Krajinka

I recently saw this wonderful film on Australia's multi-cultural network, SBS Televsion. Martin Sulik - a comparatively young film artist - Directs his film with assurance and gentle humour. Krajinka' ('Landscape') is constructed around a narrative suite, with each story building to reveal a potted history of Slovenia. These are ironic and tragic stories seen through the eyes and lives of Sulik's down-to-earth characters. Each story has its genuinely moving momments, but the film never stoops to sentimentality.

The Slovak movies series on my cable programming brought me the opportunity to see another more than satisfying film. 'Landscape' (English translation of the title) is located in an imaginary place in rural Slovakia. It is built of a series of non-related episodes, each the length of a short movie. There is no continuity in the action, but there is a continuity in the the chronology, as time passes from the period before the 2nd world war until the contemporary times. The microcosm of the small village is invaded by war, Fascists and Communists alternate at the rule, new forces destroy slowly the traditional way of life. Slowly, the series of of short human stories connect together to make what we may call magic history.

A very good movie, though the stories in the first half seemed to me more coherent and interesting. Tens of small roles and different characters provide more good acting than in one hundred Hollywood movies. I wish this film would have luck and enjoy an international distribution so that it can be seen by broader audiences, and I also hope that after it happens the director will not be invited to the US to direct Mission Impossible 4, and not even Titanic 2.

Krajinka, aka "Landscape," consists of 10 separate vignettes, or short stories, grafted together chronologically. The time span stretches from pre-WWII Slovenia(?) to the latter half of the 20th century. Although a couple of characters reappear in episodes, the stories are mainly independent of each other.

What unites the stories is a rural spirit of life that is ribald, compassionate, cruel, and above all resilient. The "landscape" shrugs off Fascists (both Hungarian and German), and subsequent Communists. Still, there is a feeling that we are witnessing the end of an era, the gradual demise of a way of life that will never come again. The movie is a eulogy for this dying culture.

The beauty of the film is in its close attention to details--the motorcyclist who wears his jacket backwards to keep out the wind; the nose-wrestling contest; the hapless beggar who hides in the sewage of an outhouse; the clock museum of a beautiful war widow. Caution: towards the end of the film there is a scene of a fox writhing in a steel-jawed trap--perhaps innocent in the context of this country culture, but disturbing nevertheless.

But the movie is basically full of life, love and soul. A fitting eulogy for a dying way of life.