The Forgiveness of Blood

It is really very old school and very subtle. Still the sentiment is very strong and the acting is more than solid. Though some may call it slow and think it is nothing more than a documentary. Though that is not a bad thing in my book, you have to decide how you feel about it. It's family driven plot has values to offer.

While some things may seem ridiculous to people who live in the city, this stuff indeed happens. So while I am not sure if it actually based on something in particular, it is more than obvious, that in general this has happens. A very dark drama, with great natural performances, that elevate the movie clearly :o)

This is a small Albanian movie about a blood feud in a small Albanian town. Rudina and Nik are normal kids in a relatively poor family. Their father earn a living delivering bread in the neighborhood. Access to a disputed road causes problems with the neighbor. When the father and a uncle kill that neighbor, only the uncle is caught. The neighbor's powerful family seeks retribution or blood feud. Age old customs causes more and more problems for the young kids who remain.

There is an amazing underlying subject being dramatized. The old customs is just harrowing. However the movie moves a bit slow and the power of the situation is dissipated. The other missed opportunity is the actual attack that starts the entire story. It seemed obvious that they needed to show it. The power of brutality itself is needed given the subject of the movie is a blood feud. It seems odd that we're missing that scene.

This film is again one of important subject matter that was handled in a very low-key way. It reminded me of the pace of "Of Gods and Men", it didn't hold your attention - not enough stuff happens in it - and this is a shame because it's a film about Albanian blood feuds, and the history behind them.

It felt like a documentary and the acting was too subdued, although the actors were not experienced. Lots of yawning from a guy behind me suggested it wasn't capturing peoples imagination due to the snail's pace of each scene and conversation, hardly any incidental music - a very soporific 1 hour 50 mins.

It's also garnered loads of awards?

This powerful film immerses us in an ancient culture that continues to exist in modern times. Even as the inhabitants of the Albanian village enjoy television and the young use their cell phones to communicate, freshly-baked loaves of bread are delivered by horse-drawn cart. Without the glimpses of modern technology, we would think we were watching a drama from the 19th Century because of the nature of the feuding (stones placed on a dirt road to block passage) and the very clear, iron-clad rules from the Kanun for resolving the fallout from the feud that escalates to violence The film illuminates the powerful strictures under which the two feuding families live. Honor and respect may seem to us strange concepts to employ, following what we would consider a felonious crime and a matter for the police and a governmental system of justice, but the Kanun lays out the terms under which those who are deemed to have harmed another must isolate themselves and their families. Tradition provides a pathway to settling the feud, but there is no timetable for ending the state of being a pariah. It is the entire family who is societally harmed when the father takes a feud to its ultimate level.

An Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud. This is a very good film about a generation gap in Albania. The grownups live in the old world, according to the old laws of the land (well the laws of North Albania, since blood feuds are mostly found there). The younger generation does not see any point to the tradition and unlike the grown ups sees other ways of solving problems.

If you watch this because you want to see a film about blood feud you will be disappointed. Watch this as a film about generation gaps. Keep in mind while watching this that there where only a handful of cars in the country when the father of this boy grew up. And the boy has a mobile, computer and the whole world at his finger tips. Albania took a 100 year jump into modern time in just 10 years. The difference between the generations is therefore greater than in most other countries in the world.

I have lived in Albania and I'm married to a woman from Albania so this film really spoke to me. It is surprisingly well directed. It is hard to believe that the director does not speak a word in Albanian and managed to get such natural acting out of the cast and have such good insight into Albanian culture.

The film is very well filmed. The camera is primarily there to tell a story and support that story, not to make postcard pictures to admire. And it does that very well.

The style of the film reminded me of the films by the Dardenne brothers. Very realistic, low scale and natural. I do think it helps watching this film from that point of view. This is a character driven film, not plot driven.

Another surprisingly good film from the director of Maria Full of Grace (2004).