The Return. . .Not of the King but the Father

There were definitely "visual quotes" in this film from Tarkovsky. The elements were clearly apparent. The kids and father end up on an island with no other people. The island was sandy but had many trees. They spent most of their time on the beach. Throughout the film, there were long scenic shots of birds, wind, water, fire, trees, and fields of long grass. The shot that I believe to be the most like Tarkovsky is the last scene where the camera where it pans toward the water and then slowly pulls aways into the trees. This reminded me of the last scene in Mirror where he's following the mother with the kids and then pulls back into the trees. The Return, at this moment, has the same distancing feeling like Mirror.
I also enjoyed the characters facial expressions and the the close up shots of them. Throughout the movie, Ivan constantly looks mad. He has the same facial expression on his face and you know how he's feeling. I found that Andrey had more of a worried expression on his face. The boat scene when the kids are bringing their dead father back is my favorite scene for this. Even though Ivan should seem guilty for the death of his father, he still looks angry. Andrey, on the other hand, carries a worried and sad expression on his face. There isn't very much smiling from the kids seen throughout the movie. I think the most smiling you see is at the very end when they are showing the photos that had been taken. That's the only time you actually see them smiling for a long period of time. Otherwise it is just short glimpses of smiles and then the kids are back to their original expression.
I thought that there was good foreshadowing in this movie. The best one that sticks out in my mind is when Ivan is told he has to clean the dishes because he's the last one done eating. He gets angry and throws his father's bowl into the lake and it sinks. At the end when they finally get back to mainland, Ivan is the last to get out of the boat and the father ends up slowly sinking just like the bowl. There was also the scene with Ivan fishing earlier in the morning by himself. He had caught a couple of fish and ended up letting them go but the one they had caught the night before had been eaten. I think this is similar to how the two boys survived the trip to the island and the father did not. Also, Ivan's fear of heights at the beginning can make one believe that he won't jump at the end. He was too terrified even if he was mad at his father. If there was water there before and he wouldn't jump, why would he jump when there was no water?