Rowan Sullivan

436

Letter

Letter Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Image result for loznitsa letter

Here’s another opportunity for you to see a way of life hidden in a remote part of Russia. Again, Loznitsa’s short-documentary is available to watch on YouTube. So you have no excuses for avoiding 20 minutes of immersion into an intriguing mental asylum.

Why Watch Letter?
  • For another Loznitsa short documentary (I’d recommend checking out Factory and Portrait before this one)
  • Experience life at a mental asylum in remote North-Western Russia
  • See how Loznitsa experiments with blurred vision
  • Another dreamy, peaceful way to spend 20 minutes – find the film here on YouTube
The Breakdown

The film opens with a picture of a forest covered in a thick layer of mist. You can hear the wind blowing and a bird crowing. The forest cuts to a hut in blurred vision which obscures the face of a figure that repeatedly walks to the front of the house to shake a white bed sheet. A lightning strike hits and another human silhouette appears against the whitewashed front of the small mental asylum.

Loznitsa documents a handful of scenes from life in the mental asylum. We witness the residents helping out with harvesting the grain fields and feeding a cow that is left to roam the grounds. One particularly memorable shot shows two men standing at the forefront of the frame whilst a man sits behind them playing an accordion. While a cow meanders around the shot, the taller man nicks the shorter one’s hat and puts it on his head. The shorter man quickly grabs it back before they both carry on staring.

The whole 20 minute film uses blurred vision. Whilst it makes it hard to watch, it does respect the mental asylum residents. Their identity and their location are kept hidden, allowing them to continue life in their isolated existence. In addition, the human sounds, possibly sounds of pain, are kept quiet to respect their lives.

Conclusion

Loznitsa’s Letter is a another short and serene documentary. His experimental techniques make it harder to watch than Factory and Portrait, but it is equally intriguing. Loznitsa’s short documentaries are opportunities to immerse yourself in ways of life that you are probably unaware of. Enlighten yourself and watch them all on YouTube.

437

The Factory

Factory Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Image result for factory loznitsa

You’ve got no excuses for ignoring Loznitsa’s documentaries. They are available on YouTube (links below) and are only 30 minutes long. If you are looking for a portrayal of 1930s Russia go watch Portrait. For an otherworldly depiction of a working factory, watch Factory. You’ll be hypnotised by the mechanic sounds and glowing lights in a world where humans have become machines. Is this the future of humanity?

Why Watch Factory?
  • Just like Portrait you can watch this here on YouTube
  • To gain a greater appreciation for your current job
  • Experience factory life – where human’s become machines
  • To relax from another day’s work – the sounds, colours, and perfect processes will sooth you.
The Breakdown

It is still dark. There is a light blanket of snow on the ground. A long billboard of portraits is illuminated by the golden light of two small lamps. A few people walk by, their silhouettes blending into the darkness. The people walk from the darkness into an entry room lit in a spacey green. They all pass through a small turnstile and into the factory to become part of the machine.

In the factory a man crawls out of an orifice in the metal machinery. He picks up a long rod and starts to shovel metal back into the mouth of the machine. A group of women alternate grabbing a metal slab from a slow moving conveyor belt and shelving the blocks on a shelving unit behind them. Both men and women have become parts of the machine. Their movements have become as coordinated and reliable as the machines they work with. Have these people become robots? Are they losing their humanity?

The colours and sounds of the factory create a weirdly relaxing atmosphere. It reminded me of the warm feeling you feel when someone softly speaks to you as you are slowly falling asleep in a warm bed. The sounds of the machinery represent almost every onomatopoeic word. You hear bubbling, grinding, rattling, sloshing, and hissing. Then there are the colours. The warm reds and oranges of the molten metal against the otherwise dark factory and the futuristic greens and blues create an otherworldly environment. It could almost be an image of a dystopian future where humans work for/with the machine.

Conclusion

“What interests me is the possibility of realising thoughts with the resources that make up cinema. The rest is secondary…First an impression, then reflection, then realisation”

– Loznitsa (the director)

In Factory Loznitsa focuses on the physical stuff that makes up an image, namely the location and occupants. Here he moulds an extraordinary film of a Russian factory by depicting the harmony between machines and man. He makes what is real seem unbelievable – as if we are witnessing an alternate dystopian reality.

438

Sand Storm

Image resultSand Storm Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Want to learn a bit about modern Bedouin life in the Middle East? Well it doesn’t appear to be all rosy in Sand Storm. Explore a small village where gender roles are not always clear and rules are upheld out of habit. This is also your chance to start watching some films from Israel/Palestine. Be sure to check out the excellent Ajami and Omar after this!

Why Watch Sand Storm?
  • Following on from Ajami and Omar, here is another great film from Israel/Palestine (it’s currently available on Netflix)
  • To get a feel for life as a Bedouin, including a Bedouin wedding!
  • See the barren landscape of the Negev desert – it is reminiscent of the Kazakh desert shown in The Wounded Angel
  • Witness how different life is for men and women, and young and old
The Breakdown

Sand Storm starts with Layla driving a car along a dirt track through the Negev desert. Her father sits in the passenger seat and asks her what grades she got at school. She says she got 63, but her father does not believe her, and voices his disapproval. Despite this, she continues to drive until they reach their village where they switch seats. Because he let her drive and study, and is pretty laid back, the dad appears more liberal than we might expect.

The opening sets the scene for the rest of the film as gender roles are explored. Layla’s mother (Jalila) appears to be the complete opposite to her father. From the outset she is angered by her husband’s loose discipline their daughter. He lets the daughters do what they want, whereas she wants them to grow up to become strong wives.

However, whilst Jalila has some control of Layla, she has no control over little Tasnim. Unlike Layla, Tasnim does not help out with household chores, goes and hangs out with her father and friends, walks around town in trousers, and even gets away with standing on the kitchen counter. She always has the same excuse: “dad says I can”, which exasperates poor Jalila. In the context of the dad’s second wedding (which Jalila has to prepare) you start to sympathise with Jalila. Is her strictness  just her way of trying to protect her kids? After all, she has nothing else.

Conclusion

Sand Storm explores gender roles in Bedouin society. Are women free to do what they want or are they ultimately always in the hands of their fathers? Watch to find out and uncover what life is like in a remote town in the Negev desert.

439

The Wounded Angel

The Wounded Angel Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Image result for the wounded angel baigazinYou may have seen films from China and Europe, and even the Middle East, but have you seen a film from Kazakhstan? Here’s your chance to see something new. This is an excellent portrayal of Kazakhstan in the mid-90s. A country experiencing an economic and emotional depression after the split of the Soviet Union. Find out what life was like growing up in a remote town in Kazakhstan.

Why Watch The Wounded Angel?
  • To see a film from Kazakhstan!
  • Experience life in mid-90s Kazakhstan after the collapse of the U.S.S.R.
  • You like coming-of-age stories
  • See Kazakh singing in traditional dress and a currency with 3 Tenge notes
The Breakdown

“After the collapse of the USSR, in an effort to preserve the economy, the government cut off electric power every evening”

The film starts with 13 year old Zharas, a young boy living in a remote town in Kazakhstan. He pokes a hole in the top of an egg shell and drinks its contents raw while standing topless in a bare room. He starts shadow boxing before sitting down to make a knuckleduster out of molten metal and a simple mould. Next, he hops onto a train and smokes a cigarette by the door as the train moves through barren landscape.

The Wounded Angel, looks at four 13 year old Kazakh boys living in the same Kazakh town in the middle of a barren landscape. There is an emotional depression. None of the adults ever smile, grimace, or frown. Their permanently expressionless faces have rubbed off on their children who have grown up without emotion. As a result, without emotion, their childhood cannot exist, and they ae forced to become adults.

The fixed camera shots do not hint any change either. The lack of camera movement conveys stillness, therefore mirroring the lack of progress on film (the electricity cuts out, there is no employment, and no emotion).

Look out for the ‘through-the-window-frame’ (or keyhole) shots that appear in each of the four stories. Each one (apart from Toads) shows the character standing within a derelict house by an empty window frame. Each window is a window showing their fate:

  • Zharas: his father walks away, but he runs after him after finishing his cigarette
  • Chick: shows his friends beating up the two kids he didn’t want to fight
  • Toad: he climbs through a hole in the wall and meets a group of kids
  • Aslan: shows a half dead tree
Conclusion

The Wounded Angel is a fantastic depiction of a country in an emotional depression. This is a realist coming-of-age story that contrasts heavily with the nostalgic coming-of-age films that you are used to. Watch this if you are interested in watching something from the great Eurasian Steppe.

440

In Vanda’s Room

In Vanda’s Room Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

“Our country is the poorest, most pathetic of all”

The Lisbon that you will find here In Vanda’s Room is a Portugal you haven’t seen. It is a Portugal which resembles a third-world country. It will expose you to the city’s poorest residents that are all hidden away in the darkness, away from the eyes of tourists. Watch on for Lisbon’s realist version of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. Or, for something a little more upbeat, watch Aniki Bobo for your Portuguese film fix.

Why Watch In Vanda’s Room?
  • For an introduction to Pedro Costa and his critically acclaimed depictions of the marginalised people of Portugal
  • Meet some of the poorest people in Lisbon
  • It is currently available here on YouTube
  • Who needs a front door when you have a window?
The Breakdown

The film begins in Vanda’s room, where Vanda and her friend are sitting on a bed smoking heroin. The room is very dark, but you can make out the dirty green walls behind them and the layers of dark blankets covering the bed they sit on. Vanda inhales some smoke and coughs violently until her throat is cleared. She then viciously wipes her mouth on her sleeve. The lack of light, coughing fits, and drug addicts aren’t what you think of when you think of Lisbon. But Costa has a knack for revealing the hidden people of Portugal.

The next scene shows someone washing themself with a bucket of water in a dark derelict house. Bits of furniture and mess are cluttered around the place and there is still no sign of sunlight. Our first shot outside matches the mess inside the buildings as puddles mark the unpaved streets. A BBQ with a few pieces of wood burns to provide some light for the street which daylight does not seem to reach.

In this neighbourhood there is nothing to do. Vanda sells cabbages and another character tends parked cars, but otherwise there is no sign of business. So the character’s we see are usually hidden away in the dark and out of sight. Is this the life they’ve chosen or the life that they have been forced to live? That is a question that Costa looks to us to decide. However, they cannot prevent the bulldozers that are tearing down their neighbourhood. These bulldozers shed light on Lisbon’s poverty stricken residents, just as his film reveals their existence.

Conclusion

In Vanda’s Room is a solemn portrayal of Lisbon’s poorest residents. As a docufiction, this film does not show any bias towards or against the drug addicts who await eviction. Costa’s role is to reveal their existence for us to make our own judgement.

For more Portuguese film, check out Tabu for an alternative depiction of Lisbon (and the old Portuguese colonies in Africa).