A rare film about the development of a character: Leviathon

The Russian 2014 film Leviathon (not to be confused with documentary of name about deep-sea commercial fisheries) is  totally powerful, engaging, often surprising film that had me from the start and kept me for the full 2 1/2 hours. It tells of a middle-aged Russian tough guy, Kolya, a real hothead, involved in a legal dispute with municipal authorities (lives in a small town on what I think is the  Arctic coast) who want to take his land and home by eminent domain to build a new municipal center (in essence, a palatial showcase for the party thug mayor of the town). Movie begins as Kolya's army buddy, now a Moscow lawyer, comes to town to help and reveals he has a folder full of dirt research on the mayor, which he'll use to muscle a deal. Kolya in particular is completely unsympathetic from the outset - not at all in the expected mode of the heroic man fighting city hall, or the winsome old couple in the cliched recent movie about a guy who wants to build a new house his way and the hell with the authorities (Still Mine) - he slaps his sullen teen son around and seems to have various shady dealings with corrupt cops. Part of the beauty of this film is how, without reliance on stereotypes of two-dimensional characters, the film shifts our sympathies gradually, incrementally, until we come to see Kolya as not only a victim but as a noble sort - truly a rare film about the development and deepening of a character, about his growth in response to crisis. There are several references to the suffering of Job, and Kolya does suffer almost to Biblical proportions, but Job was the plaything of the O.T. God whereas Kolya is a victim of people and their greed and their unchecked impulses. The film will certainly reinforce your hatred of Russian politicians - about as corrupt and brutal as they come - but it will also open your eyes into a new way of thinking about characters, moving beyond initial judgements and impressions, understanding and accepting ambiguities - and there are ambiguities in the ending, some elements in the film, as in life, cannot be answered or explained - I won't give any away - but will say that the questions at the end, who is responsible for the death of a main character and for the ensuing consequences, only add to the richness and veracity of this movie.