I have a problem with Eastern European cinema. I avoid it because I expect it to depict a gloomy, dreary, depressing, dark and dirty world which is so foreign to my culture that I can't relate to it.
Although *Reservni Deli* was all that (and seedy too), it had me interested, partly because I had seen *Pod Njenim Oknom* (AKA *Beneath Her Window*) a few hours earlier, and I wondered what else the Slovenians could do.
The film began by reinforcing my stereotypes of Eastern Europe. There was old footage of a Soviet nuclear power plant. Two Slovenians, one older, jaded and callous, the other younger, sensitive, a rookie to the people-smuggling trade, truck dis-empowered souls through the last leg of their journey to the EU. Conditions in the back of the truck were of course disgusting, inhumane or both. When the cops were around, the music was spooky and I was conflicted as to who to feel scared for. I think I was most scared for the babies who cried when everyone was trying to be quiet and avoid discovery.
The only characters are the people smugglers, their clients/victims, and a potential girlfriend of the rookie, Rudi. She really only serves to highlight Rudi's slow corruption. The only characters I was sympathetic to were the people being smuggled, who show a glimpse of their life's trajectory as they travel through Slovenia.
I was hypnotised by the corruption and increasing cynicism of Rudi, and the correlating lightening and increasing humanity of Ludvik, his older partner.
Of most interest to me was the film's commentary on globalisation and the unionisation of Europe. Ludvik says, 'They all want to reach that f***ing Europe... I hope that as long as I'm alive we don't join f***ing Europe... A united Europe was Hitler's project.' Some irony follows, but it reminded me of the concept of Americanisation and the attempts of Southern and Central Americans to make it to the USA, the professed land of freedom.
I wonder if the West's current embracing of nuclear power was in the director/script-writer's mind at the time of making the movie? I was pleasantly surprised by *Beneath Her Window* and liked this even more. I'll certainly be thinking about it for longer.
Although *Reservni Deli* was all that (and seedy too), it had me interested, partly because I had seen *Pod Njenim Oknom* (AKA *Beneath Her Window*) a few hours earlier, and I wondered what else the Slovenians could do.
The film began by reinforcing my stereotypes of Eastern Europe. There was old footage of a Soviet nuclear power plant. Two Slovenians, one older, jaded and callous, the other younger, sensitive, a rookie to the people-smuggling trade, truck dis-empowered souls through the last leg of their journey to the EU. Conditions in the back of the truck were of course disgusting, inhumane or both. When the cops were around, the music was spooky and I was conflicted as to who to feel scared for. I think I was most scared for the babies who cried when everyone was trying to be quiet and avoid discovery.
The only characters are the people smugglers, their clients/victims, and a potential girlfriend of the rookie, Rudi. She really only serves to highlight Rudi's slow corruption. The only characters I was sympathetic to were the people being smuggled, who show a glimpse of their life's trajectory as they travel through Slovenia.
I was hypnotised by the corruption and increasing cynicism of Rudi, and the correlating lightening and increasing humanity of Ludvik, his older partner.
Of most interest to me was the film's commentary on globalisation and the unionisation of Europe. Ludvik says, 'They all want to reach that f***ing Europe... I hope that as long as I'm alive we don't join f***ing Europe... A united Europe was Hitler's project.' Some irony follows, but it reminded me of the concept of Americanisation and the attempts of Southern and Central Americans to make it to the USA, the professed land of freedom.
I wonder if the West's current embracing of nuclear power was in the director/script-writer's mind at the time of making the movie? I was pleasantly surprised by *Beneath Her Window* and liked this even more. I'll certainly be thinking about it for longer.