Neither a lender nor a borrower be
Indebted (as its name suggests) revolves around money and the control it gives people over others' lives, surpassing everything including self-respect, morality and the law. Without cash you are worthless in every sense, and in debt you are no longer yourself but simply an extension of others.
As the film begins, the main characters find themselves on the fringes of society, partly due to stupid choices that they can no longer undo, partly due to the ratcheting effect of accumulated interest which can never be repaid: Elli is a student who has borrowed far beyond her means, Iiris is a tough-as-nails leader of a debt collection gang, and Andrei is one of her subordinates.
Without giving anything away, the plot is engaging and non-generic. The fates of the characters aren't obvious, and that makes it interesting to watch what happens to them. The dialogue is in Finnish, but most of the exposition is done visually through direction and performance, and there aren't any speeches or Hollywood-style mission statements: what happens is what happens, there isn't any philosophical point to these people's lives other than keeping their heads above water.
On the slightly negative side there were one or two soapy lines, and Andrei's motivation to be a member of a violent gang is a bit unclear as he seems to be quite a nice bloke, but these are minor quibbles as the film otherwise made the characters' actions understandable and very believable.
Overall, Indebted is a good, solid, merciless and unpretentious look at the kinds of events that have probably been happening since currency was invented (you could easily imagine the same script set in Ancient Rome for example). The two leading women are particularly interesting as contrasting characters, both end up in rather difficult circumstances but their reactions are very different: Elli is a slave while Iiris is a fighter, and their respective actors exploit this contrast extremely well.
Recommended, 9 out of 10
As the film begins, the main characters find themselves on the fringes of society, partly due to stupid choices that they can no longer undo, partly due to the ratcheting effect of accumulated interest which can never be repaid: Elli is a student who has borrowed far beyond her means, Iiris is a tough-as-nails leader of a debt collection gang, and Andrei is one of her subordinates.
Without giving anything away, the plot is engaging and non-generic. The fates of the characters aren't obvious, and that makes it interesting to watch what happens to them. The dialogue is in Finnish, but most of the exposition is done visually through direction and performance, and there aren't any speeches or Hollywood-style mission statements: what happens is what happens, there isn't any philosophical point to these people's lives other than keeping their heads above water.
On the slightly negative side there were one or two soapy lines, and Andrei's motivation to be a member of a violent gang is a bit unclear as he seems to be quite a nice bloke, but these are minor quibbles as the film otherwise made the characters' actions understandable and very believable.
Overall, Indebted is a good, solid, merciless and unpretentious look at the kinds of events that have probably been happening since currency was invented (you could easily imagine the same script set in Ancient Rome for example). The two leading women are particularly interesting as contrasting characters, both end up in rather difficult circumstances but their reactions are very different: Elli is a slave while Iiris is a fighter, and their respective actors exploit this contrast extremely well.
Recommended, 9 out of 10
- KKello
- Jul 3, 2013