Teret

3 minutes left and I'm still waiting for something significant to happen. This film is so drawn out that it's driving me nuts. Great concept and shot well, but nothing happens. Movie just ended and still nothing. Bummer!

It's a shame this movie has only 12 reviews. There's little apparent action, yet at the same time a great deal is going on. Small sounds and momentary views say everything. There's not a single smile in the movie, and I don't recommend it if you're sad. But its quiet bleakness is devastating, a mix of the true horror of war and the pain of everyday life.

It is a heavy, painful yet powerful, deep and intelligent movie set in a war-torn Serbia. With a war crime in the center of a story, this movie is not about the war, nor about the crime. It is a story about the conflict of the antifascist history and the contemporary nationalism. But it's also a story of a divided society, human reaction to the inhuman conditions they were put in, brain-drain and whatnot. A must see!

At the very beginning the story shows us how the region looks and it shows us a scrap of the folks' everyday life. Vlada, a man of few words, got a temporary job as a truck driver and he's struggling to find his way to Belgrade as the bridge on the main road is blocked. There are some small talks which reveal the personality of Vlada but I failed to find some deeper meaning to it since nothing really happens. The first 50-60 minutes of the movie are great, at least something happens and I had the feeling that the story is leading me to some point... but nope. If this was some ouverture to something deeper it is great, if left as is it's an unfinished story.

The Kosovo War of the late 1990s was one of the final acts of the break-up of what was once Yugoslavia. In 'The Load' a truck driver is assigned to transport a mysterious cargo to Belgrade, across a country under NATO bombardment. But anyone hoping for shots of blood 'n' guts will have to look elsewhere, as this film is less concerned with the mechanics of the conflict - even if it is the work's raison d'être - than it is with showing how the citizens of a country at war adjust and carry on, absorbing the conflict into their everyday lives.

Lead actor Leon Lucev (IMDb will not allow the correct spelling of his surname!) is a tough-looking bloke but as Vlada the trucker he delivers a performance that is a far cry from what the viewer may have expected to be the usual tough-guy role. Vlada is a taciturn man but not unfriendly: he attempts conversation with a teenage hitchiker and has to make all the running when talking to his son. Perhaps his quietness arises from disappointment with his life: he has to take the trucking job after being made redundant from his previous employment. His wife is ill and those NATO bombs are getting closer...

As Vlada's journey continues we get some nice shots of wintry, bleakly attractive countryside. Towards the end we see what Vlada has been transporting and a hint at actions he may take as a result. Also at the end of the film the significance of a stolen lighter is explained in an affecting story.

This is not a fast-moving film and will certainly not be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it.

Seen at the 2018 London Film Festival.