“the character who is capable of sacrificing himself and his way of life”

The expression “the character who is capable of sacrificing himself and his way of life” is a passage from Andrey Tarkovsky that G. Weston DeWalt uses to interpret Anatoli Boukreev’s life and its effect on others. Placed at the close of DeWalt’s remembrance, it makes self-sacrifice not merely a private virtue but a force that can alter people’s lives and the course of history.

The quotation and its claim

DeWalt introduces the passage as words by Tarkovsky, whom he identifies as one of Russia’s most respected film directors. Tarkovsky’s formulation is deliberately paradoxical: such a person’s actions may seem “absurd and impractical,” yet the same person can bring about fundamental change. The quotation thus holds impracticality and consequence together rather than treating them as opposites; sacrifice may defy ordinary calculation and still leave a lasting mark.

Applied to Boukreev

DeWalt makes the connection explicit, writing that Anatoli Boukreev was, in his experience, one of the people Tarkovsky describes. The judgment is personal rather than presented as an impersonal assessment: DeWalt emphasizes his own experience and his honor at having collaborated with Boukreev to tell his personal story. The quotation supplies the terms through which he understands that collaboration and Boukreev’s character, without reducing the mountaineer’s life to a single deed.

A memorial conclusion

The passage appears after DeWalt receives news that the search has ended without hope of finding Boukreev alive. In the closing lines, he says that Boukreev will be deeply missed by him, by Boukreev’s friends, by those who climbed with him, and by those who loved him. He then names Dimitri Sobolev and Boukreev together and declares them not forgotten. In this position, Tarkovsky’s claim about changing lives becomes the memorial’s organizing idea: the loss is irreparable, but the lives touched by Boukreev and the story shared with DeWalt remain consequential.