Nordrand

A great film about a multicultural group of young people in Vienna, centered on the friendship between former school pals Jasmin (an Austrian girl) and Tamara (a Serbian girl from Bosnia, but brought up in Austria). The film gives you the feeling that it is perfectly REAL, that this is what the world (or, at least, Vienna) is like. It does have some brutally realistic episodes but also shows some beautiful moments of love and friendship in an unfriendly world. Wonderful performances, especially by Nina Proll who had always been cast as the pretty dumb blonde before but has the opportunity to show her great talent in this film. Also pay attention to the interesting soundtrack, a mixture of mid-Nineties pop, Serbian pop music and Rumanian rap.

This film was almost switched off about half an hour in due to how depressing it seemed with themes of abortion, sexual abuse and generally dreary Austrian weather. However, sticking it out was worth the pay off.

The characters in Nordrand were vivid representations of a hard-working middle class, and those oppressed by a misguided upbringing. Nina Proll's Jasmin is the most dominant, yet overcome character in this piece. Her struggle to remove herself from her home situation seems to be told through universal clichés, while still maintaining an essentially Eastern European feel.

Most enjoyable to watch is Jasmin's love hate relationship with Edita Malovcic's Tamara, as the two young women discover that each other have weaknesses, and support each other in different ways.

The most confronting part of this film is the treatment of Jasmin by her father, but luckily this is mostly glossed over from a visual perspective. But the ramification of the way he treats his children infiltrates the rest of the movie, making it an intriguing dynamic to watch Jasmin's interactions with the rest of her family. Each member is well drawn. The scene on Christmas day when Jasmin's mother brings food to the place Jasmin is working devastates as Jasmin struggles to respond to the woman who has allowed her own children to be mistreated in the worst sense.

It is great to see a city like Vienna explored through the lens without the shine it's usually given to attract tourists. The streetscapes are more reminiscent of what I felt I saw when travelling Graz. But obviously behind the shiny veneer of Mozart and Klimt there is the stories of people like Jasmin and Tamara in Nordrand.

I have not seen this movie in detail yet, so I cannot give a real review. This film (roughly) is about daily life in a lower social class, and it turns out to be pretty realistic. There's no instance that matches things against the good/bad/happy_end "Hollywood scheme".

See this film, but make sure you are not in a bad (depressed/unstable) mood. By the way, there is much utilization of repeating music. You probably will connect at least one popular (European) song of the 90s to this film after seeing it.

This story about a friendship between two very different women, is told in a raw yet warm tone, full of love. Barbara Albert's debut is very well executed, and the film is perfectly cast. Nordrand, now showing at the Stockholm Film Festival (1999), is a low-key film deserving a big audience. I hope it will get it.