Suram Fortress triumphantly marked Parajanov’s return to filmmaking aftermany years of imprisonment. Based on a folk legend about a fortress which cannot be completed until an innocent young man sacrifices himself by being entombed in its walls, the film incorporates homoerotic reverie into its nationalistic salute to Georgian warriors. Crammed into every fruit-strewn, fauvist-colored composition is an extravagance of Parajanovian objets d’art and gewgaws: hookahs, lutes, and zithers; brocade, damask, and elaborately patterened rugs; a menagerie of peacocks, goats, and camels; and enough pomegranates to stain the heavens.