(My Joy 2010) . It's a simple film about three characters which the accidents of war first put together on opposite sides and then together: Sushenya (Vladimir Svirsky) Burov (Vladimir Abashin) and Voitik (Sergei Kolesov).
It happened in 1942, when the Nazi Germany took Belarus over a small village from Soviet Russia at its south eastern borders. It started with the unexplained release of a native villager Sushenya who was seized and beaten up by the German soldiiers together with 3 other of his colleagues, who were hanged in the village square after a train was derailed. Everyone in the village, including his wife, suspected that he had betrayed his countrymen, and shunned him as if he were a plague. He said it would have been better if the German commandant had killed him off instead of releasing him and letting him live. But soon the local resistance fighters burst into his home unannounced to shoot him with their rifles. He begged them not to do so in front of his wife and child. The leader Burov relented. Sushenya led the way into a wood nearby. We see their trek and how he was treated like an animal and asked to dig his own grave. When it was ready and Burov was about to pull the trigger, Sushenya asked Burov to give his fine coat to Inelya, his wife because it would have been a waste if it were thrown away. Burov agreed. He raised his gun again. Sudddenly some firing was heard nearby and before Burov could fire at the enemies, whose face were never shown, he himself was shot. In the confusion, Sushenya escaped. After the noise subsided, we see Sushenya crawling back to the site of his former grave. He saw his former executioner lying on the ground. He shoved him. It made a noise. He was not yet dead. He lugged him on his shoulders and made off. On the way, he met Voitik, the other resistance fighter who was asked by Burov to stand guard a little distance away but who fell asleep from fatigue, leading to the surprise attack. Burov's first words to Sushenya were, "I should have killed you" , probably meaning that had he not shot Sushenya at his home, he wouldn't have been shot by German now.
The film continues. We see the threesome making their way through the forest. Before long, Burov felt that unless they got a cart instead of being carried by Sushenya, They had to make a decision who should go to do that. Burov asked Voitik to go. Before he left, Voitik took over Burov's rifle and gave him his own revolver for his self protection. Whilst Voitik was was, they got talking. Burov asked Sushenya why did not escape when he could. Sushenya then gave his reasons. He did not want to live because he was falsely suspected to have been a traitor when all he did was to stop any further loss of life. He said that after they were caught and beaten up and was about to be executed, the Nazi commandant made him a deal: he would sign a "collaboration agreement" with the Germans and be their spy in return for his life. He said he couldn't do it. The commandant asked him to reflect over his proposal and tell him the following morning. The morning arrived. The commandant asked him again. He said he couldn't do it. The commandant looked at him and after a while, suddenly said he could go. When he left, the Commandant went out of his office and waved him goodbye. This was seen by the villagers. He was never trusted again. It was a living death. Burov remarked how everything has changed within a year and a half since the German came. Sushenya replied that people didn't change within a year and a half, they have changed since the village had been taken over by the Russians. It was never the same again. He said people may change, if they want to survive because human nature is unstable. This caused Burov to reflect on how life is never as simple as it looks and how he himself was led to become a resistance fighter. We are given a flashback. He used to be a compulsive car mechanic and had built a truck which was then requisitioned by the Germans. The sight of it made him carrying German soldiers carrying an old grandfather clock for the use of the German officer make him boil over. The flash point came when one of his childhood friend, now made a local policemen by the German came to his house to ask him to help him fix a problem with his truck. He said he would not. His friend told him that he could have "ordered" him to do so and pointed his rifle at him. He looked him in the eye and spat on him. His former friend raised his rifle at him again. At that point, his mother stepped in and hit him with the dress she was then mending and shoved him off. He left. That night, he blew up the truck with a petrol soaked wad. When he was packing to go, his mother begged him not to and asked whether there were enough sorrows. But he would not listen and his mother knew she couldn't stop him. Then the film cut to the fate of Voitik who became a resistance fighter when he took shelter on the way through the forest in an abandoned shed built built by resistance fighters. It triggered another flash back. He was once accommodated for the night whilst passing through a nearby village. The host happened to be a family sympathetic to the local resistance fighters who would from time to time get some tobacco from him. He left the following morning and was met by some local policemen where he was from and where he was going. They searched him and found only some potatoes which were given to him by his host as food on his way. He said he did not know what the place was called. The police then asked him to lead the way. He did. When they arrived, the local police entered without knocking. The next we know, a gun shot was heard. Then we see the policeman firing into the house and throwing a gnenade inside. The door of the house was seen flying in the air and the house caught fire. No words were exchanged before they entered the house. No explanation were asked nor required. The only language appeared to be the language of naked violence: the language of rifles, rapid firing machine gun, grenades and bombs .
By the time Voitik returned empty handed, Burov was already dead. Voitik was preparing to leave. Sushenya said they could not leave Burov's body there. Voitik asked why. Sushenya pointed to a crow on one of the tree branches above. He said that it had been there for the past two days. Voitik then told him to carry Burov's dead body. Time for decision again. Since Babinski from where they heard gunshots was in one direction, there was only one way to go: in the opposite direction. But they had to cross a main road. Voitik expressed some hesitation. Sushenya asked him whether he had any better idea. They reached the main road but Sushenya told him they must wait till it's dark before they could go. They waited. Dusk was closing in. Sushenya carried Burov;s body rapidly across without incident. It was Voitik's turn. He hesitated and when he thought it was safe, he got down the slope. But suddenly, we hear guns firing. Voitik was shot. Two local policemen approached, searched him, took his wallet out, removed all cash and threw the rest away and when they were about to leave, one of them noticed his boots which looked strong. He set about removing it when Voitik made a noise when he felt his feet cold. The policeman was surprised. He stood up, looked at Voitik, raised his rifle and finished him off and made off with his boots. When they were gone, Sushenya crossed the main road again. He picked up Voitik's body, carried it over the road and lay him beside Burov's body one on each side. He straightened their coats and set their feet upright. A fog had arisen. He took the revolver from Burov's pocket. We see the fog closing in on him, as if it were a vague and indistinct memory of the common fate of 3 people whose quite different paths were made to cross by the German occupation. When he was completely covered, we hear the sound of a gun shot. The fog grew thicker and thicker, The main road and the surrounding forest returned to dead silence, with 3 motionless bodies. The film ends.
It's a strangely moving but depressing film. There's no much talk. All images and motions. Against the purity and freshness of the Belarusian forest and snow, what unfurls is a drama of senseless violence, a total breakdown of communication, an atmosphere of mutual mistrust and suspicion instead of trust and solidarity caused by political and military domination. Under such conditions, perhaps the only fate for any residual sense of humanity appears to be death, "in the fog". A giant question mark overhangs the film's finale. We're left pondering.
The cinematography was excellent, the play of light against dark and the desolateness of man's fate in the frozen and unforgiving environment was fully brought out. The dialogues are sparse and economical. Hence the impact of the film which won the FIPRESCI award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Thanks for your sharing! Sounds like a movie not to be missed.
回覆刪除[版主回覆03/23/2013 08:00:15]It's a film by a young director who knows what cinematic language is all about !