In the Heart of the Machine

I avoid watching Bulgarian movies but something about this one just lured me in. There's one simple word to describe it with: Masterpiece!

There's great story line marked by drama and thrilling moments. It's shows the evolution of the broken human soul in a perfect way. It definitely makes one think and draw conclusions for oneself.

And don't get me started on the cast... definitely a perfect casting choice involving some of the household names in the Bulgarian cinema. Special kudos to Sano, Vergov and Zombory.

I'm super sceptical when it comes to Bulgarian movies but this one shows great talent and hard work. I enjoyed it very much. I see the Bulgarian productions differently now and I will be definitely more open to give them a chance more.

I absolutely loved it!

A very powerful story, told in a very powerful way. Excellent cast and cinematography. The setting is the communist era central prison and metallurgical plant Kremikovtsi in Sofia. Reminds me of the Green Way in a way.

There is hope for Bulgarian cinema. The movie was beautifully shot for the most part with some very dramatic scenes. Overall good actor play, the movie would have been a lot, lot better without Bashar Rahal, he delivered a very underwhelming performance that contributed absolutely nothing. Definitely ruined the scenes between him and the prison director as they ere rendered quite shallow.

Decent script (Yes, very similar to The Green Mile, Showshank Redemption, etc.), poor directing, some hit and miss camera work (excelent ending shot btw). Terrible sound (as if I was watching a pirate copy, recorded in a movie teather). The worst part are the dialogues. Terribly unconvincingly written, as if translated from English to Bulgarian. The only words which sounded natural from actors mouth are the curse words.

On the other hand, all this was shot in 21 days with almost no budget. They even forgot to mention it is based on a real story (!). I hope they read this and next time make much more real film and stop stealing lines and cliches from Hollywood. They even stole the FBI/ US Police constant fight for dominance in US movies and mirrored it in 1978 Bulgarian film. And I didn't even try to count the plot holes. I hope the next one is better!

The plot line is similar to The Green mile movie, but the performance is under this level. And it's not up to the actor's play. It's about the scenario. Could have been more intriguing and a bit faster, because it reminded me of a soap series, especially in the last 40 minutes.

Kind of boring in the end.