The World Is Big

Been from Bulgaria, knowing the country, the traditions, the mentality of the people I can tell, that it was great and honest acting - just as you could meet the people and their spirit in the streets.

To my luck, I live in Germany and can also identity and totally understand and even see some of my own experience, feelings and everything the characters are going through on the silver screen as I did myself in the most realistic, authentic and beautifully possible way by settling to an other country. Not only having this background - and even the same name, as the main character Alex - this movie can touch your heart.

Knowing some current Bulgarian movies - in my opinion - this is definitely THE best movie of the past few years. Honestly, I cannot remember anything more touching form any country for some past time. I had wet eyes during some scenes - either it was from laughing or from really deep emotion.

This movie deserves watching.

I went to the theater with low expectations of another boring post-totalitarian Bulgarian movie and was pleasantly surprised - it had an actual story which was told consistently, the characters were lively, there were no irritating protracted shots in silence (trademark to many, many other Bulgarian movies) and the dialogue was real. While based on a novel the movie elegantly manages to stay focused and the plot is not overstretched.

Things I didn't like: the one-sided densely evil picture of the totalitarian oppressors that rendered them preposterously inhuman, the clichéd camera (e.g. yellowish retrospectives, rotation around characters while they played backgammon) and superfluous didacticism in some scenes.

All in all it's worth watching, but eight years of script rewriting could yield a bit better result.

Let me open with a few relevant personal facts. I am a Bulgarian who immigrated to America with my parents around the age of nine. Initially we stayed at an immigration camp in Italy. Essentially, I have experienced the journey of the young kid.

Based on my personal experience, I think the movie contained quite a few overstatements of facts like the people staying in the camp 3-4 years while their documents were being processed, or the somewhat overstated communist reality in Bulgaria at the time. Among these exaggerations, there were quite a few things that were very accurate however. For example immigrants (profugas) were pretty much fed pasta - most of the time without any sauce - while the UN paid something like $50 per day per immigrant to the camp. This amount would have enabled us to live much better had it been given directly to us.

Thinking about these exaggerations, I am somewhat ready to forgive the makers for resorting to them, since they did amplify the ideas that were being conveyed. Emotions such as the paralyzing fear of the uncertainty ahead that gnawed at every immigrant's soul aren't easily expressed without relying on parable to some degree. Perhaps a more seasoned film maker would have toned things down, but likely not.

I did find a few somewhat pointless episodes like the love scene with the singer, which did nothing for me other than sweeten the happy end. Also I think the movie would have been better served if the Sashko's past hadn't been erased through the use of a somewhat brutally cliché device like the car crash, but through a more psychological one like the dissolution of his parents' marriage or such.

All in all - as other reviewers have posted - although the movie has a number of clichés, it uses them constructively. Rather than deafening or turning off the viewer, the clichés tend to amplify the message to a level that it becomes clearer.

Basically the movie works.

I had an opportunity to see this feature during Warsaw Festival. It made an extraordinary impression on me, and not only on me - audience immediately fell in love with it. If you are tired of full of special effects blockbusters on the one hand, and on the other you're not in the mood to watch another depressing art movie, "The world is big.." is the best answer to your demand. Of course, it's not perfect, sometimes it is even awkward - the director still has to work hard on his craft, but, after all this movie will lighten your heart. Life is worth living, life is worth acting, that's what this film is about. Miki Manojlovic is more than charming as an energetic, "crazy" grandfather who teaches his withdrawn grandson how to appreciate life. And - believe me - having watched this movie, you will start thinking about traveling through Europe on bike. Balkan spirit still works!

To Hans Grob and all people that come from Western Europe - it is absolutely understandable why you would never appreciate a film like this - you have never lived in a Communist Country, you don't know what it's like and you probably don't understand the whole idea of the film that well... Mr Hans Grob, the old man in the film that you talking about is not the boy's uncle, it is his Grandfather!

This film may not be a master piece but it definitely has emotional value for Eastern Europeans who have experienced the Communist Regime! It describes the life and the people back then adequately and all facts represent true stories from people's lives! Actors emotions and reactions in the film are very close to what one Bulgarian would say or do so I find the film very realistic and definitely the best productions made by Bulgarians after 1989.