This is an intriguing yet bleak look at how poverty and corruption can totally alter the course of someone's life. Nikola is a day labour, recently fired from his factory job making pipes in his small, rural village. He is owed severance pay and wages, which his ex-employer refuses to give him. Thus, he has to take on meagre day labour jobs in order to have some income. He and his wife struggle to provide for their primary school aged children against a backdrop of extreme poverty and corruption by the town's local officials. With the children taken into foster care, Nikola sets off on a 150km journey for the Serbian capital to plead for their return.
Here is a struggling and stark reminder of how much power (or how little) people have based solely on their economic standings. While Nikola and his wife can't financially provide for their kids, he is still desperate to have them back at any price. The film has a universal theme of parental love. This movie was really well-made and well-acted. The lead actor, in particular, carried the emotional toll of this film brilliantly as he is often the only character on screen for a good chuck of the movie.
Being completely unfair with Serbian cinema, this was a really good film and gave a lot of insight on rural Serbian culture.
