Slogans

Wonderful picture of socialist Albania written in a discreet, almost ascetic way. The novel by Ylljet Alicka "Parullat" (Slogans) was a little changed and included in a story devoted especially for Western cinemas (f.e. the sketch of a popular judge - not real and far from the Albanian realities). The main value of the film is the picture of mentality enslaved people. The slogans, like in the title are the occasion for the expressing of the dictator's cult. Director made this film only with the experienced actors, without new faces. Their roles are very static but it is a specific for this film. The dialogs, carries by the main actors (especially during the funeral) are based on the old rules, the principles of Kanun - the Albanian customary law. The portraits of High Albania very unique in the post 1990 movies, but in many corners of this country it is still a reality - it is not necessary to create something artificial. Ona of the rare cases in which Albanian film could be known wider than in the homeland country. And also it is a good way to understand what really was Albanian communism and how deeply was written in human souls.

The clean and essential depiction of Communist Albania is the strongest point of this movie. This movie might not appeal to most people since it has a relatively slow pace and not a perplexing plot like the movies that tend to break the box office. But here, Xhuvani, one of the best Albanian directors (if not the best), has done a detailed and objective portrayal of one of the less ugly and ruthless faces of this recent dark half a century of the Albanian history.

It was very intriguing that the movies's own atmosphere was identical to the feeling that arose in me each time I heard stories about those times from my parents and grandparents, and tried to put myself in their shoes. The suspense and psychological pressure can be felt, even though this movie is labeled primarily as a Comedy. The same pressure pushes the two main characters to find safety and a home in one another, while trying to hide this from everyone else.

I'd recommend this movie to everyone, both Albanian and foreign, who is interested in learning a lot about Communist Albania in less than two hours.

Before I start this comment, I might take a minute to state that I know very little about the country of Albania, nor about the communist politics that go on in that state. Living in a big city in a capitalist country, interpreting this film is somewhat difficult and can be called into question, at least as far as I'm concerned. So bear that in mind as I write.

The film "Slogans" is set in a remote Albanian village, in a communist state. It is viewed primarily through the eyes of Andre, a young teacher recently arrived in the town and hence under constant scrutiny from the citizens. The plot revolves largely around him and his fellow teachers as they lead their students in building huge slogans for the communist party in rocks on the side of a hill. If this plot intrigues you in a slightly whimsical kind of way, you'll know what my motivation was to watch it in the first place.

On the surface, the plot seems to be nothing more than a tale of alienation and politics revolving around the somewhat tedious occupation of building these slogans from rocks and painting the rocks to make them stand out. But deeper down there are more inner workings.

The way I see it, the film is simply a satirical piece on the failure and hollowness of communism as a governing rule. The slogans are symbolic of this; the whole job is done for the purposes of this supposedly wonderfully fulfilling pursuit, but in the end, all they are is just words. The fact that so much of the plot revolves around these words seems to suggest that, in a similar way, the communist system itself revolves around words and little more. The brave and inspirational words are supposed to incite the masses to enthusiasm, and yet, as the film illustrates, the words are so fragile that a simple flow of rain or the trotting of goats can unsettle them and they lose all meaning.

It's interesting to note the other ways in which the writers have stressed the importance of words (ie. propaganda) in the workings of the Party. It is done mainly through the use of single, isolated aspects of the story. Firstly, the fact that there is only one character who retains notoriety for being a detractor, an enemy, of the communist Party, and that character happens to be illiterate; in other words, he can't read the slogans and therefore can't rally around them like the masses do. Secondly, the fact that, despite relying largely on school and teaching for its story, there is only essentially one scene actually set in a classroom, and it too involves nothing but reciting communist propaganda, and when the boy in question makes an honest mistake, his words are misinterpreted and an entire investigation is set up as a result.

The pathos present in these, among other aspects of this film, is what gives it its comedy and hence its satire. That said, while the examination of communism is very interesting, the film itself fails a little to really engage me. The comedy is there, but it isn't funny. The drama is there, but it isn't moving. I just don't think the right atmosphere was created to actually captivate me; there is very little music used to set the mood, and the acting isn't quite good enough to compensate. Similarly, the subplot of the romance between Andre and Diana doesn't quite work for me; there just appears to be no development of this relationship and so when it is consummated there is very little chemistry between the two. It just comes off as incomplete.

The only real drama is the subtle message of the sadness and worthlessness of this life; Andre is used as contrast, the voice of wisdom as it were, between this essentially brainwashed community and the outside, more civilised world. But in the end, the schoolkids, like the adults, are simply forced to completely immerse themselves in a lifestyle that serves only the purposes of the party (with free will eliminated from the equation), and in more ways than one the film illustrates the fact that this is an endless cycle. And to an external viewer, that's quite sad to see.

In summary, the film, and script in particular, are very cleverly worked to examine the life and politics of this isolated village. It is in the execution of the story where it fails to impress, but as far as I can see, that matters very little since I love a film with intricate underlying themes. As a political foray, it's close to perfect. As a film, it isn't. In very simple terms, four stars out of five.

I've seen this film in the Festival International de Films d'Amour (Love film international festival) in Mons, Belgium, while spending one year in Belgium as an Erasmus student. This film was one the greatest surprises of the festival. However, it wasn't on competition. I agree with the previous spectator's opinion. I have to add a commentary about one of the scenes I was shocked by: an extremely poor shepherd who cannot read or write is taken to court accused of being imperialist and opposed to communism. The reason? Some of his goats had moved some of the stones that composed the slogans the day before and was finally sent to prison. Too sad. If you have the possibility of seeing the film, go for it.

'Slogans' is a wry and entertaining commentary on the excesses of Communist Albania in the early 1970s. Andre, a new biology teacher posted to a school in a remote mountain village, soon finds the staff and students there to be far more concerned about the upkeep of the Communist slogans they have depicted on the surrounding hillsides in large white stones than the Three Rs. Failure to devote one's full time to this endeavour will supposedly earn the wrath of district party officials, although as the film progresses, it quickly becomes clear that the village itself seems far more obsessed with the task than the rarely seen bureaucratic overlords themselves, and failure to uphold the zeal for rearranging the stones becomes ammunition for the true believers to engage in witch hunts against anyone they have personal grievances. Andre and those of the village not fully enraptured with the community's purposeless raison d'etre find themselves forever treading through a minefield of contradictions, paranoia and party dogma that could explode around them at any moment.

The film is an excellent study in farce, and claiming to be based on real events, it is a very welcome and healthy progression for Albanian society to be able to laugh at the absurd, almost Orwellian blind alley they once stumbled down. Indeed, 'Slogans' takes many delighted pot shots at the futility of the locals' single-minded determination to pepper the hills with important-sounding slogans - the meanings of which they are unable to actually explain, such as the declarative 'American Imperialism Is Only A Paper Tiger' and 'Finish Successfully The Campaigns Of Our Harvests And Sowings'. The loss of a generation of children, so tired from spending their days building giant letters for phrases they cannot hope to understand that they have no energy left for actual studies is all the more tragic because of their excited determination and uncomprehending devotion to the task, reminiscent of the first generation of the children who grew up in Mao's China, becoming the most devout party members of all, yet the most ignorant.

'Slogans' also shows the way in which the real world continually steps in to foil the Party's designs and is punished for doing so. The giant letters are continually unearthed by fauna, romances evolve, and children play, all resulting in stiff penalties for the unwitting transgressors. One of the most touching scenes for me features Andre and a dirt-poor, illiterate herdsman, who implores the teacher to help him convince the local government to provide him with better housing. The poor peasant, whose lack of education precludes him from understanding anything of the local politics, is ultimately destined to be condemned for his ignorance, his plight an excellent metaphor for the absurdity and failure of the Communist ideologies, which have been stripped away of every last scrap of meaning and do nothing for the people who actually matter. Ultimately, any such efforts at normality are quashed, and the final message of the film is clearly that the people are slaves to the system they themselves willingly perpetuate, which is ultimately too powerful to resist. Thankfully, history has proved this not to be the case.

Yet it is important to remember that 'Slogans' is as much a comedy as it is drama, and thankfully, both writers and director have enough faith in their story to let the farce come organically from the events themselves, with the humour often understated and capable of sneaking up on you. There is an almost Pythonesque quality to the absurd situations characters find themselves in (exemplifying the old axiom that truth is stranger than fiction), which will draw laughs of their own accord, and indeed I found myself chuckling away several times at the inherent contradictions, such as a scene in which the school Party leader condemns a child for accidentally referring to China as 'revisionist' and then proceeds straight-faced to make a similar mistake himself.

While some may argue that you have to have lived through a Communist dictatorship such as that under Enver Hoxha to truly appreciate the fear, uncertainty and for 'Slogans' in particular, the sheer madness that occurs when purpose becomes a shell, all societies are powered by these irrational drives to varying degrees and audiences should have no trouble appreciating that absurdity for what it is and seeing the funny side as the film intends. Touching, amusing, sad and hopeless, 'Slogans' runs the gamut of emotions, striking a fair balance between them in its efforts to be lighthearted while not diluting its core message.