In the Romanian village of Lunguletu, 1000 farmers produce about 100,000 tons of cabbage and potatoes during one season. At the end of the day, they sell their crops invaluable or destroy them, while only some 30 kilometres away, at the city market – the same cabbage costs almost 1000% more expensive. Intrigued by the fact that he managed to buy a ton of cabbage for only 20 euros, Serban, a man raised in the city, decides to spend a year in the countryside working the land in order to figure out how to turn the production calculation in favor of farmers. Several villagers, including the mayor himself, aware of the unfavourable situation, want a change, but even they do not know how to make the villagers cooperate and trust each other.
Title (original): Varză, Cartofi și alți Demoni Title (local): Cabbage, potatoes and other demons
The Slovak town of Chierna nad Tisou is located in the easternmost point of the European Union, along the border with Ukraine. It used to be known as the Golden Gate of Socialism, but this once-important hub of Soviet freight trains is now the outskirts of unemployment. In the dilapidated ‘Hotel Svitanje’, the Communist Party tries to regain power, but the local population is concerned about some other concerns: Viktor's gambling and alcohol are returned to prison, so his wife Veronica has to go to his mother's funeral alone. Peter is obese and trying to break the monotony and get back in shape. During this time, Jan’s wife Gizela disappeared – most likely for unknown reasons she was taken to Hungary. Despite the sad circumstances of life, everyone tries not to lose heart and lives in the hope of new opportunities. The camera looks at them calmly and opens up a view of the limited lives of people who are struggling to cope with the new reality.
Title (original): Hotel Úsvit Title (local): Hotel Dawn
Interweaving everyday life, books and death, the author tells the story of losing strength and strength to cope with this loss. Everyone dies from the moment they are born, which is the greatest reason to understand the values of life and enjoy the joys it provides. After a series of books, the established writer made his first film, where the experience of the literature spoke in the film language reaching the level of his literature. The details of the usual environment and everyday life fit into the story that springs from them. This film is largely one man show because it was written and directed by the author and recorded all the material and plays the drombulum.
Title (original): Dum Spiro Spero Title (local): Dum Spiro Spero Time: 50 Directed by: Feather Kvesić Language: Croatia Year: 2016 Country: Croatia Production: Factum https://kinedok.net/hr/films/detail/2
On the edge of a city growing out of the desert, a man plays golf on his own. Second, he's sending a letter from a work camp to a woman in Kenya. A sandstorm engulfs the construction site, and the locals hold a peculiar dance ceremony. Dubai, perceived mainly either as a development miracle or a failed trick, here becomes a platform for exploring displacement, cravings and longings. Three chapters – a city, the surrounding desert and their inhabitants – slowly reveal the dark aspects of modern society, while a permanent economic collapse heralds the end of an era.
The Fascinating and Cruel Desert
This is probably the most poetic film we've ever seen. Long shots prevail, there is very little dialogue, the music is elegant and you can mostly hear natural sounds, wind noise, birds chirping ...
The film follows several destinies, poor workers from India and Pakistan who work in almost impossible conditions for small money that barely feed families in distant countries.
There's no union here...
Solitude is the biggest problem. Well, insomnia. Well...
Worries, insomnia
There are very few moments of rest.
A day off.
But as always, there is another world - consultants and western entrepreneurs, they pick cream from dubaj's mega projects. They move like locusts, as soon as there is a crisis – they move on.
And of course always present “enthusiasts“, they have a great life – with sponsors on site.
Easy life in Dubai, golf, then yacht, then pool, so party till dawn...
The days pass, the heat is unrelenting, the desert storms are terrible, work is a real hell.
Desert storm in full swing.
But what is the purpose of all this work? The whole concept of Dubai's development is based on oil and the Real Estate Business. But both are final, and both are interdependent. The film premiered in 2011 after the first the Real Estate Crisis and now Dubai has arrived and another – looks much more serious also for some final.
It is a fascinating sequence of almost 6 minutes, showing hundreds and hundreds of skyscrapers (mostly empty – although official statistics claim the opposite). What are in Europe residential buildings here are skyscrapers of twenty-more floors.
Hundreds of skyscrapers
The relentless pace of work also has its victims, who does not please – can go home.
Workers are “consumables”
Of course, everything is great for Dubajians – while there is oil ⁇
While there's oil...
Epilogue – from the sand formed into the sand will be convert.
Sand is unstoppable, as soon as maintenance stops, sand reigns again
Conclusion and assessment
Mirage it is not a film for everyone – but it leaves a lot of room for reflection on human arrogance and myopia. The idea of building ski resorts or golf courses in the desert, reinforced concrete cities that use huge amounts of energy, cannot be sustainable in the long term – and this is slowly being demonstrated. Of course, as always, everything is built by the work of poor and poorly paid laborers from third world countries. But who cares...
There are many open questions. Will Dubai survive the end of the oil era? Is it possible to exploit such complex systems that are not naturally sustainable in the long term?
Take a look at an interesting lecture on why complex societies fail:
This is the story of Star Wars, the Cold War and the War on Terror in a small Czech village. As part of its national missile defense program, the United States plans to build a military base in the Czech Republic, where Soviet nuclear missiles used to hide. Although it's 73.% The Czech Republic against the project, the government continues to negotiate. Supporters of the base say it will strengthen defenses against global threats 21. Centuries ago, opponents suggested that the plan only aimed to move the Iron Curtain eastwards and fulfill the U.S. desire to rule the world.
Jan Neoral - brave mayor of a municipality fighting for his place
The story begins with an aggressive campaign by the Czech government to convince residents that there is no alternative to accepting the U.S. the Anti-missile Radar System, “the world is becoming more and more uncertain, and Iran and Russia are “round the corner”. But all the stories about the military and economic benefits of a military base do not fall to the fertile ground of most residents, so it starts with actions of passive resistance.
The Russians are coming – we need the protection of the West...
Of course, there are also supporters of the base, mostly anti-communist inclined to fear the possibility of the Russians returning, so they are ready to agree to all options of Western protection. Arguments of the type – “We just got rid of the Russians, and now you want Americans” or “what a foreign army will do in sovereign Czech territory” mean nothing to them.
It is unbelievable the behavior of Czech politicians and their servility towards Americans. Particularly bizarre is the scene in which we discover that the Czech Minister of Defense wrote a poem celebrating the newly-created American-Czech fraternity in weapons.
The Brotherhood...
Of course, the secret is in the interests of a powerful US military industrial complex that offers lucrative jobs to Czech companies and generous support to politicians, who, after the end of their political careers, continue to be consultants at the same companies with which they concluded contracts (sounds familiar, right? ⁇)
President Bush's Instructions...
To the end the Czech Peace – a film that seems absolutely convincing, at times dark-humored, but ultimately optimistic – we are surprised (not exactly the right word) at how small countries always cooperate with great powers, and formally democratic governments exist in them to choose solutions that go against the will of the people. Obviously, this is the fundamental problem of “new” democracies – the consistent election of politicians who do not work anywhere near in the interests of their own state.
Fortunately for the Bohemians, there is a critical number of people ready to take action and they are moving forward with serious anti-government actions, first through media campaign and then the physical occupation of the base site by the “greens” and the designation of the territory as “Peaceland”. The entire operation is monitored by the media and puts the military police in an awkward situation that they have to use force to harass protesters.
Army spokesman doesn't really know what to do with green activists
Years go by (four or five), activists don't give up, and ultimately, fortunately, Bush is replaced as president by Obama and decides to give up the project.
Obama is backing out of the project.
Obama is giving up base and radar, but now Trump is in power, so maybe we can expect a sequel to the movie.
Conclusion and assessment
the Czech Peace isA great example of how the fight against “the system” is not always in vain. A small group of people, determined not to build an American radar station in their place that should bring peace under Egypt Pax Americana, After years of struggle and activism, he manages to stop the project despite corrupt politicians and the interest of big capital. Klusák and Remunda gave us a thoroughly depressed view of our world, the hypocrisy of politicians and the condescension of local elites towards foreigners and their interests is commonplace. But in the Czech case – they ran into a “hard walnut” ⁇
Looking at our domestic circumstances, this is already the fifth film in the series that we are watching on Drenova, where the names of actors and locations could simply be replaced – and we would get a completely convincing local story. In our case, there is also an additional moment of the Homeland War, which, although it ended two full decades ago, is still the main and shocking news and is widely used to prevent the demilitarization of our society.
War games - Czech version ...
Unfortunately, in our case, there is no Happy End, in accordance with the interests of foreigners, industry and domestic trade have been destroyed, we are a very obedient member of NATO and the EU and there are no traces of any resistance to projects that do not bring any benefit to the domicile population.
We should learn from the Czechs.
Awards and acknowledgments:
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival – Best Czech Documentary Nomination
Karlovy Vary Film Festival
Traverse City Film Festival
Moscow Film Festival
Basic information:
Title (original): Cesky Mir
Title (local): the Czech Peace
Time: 89′
Directed by: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda
Year: 2010
Producers: Filip Remunda, Irena Taskovski
Production: Thelma Film and Ormenis Film, zero one film, allegro film
In a village on the outskirts of Belgium, Bob the Flemish and Marcel the Walloon share loneliness, a sense of humor and – an immense love for alcohol. Bob is a retired ranger who loves freedom and the forest and wants to spend his retirement in silence, Marcel is a family man, but on the verge of losing everything. They are each other's only support in waiting for time to pass. But it's like she cares.
Bom and Marcel – two friends
Don't leave me A tragicomic ode to failure, a touching and hilarious portrayal of two lonely men teeming with humour and humanity, skilfully avoiding the risk of turning into a gloomy and exploitative film. The film has been declared Best Documentary of the Year the Choice of Critics Sight and Sound.
Marcel – 53 years old
Although the idea of filming (over two years) two alcoholics and their drinking “fight” may seem like good material for a documentary or some drama, Don't leave me It's problematic because he can't decide what he is. Watching these two people spend their time aimlessly between two drinks discussing suicide (by hanging in the forest or slower – liters of alcohol) is very embarrassing in the context of a documentary, we become participants in the process of real and genuine self-destruction of the main actors. And this raises various questions about morality, alienation, and where are the limits of encroachment on one's intimacy. Interesting comment from the director that the idea was to make a film from the perspective flies on the wall, However, interaction with the main characters could not be completely avoided (i.e. whether there was responsibility for them?).
Bob – a man of principle and a lover of rum
Occasionally entertaining dialogues and drinking sequences in which many can be recognized, become difficult when the ex-wife and children are involved. It is quite clear why the marriage fell apart, but it is really lacking to hear the “other side”. We did not get this opportunity and it is a serious shortcoming and a violation of the basic postulate of documentary – to give both sides a chance.
We only follow the stories of Bob and Marcel, where Bob gives the impression that he still “lived” something, has his own code of honor (drinks only rum), has no obligations and is not a burden to anyone. Unlike Marcel, who can't (and doesn't want to, while sober really loves his children) avoid his obligations. Children of course love their dad, they do not care about the impossible conditions in which he lives (it is not clear where he got the income to support them), but obviously he is not motivated enough to try to permanently get out of the hell of alcoholism.
Kids don't understand why it's cold in the house.
Treatment at a local hospital does not produce lasting results, and after a while everything goes back to normal – Marcel returns to alcohol.
Marcel on treatment
But lives go on, the ex-wife has a new relationship, apparently a wealthier and more reliable partner, and Marcel only has a drink left with Bob – but he gets weaker and eventually dies leaving Marcel alone. There is no epilogue – only the glare of Marcel on a snowy forest road on a small oven.
Conclusion and assessment
Don't leave me He leaves us after seeing with divided feelings – although it was obvious that the heroes would not be able to resist their vices – hope was still smouldering to the very end. It is a story of missed lives and lost opportunities, so common all around us.
The dilemma of the genre (documentary film or feature black comedy) makes it difficult to watch and at times turns it into a real torture, the film is too long and there are a lot of scenes that do not make sense (for example, a naturalistic episode of tooth extraction at the dentist). But due to the slightly controversial topic, it got its audience and visibility.
In conclusion, the film is nevertheless an interesting insight into the issue of alcoholism and makes one think – and that is enough already.
Awards and acknowledgments:
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL, USA – the Best Editing
HOT DOCS, Canada – Filmmaker's Award
GOUDEN KALF, The Netherlands - Best Dutch Documentary
DOC AVIV, Israel – Special recognition
ZAGREBDOX, Croatia - Special recognition
CINEMA EYE HONORS AWARDS, USA – The Unforgettables Award
LITTLE ROCK FILM FESTIVAL, USA – Special recognition
Basic information:
Title (original): Don't quitte me dog
Title (local): Don't leave me
Time: 107′
Directed by: Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden
Ultra is a creative documentary about people who dedicate their lives to running to compete in this radical journey. The film follows them as they face extreme difficulties and exceed the limits of body and mind strength. Whether they run to escape everyday life, fight aging or seek the supernatural, every runner gets a chance to taste immortality and experience their own mortality. The four protagonists and the director of the film have their own answers, special motives and reasons why they run.
Sparthatlon route
ULTRA is a unique journey into the past, the heart and soul of four athletes brought by the fifth - the director runner. The dream and the burden of each of them is to complete an extreme race: Spartathlon (246 km), test your limits, heal your soul and get rid of your demons.
Pheidippides was a runner who ran for help
Ultramarathon is a special sports discipline, a discipline in which the ability of the mind and body to do the impossible is tested to the limit (and beyond). Most ultramarathons have a route length of between 100-250 km, there are also 1000 km/1000 miles, and the longest is absolutely incredible Self Transendence – 3100 miles (?!).
36 hours – this is the deadline for competitors to finish the race.
Nowadays, when most people are unable to walk more than a couple of kilometers, running several hundred kilometers seems quite incredible, but director Balasz Simonyi (and the ultramarathoner himself who finished Spartathlon 4 times) managed to bring us closer to four, at first sight ordinary people and their motives for participation. The French, father Gilles and his son Angel, German Annet, Hungarian Bela (he participates unofficially with the help of his wife, two days after the official race on which he failed to qualify due to the previous 5 failures to finish the race), and the director himself.
There are so many points on which one can give up, but our heroes go on...
Accompanying our heroes alternately, Simonyi shows the superhuman sacrifice and dedication needed to participate in this race. Wounds, dehydration, vomiting, all shown brutally in detail. Ultramarathon is not a party, it's every competitor's private hell. To describe what led them to participate, the director delves into the minds and hearts of his heroes using old home videos and recording conversations with their families. He also often uses the sound of microphones placed on the bodies of runners, and when they run – or, sometimes, when they barely even manage to walk – we hear them breathing, moaning and swearing hard.
It's not fun, the runners are covered in wounds.
Fantastic aerial shots of the terrain they cross show the enormous distance that runners have to travel (it would be difficult to cross it with a car without air conditioning in the Greek sun). They also give us a comprehensive view of one of the most extreme sporting events in the world.
Brilliant aerial shots of the runners' route
The director himself is the only participant directly interacting with the camera, not counting the mother and wife of Angel and Gilles or Bela's wife, who accompany them in the cars. Simonyi gives us an idea of what goes through the runner's mind, and we mostly hear complaints about their physical condition, but as more time passes, runners increasingly take up existential questions that alternate between bitter and humorous like “Why am I doing this, I will never do it again ... Who am I anyway? “
As the race progresses, the tormented bodies slowly cancel, Angel and Annet give up, disappointed that they failed, although it is quite clear that they have nothing to regret, but those 150-200 km run puts them in a very narrow circle of super athletes.
Annet gives up
Conclusion and assessment
Ultra It's a very emotional movie. From the first minute, we are drawn into the tense story of four protagonists who have decided on an incredible venture. We follow them, we cheer them, we dread them, we just want them to succeed. And when some give up at only 20 km from the finish line, after running 230 km, as Bela says “... legs could still run but the mind is shutting down." just tears come to your eyes from the thought of what annoyance it is to give up practically before the goal.
Bela only stops 20 km before the finish line.
It's a great film, and it's motivating – let's get out of the armchair and start running, a couple of km to start, and later – who knows, maybe someone ends up on Spartathlon.
Gilles passes through Sparthatron's goal
The film premiered at Visions du Reel in Lucarno in 2017 and was nominated for Best Documentary at Sarajevo Film Festival and Trieste Film Festival.
This film is a feature documentary (mockumentary) based on real people and events. Director Vito Klusák accompanied with his team during two years Dalibor Krupički (39) from Prostějov who lives in a small apartment with his mother vera (65) works as a painter, and in his free time is neo-find and youtuber. The film sparked more controversy – directors and main actors were both taken to the police and questioned on the grounds of the spread of international hatred, and the bus used for filming was at the centre of an international scandal due to perceived the Banalization of Crimes in Aushwitz.
Content of the film
Daliborek could also be called Ivan, Jovan, Asim or Ferenc – a universal story from the end of the second decade of the second millennium. The story of a lost generation stuck in the transition from communism to capitalism, from a state of “order” to a state where everyone needs to take care of themselves – and most are not capable or ready to do so. In the European East, problems and solutions are more or less the same everywhere, these are nuances. The solution is patriotism in various variants and xenophobia mainly supported by myths corresponding to the current sets in power.
Daliborek ready for action – defending Czechia against various pests
A generation to which modern technology in a bizarre turn has enabled not only additional free education, broadening knowledge and spiritual enrichment, but also confinement in narrow ideological, racial and religious balloons where there is no room for “those others”. In the Czech Republic, this is the fear of Muslims and Roma, in our country of “udbaš”, who have taken over and control everything (of course secretly through a kind of Croatian version of “deep statea” and that is the only reason why we feel bad), and so on through all the former socialist countries.
Of course, all adversity is not their fault, but world conspiracies (in this Czech case Jewish) that want to destroy the white race. Every news item is viewed only through "correct" glasses, the fear of refugees is heightened, although the Czech Republic has received a negligible number of them, and domestic "gypsies" are of course a constant problem. There is no rationality, argument or fact, only Confirmation tendency, missing only people lizards.
Daily dose of indoctrinatione
Daliborek has been doing the same job for 16 years, although he is 39 years old he still lives with his mother who is getting on his nerves, in fact everything is getting on his nerves, but he is not capable of any changes, not even moving to the neighboring city to work with a higher salary.
In his free time, he makes bizarre "trash" films that he publishes on Youtube, the main topic of course is the defense of the white race and domination over women. His contact with the opposite sex is zero, his sex life non-existent – mostly “classic loser“. The story is complicated when his mother (who has 5 profiles on Facebook where she flirts with potential partners) meets and brings to the apartment a new life companion, a supposedly successful entrepreneur a la Del Boy Trotter. It turns out that she is a newcomer of the same worldview, and after the initial rejection, Daliborek accepts it - moreover, they jointly plan and practice for future conflicts for undesirable minorities and invasion from the southeast.
Trash horror by Daliborek
The film reveals Daliborek's philosophy of life, how one mind was replaced by another, in many respects even worse, because it is based on a revision of history and disrespect for facts.
Fascinating are the scenes of Daliborek squabbling with colleagues from work, who simply do not understand how one can "goat" Germans, Hitler and the entire Nazi ideology aimed at cleaning up Eastern Europe, creating the famous Lebensraum, turn the Slavs into slaves, and who did so much harm to the Czechs themselves.
How can you forget one? Lidice who are with us Lipa symbol of the suffering of the innocent population in the mindless revenge of the occupiers. Daliborek has no answer, that is, he finds justification for the Germans in the murder Heydricha and the Resistance.
Daliborek in his film
The best part of the film is the finale itself, which is simply maestral. After Daliborek's family decides to visit Auschwitz by bus, in order to confirm his theories, the encounter with the surviving prisoner of the camp, Mrs. Liškova, and her testimony, allows at least a partial catharsis to all but Daliborek, who cannot be convinced by any testimony or argument that the concentration camps are a fabrication of Jewish lobbies and that nothing serious happened there – as our domestic revisionists say – ‘... it was only there that theatrical performances were sung and held!’.
... was a canteen, a swimming pool, theatre and cultural events were held!
The film crew, annoyed by his nebulae, first begins to comment behind the cameras and then the director of the film enters the frame and goes to reproach Daliborek that he is not ashamed to behave like that in the presence of a living witness of horror. After that, other bus passengers protest, argue with Daliborek and start consoling the visibly upset lady of the witness.
Where do you think she got it - from the tattoo parlor ???
And then finally, the director calls Daliborek's mother why she never told her son that she had Jewish ancestors, that is, that the family is at least a quarter of Jewish origin. A "dark" secret has been revealed, consternation is emerging, but the family concludes that this is not so important – "...fortunately we do not have gypsies for our ancestors.’
Little secret of the Krupička family
The end. We learn from the end credits that Daliborek ripped off his works from the internet and Facebook after filming the film, not because he changed his beliefs, but because “... does not want problems with the authorities because of the found symbols“.
Conclusion and assessment
Daliborek's White World could have been filmed without any problem and in Croatia, as has already been said, the narrative is the same – only “enemies” are different. The tectonic disturbances in our society have created almost insurmountable ravines between the left and right options, where there is no will or opportunity for agreement and the arguments of the other side are not accepted at all, both in terms of interpreting the past and in terms of the present and the future. .
Opponents are ignorant with the whole spectrum tried-and-tested weapons, a lie becomes a reality through “fake news“, as frogs, we are all slowly cooking and slowly, almost unconsciously, accepting that immorality and deceit become “normal”. The result is expected – mass emigration of young people who do not see a perspective in such a society, and those who have not yet emigrated remain afraid of further regression and some referendum that will abolish the hard-won democratic rights. Recent events in our neighbouring countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) show that this is not an impossible scenario at all.
And that's why this movie is an alarm clock at the right time so we don't all end up in Daliborek's white world.
The film was nominated for Best Documentary at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2017.
The action takes place on the Children's Train built in 1948 by the communist government in Hungary. In sixty years old trains run every day, transporting up to 400,000 passengers per year, They are managed by 500 teenagers who work there without pay in exchange for a unique community experience. The main protagonists are three young railway workers, adults in the economic and social unrest of today's society. The children's train offers them shelter, a place where comradeship and order are the norm, in stark contrast to the chaos and egoism of today's society. We follow Gergő , Karmen and Viktor at key moments of the coming years on and off the train.
Order, work and discipline – creating responsible members of society
Socialism, with all its weaknesses and flaws, had undeniably positive sides through the effort to provide education, employment, a roof over one's head, but also the care of children through organized activities in children's and workers' resorts, work actions and the opportunity for “life play” and the responsibility of managing a complex system such as the railways in this example. Although from today's perspective we can say that this was intended for the indoctrination of the youngest ages, after the collapse of socialism in most cases all these rights disappeared without trace and no replacement was offered, which particularly affected the Poorer Layers of Society in all post-socialist countries.
Socialist nirvana was so close and so far away
The idea that everyone should “take care” of themselves simply does not work in less developed transition societies. In the past, companies, as well as the entire social system, viewed workers and people as a supreme value or the most valuable resource, work and the result of work glorified, workers' settlements and resorts were built, vacations were guaranteed...
Certainly, there was a deviation in that system, but today market and money are perceived as the most important things, and there is not much room for egalitarianism or grace for the weakest.
The heroes of our story have just found themselves in such a situation, we follow a single mother with three children who is struggling to give them a dignified life and a boy Gergő who lives with his grandparents while his parents are working in distant Germany. The only comfort they have is the opportunity to work on the Budapest Children's Railway where they have the opportunity to work and socialize with their peers.
Pariser and hot pepper from the tube...
It can be said that work and the natural human need to do something is the key narrative of film. Work enables the existence of the individual himself and those who depend on him. In addition, work enables social interaction of an individual with associates at work, represents a source of social status and prestige, and has a very large internal significance for an individual, as a source of identity, self-esteem and self-actualization. Therefore, work is a central human value and one of the decisive factors in the formation and development of the individual in society – and this is why the Budapest Children's Railroad plays an important role in forming children's awareness of how important work is.
But life is not a fairy tale, we follow the parents' cramped struggle to find a job and income, we know nothing about the history that brought them to their present state (Viktor's and Carmen's mother speak three languages, but cannot find a decent job, Gergő's father is obviously seriously ill but still has to work in Germany ) and in the end there is no "happy end".
Single mother of three, knowledge of three languages does not help her find a decent job
Especially dramatic are the scenes of eviction of families from a small tenant apartment. The entire family found themselves on the street overnight, the children temporarily found accommodation in a railway camp, and the mother ended up in a homeless shelter.
At the end of the summer, the family is back together in a cramped room in a building for the homeless, but with a vague outlook. Gergő is finally meeting his parents and definitely decides to study in Hungary and rejects his parents' invitation to go to Germany with them. She ends up in a shabby dorm, but is determined to prove her love for railroads with a degree in engineering.
The moment Gergő's family is reunited
Conclusion and assessment
Train of HopeIt's a really interesting film and left a lot of room for reflection after the screening. The problems of the little man in the hell of transition, economic emigration, separation of children and parents, loss of work, evictions – a topic that is obviously topical throughout the region and it is very easy to sympathise with the main actors because we experience the same stories every day.
But hope for our young heroes in these difficult moments gives precisely the opportunity to at least occasionally work on the Children's Railroad and escape from a painful reality. It is a great love of these young people for the railway and their concern (as well as society) for the preservation and for every civilized state of important cultural and historical heritage. Unfortunately, there is less concern of society for citizens who have not been anointed by life, we are witnessing the destruction of social values created in the socialist period, without creating new values as an obstacle to the absolute arbitrariness and cynicism of those who possess any kind of power, political, social or economic.
The film won an award at DOK Leipzig 2015: Golden Dove Award at Next Masters Competition, and in 2016 it was screened at Zagreb Dox.
Twenty-six years after the fall of communism, a young Bulgarian woman begins to explore why the spirit of communism is not dead despite the crimes he committed in Eastern Europe. This decision was prompted by the great popularity of socialism in Western Europe, but also by the presence of a large number of officials of the former system (and their children) in Bulgaria today. He tries to find answers in the notes of his grandfather, initially a great supporter of the socialist idea, who joined the anti-communist movement after World War II. Goriani active in the Bulgarian Mountains from 1947 to 1954. (This is where their name comes from – mountain people, forest people). They were similar in their way of acting. Crusaders which operated between 1945 and 1950 on the territory of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Archives containing the destinies of Bulgarian anti-communist fighters
In general, the film is too long (this is generally the problem of today's documentaries that have left the optimal short form for 20-45 minutes and are mostly in the form of an all-evening film) with a multitude of meanders that dilute the basic thread of the story. A good example is the introduction and actually poor use of Slavoj Žižek which certainly could have made a significant contribution to clarifying the ideological and doctrinal dimension Marxism (as declared Marxist-Leninist). Another problem is the completely anti-communist narrative of the film (for more information, see: “Memory 1944-1989”), which may be understandable, but for a complete understanding of a historical topic, one needed to hear the other side. Then the Cuban episodes that should prove the inefficiency of the system there, although the Cuban story is far more complicated due to the autochthonousness of the revolution.
From every minute of the film, the author’s resentment about her grandfather’s fate, the severe consequences her family has endured for three generations (the impossibility of education, isolation in the community and then emigration to the United Kingdom), however, does not help the film’s general viewability. Animated sequences are undoubtedly the best parts of the film.
Animated sequences are the most impressive part of the film
A key problem in Bulgarian society is the controversy over the weak implementation of lustration (in Bulgaria, lustration formally began in 1992, but does not refer to political work. A large number of state employees have lost their jobs, in some sectors – the judiciary, the secret services and the police – up to 90%. In the first half of the 1990s, this became a matter of bitter political struggle and lustration began to be used for these purposes, and the archives are still not open today.), where a significant part of the earlier nomenclature survived democratic changes and practically took important places in education and political life, and their children took over the economy and became Russian-style oligarchs. It can also be said that the situation in modern Croatia Not materially different.
It was interesting to listen to recordings of statements made by Bulgarian politicians – identical to ours. Here is an example:
Any coincidence - it's a coincidence...
Conclusion and assessment
The beast is still alive. The personal dialogue that the granddaughter has with his grandfather is dotted with animated sequences and these are also the best parts of the film, while the rest of the film did not leave a special impression. But we find the parallels with the corresponding period in Yugoslavia interesting – practically everything is the same (the way the security services operate, and in particular the descriptions of life in the casemates – Bulgarian Belene It's just like ours Goli Otok), and if names and locations were replaced, it would fit perfectly.
The film was screened at IDFA and Sarajevo Film Festival in 2016, and in 2009 directors participated with it at ZagrebDox Pro.
English