Harutyun Khachatryan’s Return of the Poet is the Armenian film-maker’s attempt to depict his country. Sans dialogue, this is a visual sketch that assumes a prior knowledge of Ashugh Jivani, the 19th century poet of the title name. Initially, this lack of explanation and narrative is confusing and somewhat alienating. However, if you give up the struggle to understand and let go, the film’s visual language will engage you through the images that tell the stories of Armenia and its people.

The film is divided into two parts. The first half of the film follows the creation of a 10-metre high sculpture of Jivani. Khachatryan focuses the nature of creation, and captivatingly portrays the artistic process. The materials and textures become almost tangible through ingenious lighting, and the artist’s expression speaks eloquently of his anticipation and excitement as he selects the final stone.

The second part of the film documents the journey of the completed sculpture around Armenia. The sculpture traverses both country and city, and the resulting images from the journey contrast landscape, modernity and culture. Memorable in their simplicity, Khachatryan presents scenes of poverty and of cultural richness. Unfinished, rotting churches are shown alongside children being passed through a hole in a rock. The sculpture follows the same journey that Jivani made two centuries ago, and it questions how the poet would view the country today.

This film is strikingly beautiful, and its subject compelling in its simplicity. It inspires you to learn more about Armenia and the poet Jivani, so that you can fill in for yourself the blank spaces that Khachatryan leaves unexplained.