Andrei_Ciprian

This was my first Kaurismaki movie. It surely won't be the last. The plot is simple and classic. A man is traveling by train. When he reaches his destination he stops in a park to rest. He falls asleep. He gets robbed and severely beaten by hoodlums. When sent to hospital the doctors think he's dead and send him to the morgue, but he makes a miraculous recovery and runs away. A generous family treat and feed him. He's amnesic and has no papers. He tries to make a living but employment officers send him away as his story doesn't seem trustworthy. He lives off other people's mercy and finally he's helped by a Christian organization. He cooks and plants potatoes. Finally he finds out that he knows how to solder. He inoculates the passion for rock'n'roll to the Christian song playing organization band and welds liaisons in his new outcast community. He makes friends. He falls in love and the woman loves him back. Due to a bank robbery in which he's accidentally involved the police find out his identity. He discovers he is a metallurgist, has a wife and goes back home. Yet she divorced him in the meantime. Quarrels ended up their marriage before the hero's amnesia. When all the constraints of his former existence dissolve he returns to his beloved. Well, you might say why didn't he go to the police in the first place? Perhaps subconsciously he realized he needed a fresh start. If ever in need of calm, peace and warmth watch Kaurismaki's movie! You'll feel like you have started from scratch back again, transformed yourself. Moreover, if placid you may become as proactive as the character. And do enjoy many "bon mots" along the byway!

Apart from the deep-throat approach that totally violates your senses, porn movies can be challenging, glossy and fragrant. One can make an art movie from a porn movie, and Blake demonstrates it. He uses luxurious sets and garments, silk, lace; outfits are innovative and provocative. Everything is high class and decadent starting with the women, the camera movement, the props and ending with the music, downbeat and jazzy. Slow motion scenes add to the soft touch of the movie making it a unique visual experience. Female appearances are absolutely ravishing, with the exotic Dahlia Grey in the foreground. Even if Blake movies usually follow a similar pattern I consider this his best work, together with Aria.

Actually the Romanian title of the movie would be "Balance" or "Scales" or "Steel Yard", pick the word most appropriate to your liking for the weight measuring gadget. The international titles (The Oak, la Chene) are linked to the last scene of the movie that metaphorically wraps up significations. The main characters have found the long sought, yet not traceable balance, equilibrium.

Why did I say that it depicts humiliation of intelligence and culture? In communist Romania people that graduated university or college were repartitioned to a job matching their studies. Only the luckiest got a repartition in a large city. Others were summoned for life in hamlets, as you could not promote or change your repartition unless joining the Party. That's the case with the leading character (Maia Morgenstern) that graduated Psichology in Paris, and was repartitioned in Copsa Mica, the most polluted city in Romania.

The caravan of insults starts with the train journey to her new work place. She is forced to switch trains in the night, take her clothes off in the presence of strangers, and ride 400 km standing in an overcrowded train. As she reaches Copsa Mica some people try to rape her, police torture and threaten her, and so on.

To certify the adage that special people congregate the Psichology graduate meets a funky doctor, that manages to elude the system by being some kind of a joker. Then the rejoicing begins as these 2 people get to know each other.

When they decide under the oak tree to give birth to a child she says: "I pray he won't be normal" and he responds "If he'll be normal I'll kill him with my own hands." For these two people being "normal" meant the supreme course. Everybody around was dull, normal and communist. Enjoy!