23 February 2010

Katalin Varga

A film by Peter Strickland

Banished by her husband and her village, Katalin Varga is left with no other choice than to set out on a quest to find the real father of her son, Orbán. Taking the boy with her, Katalin travels through the Carpathians where she decides to reopen a sinister chapter from her past and take revenge. The hunt leads her to a place, she prayed eleven years prior, she would never set foot in again.

For years, Katalin has been keeping a terrible secret. Hitchhiking with two men, she was brutally raped in the woods. Although she has kept silent about what happened, she has not forgotten, and her son Orbán serves as a living reminder. When her village discovers her secret, Katalin's husband Zsigmond rejects her. Taking Orbán with her, on the pretext of visiting his ailing grandmother, she sets out with horse-drawn wagon on a journey through the beautiful, otherworldly Carpathian mountains of Transylvania to seek revenge on the perpetrators whom she has not seen since the assault.

After their arrival in the village, Katalin encounters Gergely, one of the men involved in the crime, and luring him into a compromising situation, she explodes into a violent rage in which she murders him. Katalin next sets out to find Antal Borlan, the rapist, to mete out similar punishment, but before she can confront him Antal befriends Orbán, and Katalin is taken aback when she realises the man who violated her has not only charmed her son, but also has a wife, Etelka, and others who love him and depend on him.

In a mesmerising sequence when Katalin joins Antal and Etelka in their rowing boat on a lake, she tells them the awful story of the rape. We see Antal's nervous reactions as Katalin describes in great detail both the events and the resulting aftermath of his actions, without identifying him by name. At a certain point in her story her language unexpectedly changes into that of the folk-tale, with an eerie and unnerving effect.

Her choices have far reaching consequences for the people she meets and those she seeks out, but it is those who are innocent and unknowing who suffer the greatest impact from her terrible revenge and she is forced to consider that morality might not be as black and white as she had imagined. As hunter becomes hunted and Katalin's mission becomes ever more precarious, the atmosphere and tension gradually heighten until we realise that Katalin's journey is likely to be strictly one-way, for such is the inexorability of tragedy.

This mysterious, unusual and very beautiful film combines the elements of psychological thriller with social comment on punishment and justice. Set in the present day, yet as timeless and eternal as the mountains, forests and surrounding Transylvanian landscape, Katalin Varga is a captivating story, intricately woven around very traditional themes of revenge and redemption.

16 February 2010

The Turin Horse

A Torinói ló
a film by Béla Tarr

Inspired by the story of 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche protecting a horse from abuse, the film details the lives of the coachman, his daughter, and the horse. In Turin on 3 January 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche steps out of the doorway of 6 Via Carlo Alberto. Not far from him, the driver of a hansom-cab is having trouble with a stubborn horse. Despite all his prompting, the horse refuses to move and at this the driver loses his patience and takes his whip to it. As Nietzsche approaches this scene, he suddenly jumps towards the cab and, bursting into tears, throws his arms around the horse's neck. Nietzsche is then taken home where he lies motionless and silent for two days on a divan. He spends the remaining ten years of his life silent and demented, under the care of his mother and sisters.

Ohlsdorfer, the carter, and his daughter live out their lives on their farmstead. They subsist on hard work, their only source of income being the horse and cart. The father takes on carting jobs, his daughter takes care of the household. It's a very meagre life and infinitely monotonous. Their repeating gestures and the changes in seasons and times of day dictate the rhythm and routine which is cruelly inflicted on them. Their horse, now old and in very poor condition, is no longer able to carry out its tasks. Pulling the loaded cart becomes more and more difficult. However, it tries to obey the words of command but even the whip can't force it to achieve beyond its strength.

All that the horse wants now is peace and an untroubled death. The dying of the horse shapes the story of the film which is framed by the gale sweeping all before it, whose function is to bring true order to the world, at the same time giving the final tribute of respect to innocence and defencelessness. The film speaks about death, and the deep pain that comes with it, felt by all of us as a universal law.

Announced as Béla Tarr's last film, The Turin Horse made its world premiere in competition at Berlin Film Festival 2011 where it was awarded the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear.

7 February 2010

It's Winter

Zemestan
a film by Rafi Pitts based on the story Safar by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi.

Mokhtar has just lost his job, the store where he works having been forced to close. His chances of finding employment elsewhere are remote, so feeling he has no other option he decides to search for work abroad. Amid a bleak and bitter Iranian winter, his wife Khatoun and their young daughter accompany him to the railway station where he boards the train, and hoping for greater opportunities and better times, he leaves his family behind in Tehran. Meanwhile Khatoun must somehow support herself, her child and her ageing mother on the meagre wage she receives for working long hours in the clothing factory. She is also forced to sell household belongings and furniture in order to survive. Months pass and Mokhtar's family hear no word from him. One day the police come to the house with news of his death.

A stranger, Marhab, arrives in town in search of work. He is a mechanic, specialising in crane repairs, and is confident that his skills will enable him to secure employment. But when he is repeatedly told there is no work for him he is forced to clean the windscreens of trucks for small change. Sleeping at a café he meets Ali Reza, also a mechanic, who gets him a job at the truck repair yard where he works. When walking along the railway track one day Marhab encounters the beautiful Khatoun as she returns home from work. He hears that she no longer has a husband and as he begins to fall in love with her, he follows her on her journeys across town and then sitting on the railway track observes her at home, awaiting his opportunity. Eventually she confronts him and asks him directly why he is following her. During a very emotional exchange Marhab, shocked and deeply embarrassed, attempts to express his feelings for the woman he loves. Time passes, Marhab wins Khatoun's trust and affection and they marry.

But Marhab is essentially a drifter, needing change in his life and is always searching for something new. He is willing to work hard for a decent wage but also wants a life for himself outside of work. He becomes indifferent to the job he has, arguing with the boss over time taken off and the fact that he has worked for several months but has yet to be paid. The boss is unwilling to accept his attitude to work and eventually fires him. Marhab, now unemployed with little hope of finding work but now shouldering the responsibility of a family, contemplates leaving Tehran to search for work abroad.

Outside on the railway track Mokhtar sits in the darkness watching the house. He has returned alive but broken, penniless and now an amputee on crutches. He sees that there is no longer a place for him with Khatoun and his daughter, life has moved on during his long absence and he does not belong here. But as Mokhtar sits watching the house, Marhab is preparing to leave his home and family and we see that their story has now turned full circle.

Marhab returns to the café once more where in conversation with the proprietor he speaks of the troubles and frustrations in his life. As he does so a man on crutches enters and Marhab is told in some detail of the misfortunes of this individual. The following day, as Marhab stands at the railway station awaiting his train amid a bitter winter blizzard, the destinies of both these men, who in many ways can be seen as the same person, are concluded.

The struggle to survive of a generation torn between wanting to leave its country yet bound by blood to home. This visually very beautiful and emotionally charged film was inspired by Dowlatabadi's book The Trip but is also influenced by the poem Winter by Mehdi Akhavan Saless. The lines of this poem, well-known in Iran, depict the governing power and the cold attitudes of winter and are used at the beginning and end to frame the film, giving form to feelings and sentiments that are otherwise oblique and intangible. Through its characters the film describes the harsh life in which we struggle under pressure, merely to survive day-to-day and it highlights the plight and fate universally, not just in Iran, of the working classes. It is their story.