IN BOSNIA, A DISAPPEARANCE OF MORE THAN ONE KIND

MONTREAL FILM FESTIVAL, August 31, 2014 – The Bosnian War, which was fought between 1992 and 1995, resulted in the formation of Bosnia and Herzegovina but the conflict cost the inhabitants of that war-torn land and surrounding nations such as Croatia dearly. It has been estimated that nearly a quarter of the Croatian economy, for example, was devastated, with much of the country’s physical infrastructure in ruins as well as thousands of people displaced as refugees.

But a new film from Bosnia, called The Bridge at the End of the World, makes the case that the damage went far beyond the physical. The emotional and spiritual toll was enormous, too, leaving many without much work, despondent, and almost hopeless. Many of the scenes in the film, for example, depict burned out and decrepit Bosnian homes and buildings and the equally burned out people who exist – live would be too strong a word – in them. The film leaves one wondering whether the people have any future at all.

This context forms the basis of the mystery at the heart of The Bridge at the End of the World. The story starts with the return of Serbs who were forced to leave their homes during the war. Bosnian Croats whose villages had been destroyed during the fighting were forced to relocate as refugees in the homes of the fleeing Croatian Serbs. With the return of the Serbs, the Bosnian Croats start to feel uneasy about their future.

In the midst of this, an elderly Bosnian Croat named Jozo disappears. Local police officer Filip is charged with investigating the old man’s disappearance. Filip interviews relatives and acquaintances of the old man, traces his most recent movements, and, in the process, compiles conflicting views of the events and the people involved.

But a seemingly obscure clue signals a breakthrough, which enables Filip to discover the real reason the old man has disappeared.

The film is uncompromising in its depiction of the Bosnian Croats and the world in which they now live. Idle, listless, seemingly without motivation to rebuild their homes and their lives, powerless over their fate, the Bosnians drink hard liquor and smoke endlessly as they stare into the void. The photography, with its tight close-ups, seems to suggest that most of the people exist only in a moment in time, that they have no better future.

The exception is a woman named Sanja who Filip connects with, a waitress who appears on the edge of becoming a prostitute but who wants to find a way to a better life. Filip helps the young woman, providing the film’s singular ray of hope.

The director of the film is Branko Istvancic. The actors include Aleksander Bogdanovic as Filip; Slaven Knezovic, as Jozo’s nephew Dragan; and Sanja Radisic as Filip’s friend Sanja. The film’s running time is 115 minutes.

FINDING NEW MEANING IN LIFE

MONTREAL FILM FESTIVAL, August 30, 2014 – To Life!, a new German film making its world premiere here, is the story of Ruth, a former cabaret singer who experienced the Nazi occupation in Poland during World War II, and Jonas, a young drifter who is living in his van in Berlin.

Ruth is being relocated into a government-run housing project in the city. Jonas gets a day job helping to move Ruth into her new apartment in the project. When Ruth refuses to ride in the moving company’s truck, Jonas offers to drive her to the new apartment in his van.

The ride is the beginning of a remarkable connection between the 60+ Polish Jew, who has increasing difficulty in dealing with the past, and the 20-something Jonas, who has his own present-day demons. When Ruth attempts suicide shortly after moving into the apartment, Jonas rescues her, and later discovers in her apartment a film collection of Ruth’s cabaret performances made after the war. The connection between Ruth and Jonas deepens as Jonas becomes increasingly curious about how the talented Ruth ended up alone in a housing project and as Ruth realizes that Jonas, who she learns is suffering from multiple sclerosis, is avoiding his adoring girlfriend Emily in order to shield her from his disease.

To Life! Is the story of two people of different ages from very different backgrounds helping each other to emerge from despair and embrace life again. It is a touching, inspiring film with excellent performances by Hannelore Elsner as Ruth, Max Riemelt as Jonas, and Ayline Tezel as Emily,

The film, in German with English subtitles, was directed by Uwe Janson, who has made more than 70 films. The writing is credited to Stephen Glantz and Thorsten Wettcke. The film’s running time is 86 minutes.

THE SUMMER HOUSE: A MAN'S BI-SEXUALITY ENDS IN TRAGEDY

With the director, Curtis Burz.

MONTREAL FILM FESTIVAL, August 29, 2014 – The Summer House, a new German film making its North American debut here, is the story of Markus, a successful architect whose unchecked bi-sexual desires end in ruin for two families.

Markus has liaisons with other bi-sexual men which he keeps secret from his wife and 11-year old daughter, who unwittingly idolizes him. But when Johannes, the young son of a close friend of Markus’s, overhears his father confess to Markus that he is having financial difficulties, the relationship between Markus and the young boy goes down a dangerous and ultimately fatal path.

Markus can’t control his increasing desire for the boy, but little does he know that he’s being manipulated by the sandy-haired Johannes, who is determined to help his financially strapped father. At the same time, Markus’s relationship with his wife Christine, who already had doubts about Markus’s sexual orientation, continues to deteriorate, although she tries to hold on to what is clearly a failed marriage.

Needless to say, this film doesn’t end well. In fact, the shock of the ending, which I won’t reveal, is so great that I initially felt that perhaps the director, Curtis Burz, had gone too far.

In a question and answer session after the film, I asked Burz, who also wrote the screenplay, what motivated him to make the film and what he thought the film’s message was. Burz, who in addition to being a film maker is also a practicing psychologist in Berlin, says he has encountered so many instances of sexual and intimacy problems in marriages, women who hang on to relationships far too long, and victimized children that he had to finally tell the story. The message of the film, he said, is that children need to be protected.

The Summer House is Burz’s third film. The running time is 95 minutes.

The cast includes Sten Jacobs as Markus; Jaspar Fuld as Johannes, the young boy; Anna Altmann as Christine; and Nina Splettstober (Altmann’s real-life daughter) as Elisabeth, Markus’s daughter.