New Cinema from Eastern Europe
by K.S. Sivakumaran
Viewers of International Cinema would know that countries in the Eastern Europe, particularly Poland and Czechoslovakia produced some excellent films during the 1960s and 70s. Directors like Roman Polanski, Andre Wajda (pronounced as Waida) and others come to mind in this connection.
Presently there is a spate of films being produced by the newly evolved states in the Balkan: Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Albania, Hungary and the like. These countries individually and jointly produce films now with sometimes in collaboration with other western countries.
I saw some of the Balkan films screened at the 12th International Film Festival of Kerala last December. What I propose to do this week is to give you some notes and information on these films rather than review them due to exigencies of space. He films are:
Border Post (Rajko Grllc). This film captures human condition in the last stages of the disintegration of the then Yugoslavia in 1987. It is based on a war situation of confrontation between Albania and Yugoslavia.
Days and Hours (Pjer Zallca): This is also a human story of an old couple who lost their son in the war. They are hoping for a return of the old times before the catastrophe.
Das Fraulein (Andrea Staka): This is an interesting film of love-hate relationship between two women of slightly different age groups. A Serbian woman left her former country over 30 years ago and lives in Zurich running a canteen and leading a secluded life and hiding her identity and speaks only German. Another woman from the same country discovers her origin and helps the elder woman to lead a full life.
Dear Enemy (Gjerg Xhuvani): This is also a war film going back to the 1940s. With the surrender of the Italians, the Germans occupy Albania in 1943. The film tries to be comical amidst tense situation. While the Nazi troops are outside the basement of a house of an Albanian trader who trades with the invaders those living in the underground have petty squabbles. These people include a wounded Italian soldier, an Albanian partisan, and a Jewish watchmaker. But the film ends in all denouncing parochialism and accepting they are all human beings.
Kukumi (Isa Qosja): This is also an interesting film of the vagaries of life as experienced by inmates of a house of the mentally disabled soon after the entry of NATO forces in Kosovo. I also liked the splendid cinematography of Menduh Nushi who takes us into the interior of Kosovo with his wide-angle camera.
Mirage (Svetozar Ristovski): This is a story of a teenager coming from a rotten family learning to write poetry and later befriended by a soldier who becomes responsible for a radical change in the boy. The film is both psychological and sociological.
The Trap (Srdan Golubovic): his is a film about Serbian people after the war. A middle class couple with a 10 year old son lives in Belgrade under trying conditions. The boy needs surgery for a dangerous illness. A man comes forward to meet the expenses of the operation only at the expense of an indecent proposal to sleep with the mother of the boy. I could not wait to see the end as I had to hop into another showing.
Totally Personal (Neddzad Begovic): This is what may be called a docu-feature of the director's memories and reflections on life in Bosnia in the past.
What is Man without a Moustache (Hrvole Hirbar)? We learn that the story of the film is based on a novel by Ante Tomic. This is a funny film of comedy of errors and of love relationships between a widow and a priest.
Whose is This Song? (Adela Peeva). This is also a documentary about the origin of a song. The director believes that the song is Bulgarian, but when she tours the Balkan countries she finds different countries interpret the song differently. Interesting!
When are we going to see international films in Lanka?
Sivakumaranks@yahoo.com
