Mass für Mass

I saw this film on video tape in the home of a friend of a friend in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1982 or 1983. I don't remember much about it - one rather heavy-handed anti-Christian scene where a character believes he has seen a saint or an angel, but where the viewer is shown in a very pedagogical manner that it is an accident (or a practical joke?) and a trick of the light. The other thing I remember is the reason why I wanted to see the film in the first place. The film is (purports to be) historical and is set in the early years of the 20th century pre-WW1. The protagonist is involved with a group of nationalist freedom fighters, operating in Turkish controlled Macedonia. They kidnap a Protestant Christian missionary, Miss Stone. ("Mis Stoun" in this cast list.) At some point, to calm the savage revolutionary beasts perhaps, Miss Stone sings them a Christmas carol, "In the Bleak Mid-winter". The interest for me was that Miss Stone was played by Christine Bartlet, ("Christin" in this cast list), who was my colleague at the 114th English Medium School. If I remember right, though Miss Stone is supposed to be an American, Christine's Glaswegian accent is very apparent. I think the song was an ad lib - and therefore just possibly a goof: "In the Bleak Mid-winter" is originally a poem by Christina Rosetti and was only set to music (by Gustav Holst) in 1906. So for the song to be appropriate, the action of the scene must fall between 1906 and 1912 (the first Balkan War). But was the song so very well known, even then, that an American missionary would think to sing it under those circumstances?

"Mera spored mera" is the greatest ever Bulgarian movie for a number of reasons, but one above else: it is a technical success such as the country's cinematography has never achieved: the sound, the image, and the sequence are impeccable.

As for the plot, the movie is an enviably trustworthy rendition of some of the most traumatic events in the 20th-century history of the Balkans: the formation of a Macedonian revolutionary movement for the establishment of an autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire, the failed uprising of 1903 which resulted in massacres and mass emigration, and the fraternal wars which exploded among the revolutionaries (the comitadzi) as a result of this failure. Except for the main character, Dilber Tanas, who is a personification of the "quintessential", but anonymous Macedonian company-leader (voevoda), all the characters are historical figures and all the events have really taken place.

The astounding dialogs in the local dialects, the hilarious humour surrounding some of the central, and actually tragic, events (Dilber Tanas is himself a genuinely funny guy), the superbly organized battle scenes, and the invigorating landscapes of Macedonia (all shootings took place at, or close to, the sites of the actual events) make the movie a pleasure to see.

The Macedonian revolution is considered by millions of Bulgarians as a period of pain and loss, yet of pride and heroism as well. Hundreds of thousands people in the country have their roots in Macedonia and regard the depicted events as personal tragedy. The doubtless success of the movie is that it presents the events in a truly epic dimension, bringing forth the beauty and glory of self-sacrifice: in short, what the Bulgarian audience wants to see. At the same time, the script is carefully measured so as to stay as far as possible from any chauvinistic digressions and to placate the possible negative outbursts among Bulgaria's neighbors.

I just watched the first of three episodes of this movie, and could not stop my tears. It is the most human, realistic and at the same time poetic depiction of modern Bulgarian history. And the history itself is so sad and cruel and inhuman... Shown through the eyes of participants, you cannot but feel compation for their struggle, and then you see the mindlessness and cruelty of their actions. All in the name of liberty, all in the name of a great cause. Sadly if this movie is translated into some foreign language a great part of its charm will be lost. I believe it is the best and most sincere movie, depicting Bulgarian history, comparable to such masterpieces as Tarkovski's "Andrey Rublyov", Bertolucci's "Novecento" and Eastwood's "Unforgiven".