be rich.

Throughout the film, Žalakevičius and Puipa emphasise the tension: between Banys and Jonis, between Jonis and his neighbours, between Jonis and the women in his life. At first, the women seem like passive observers, but their dramas also begin to emerge as the film progresses. Morta strongly desires to give Jonis a child but is infertile. She becomes increasingly immersed in her fantasies about pregnancy, so she will accept Teresė’s daughter fathered by Jonis as her own. But this bliss will not last long and a clash between the women will be inevitable. Women characters are often the weak point in Žalakevičius’ scripts and films. In The Devil’s Seed, only Pleškytė’s mastery saves Morta from appearing one-dimensional and allows her to show a passionate and complex woman.

At the visual level of the film, Puipa and Pečiūra maintain the tension between the main narrative and everyday life. Scenes that take place in the town’s market square and at which wars and other disasters are announced look colourless, chaotic, just like episodes of the Russo-Japanese war. Amidst that chaos, slogans of fighters for sobriety, fragments of the tsar’s public addresses or distant cannon sounds can sometimes be heard. On the other hand, the daily life of the characters is filled with greenery and sunshine, transfused with the whiteness of the bodies of the girls bathing in the lake. It could be paradise, but it keeps being destroyed by foreign soldiers and one’s own greed, hostility between neighbours and other human weaknesses. Maybe that is why Jonis, having lived a long life, now lonely and ailing, has everything he dreamt of but is unhappy.

In 1980, the final version of The Devil’s Seed, edited and shortened by Žalakevičius, reached the screens. The parts that were cut out were not preserved, but even while watching this version of the film, it is difficult to doubt the auteurship of Algimantas Puipa. The Devil’s Seed already shows the distinctive features of the then still emerging director’s style – a strong focus on the visual, his liking of surreal details, his ability to combine the psychological acting of actors and a unique vision of the world.

– Film critic Živilė Pipinytė