God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija

A film which shall magnetize you through excellent acting, with an unusual camerawork, with symbolic sets. An East-European story, in a sorrowful environment, but through forgiveness, love and humanity prevails. In a very elegant (non-didactic) way. Best film for me recently.

It can be discovered from different angles. As a religious film, as manifesto about women rights in Balkans, as support for reflection about social rules, love and mankind, about machism and about Church. But, for me it has two basic virtues - it is a well crafted film -Zorica Nusheva makes a magnificent role -, and its message in profound Christian. A great film about a woman, a cross, a priest, a reporter and a gift to a policeman.

I wouldn't change a scene or a word. It's an epic film that speaks to my upbringing, my culture and my heart. Petrunija is a goodness, follows her heart, her spirit and her inner voice. She doesn't trust the police, the church orthe media. You have to watch it!

In the Orthodox religion, the feast of Epiphany is celebrated with a race to the holy cross that a priest launches into a river. The men jump into the icy water to catch the cross, which is supposed to bring good fortune for the whole year to the winner. Thus, in Macedonia, in a village eternally cemented in the darkness of the middle ages, an almost insignificant event is going to take on excessive proportions when a woman participates to this religious ceremony ... and wins. For native males, it's an outrageous theft. For a female journalist, it's a courageous act of social rebellion and feminine emancipation. The event taking on an enormous scale, the local police must intervene. This is the beginning of a downward spiral based on conformity, tradition, archaism, distressing methods of intimidation as well as ridiculous guilt-inducing monologues. As depressing as it may seem, this movie is based on an excellent quartet 'cast + photography + script + dialog'. A delightful surprise from Macedonia.

I have just watched this movie in Athens and I am very satisfied with it. We were eleven spectators in the theatre during the 20:00 local time screening while rain and wind were raging outside. I had read about the message it seeks to convey and I think it does so very effectively. It is one-sided aligning with progress against religious tradition, obscurantism and male chauvinism. Some of those who uphold religious tradition and patriarchal authority are portrayed very negatively, the equivalent of "church and king" crowds of earlier times. Others such as the priest and some policemen are more ambivalent characters with both negative and positive aspects. Even the TV journalist though who upholds progressivism is not an altogether positive character. The plot is simple: an educated young woman who is nevertheless unemployed performs almost thoughtlessly a symbolic act which puts her at odds with the longstanding conventions and prejudices of a backward society and suffers the consequences. Clearly the movie sides with the open society option against ossified tradition. Not everyone will like this but most people in the West will.