This poetic diary—or “confession”—of a ship captain (made before the Kursk disaster but haunted by it now), is one of Sokurov’s most majestic and troubling achievements. Structured in five equal episodes, the film parallels the outer journey of the ship with the inner voyage of the captain and the destiny of Russia with his individual fate. The first two episodes meticulously describe the everyday duties and routines aboard a ship stationed in Murmansk that patrols the Arctic Sea; the final three become increasingly abstract, subjective, and allusively political. Formally rigorous and full of astonishing imagery, the film transforms documentary detail into metaphysical lyricism as Sokurov ponders the effect of extended isolation on the human soul and psyche.