Thanks to my colleague, Ana, for turning me on to this film. Here is a quick synopsis provided by Google Gemini:

Tengiz Abuladze‘s Repentance (Monanieba, 1984) uses surrealism, historical allegory, and religious imagery to dissect totalitarianism, collective memory, and the moral necessity of confronting past crimes.

Core Themes

• Confronting Historical Guilt. The central conflict revolves around whether society should bury its painful past or bring it into the light. Ketevan Barateli‘s refusal to let Varlam Aravidze stay buried symbolizes the idea that unacknowledged atrocities will continue to haunt the present.
• Generational Accountability. The film examines how succeeding generations inherit the moral debt of their parents. Abel Aravidze attempts to protect his family’s comfortable status by defending his father’s legacy, whereas his son, Tornike, rejects the lie and demands truth.
• Art vs. Tyranny. Varlam masks his brutality behind a love for Shakespeare, opera, and high culture. Through the persecution of the painter Sandro Barateli, Abuladze shows how totalitarian regimes destroy authentic artistic and spiritual expression while weaponizing aesthetics for propaganda.
• The Banality and Absurdity of Evil. Rather than portraying dictatorship solely as grim terror, the film uses dark farce and Kafkaesque bureaucracy. This highlights how ordinary citizens become complicit through fear, conformity, and bureaucratic compliance.

This reminds me of so many places I’ve seen living in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and China. The irony is that people always want this evil back.