The second film from the director of Maria Full of Grace is about blood feuds that take place in modern-day Albania: a world of iphones, TV, computer games, school, police… and these ancient rituals and concepts of honour which mean families are stuck behind closed doors because their father has killed a neighbour.
It’s a fascinating world, and the film has stayed with me afterwards. Rarely has there been a better argument for the rule of law – the bland acceptance by these characters (the majority of them anyway) of their idiotic codes of behaviour is terrifying. You can imagine the arguments of supporters of this system – “they sort it out themselves, it’s a lot more effective this way” (the sort of thing always said by apologists for corrupt cops “keeping a lid” on crime, or IRA supporters who would praise the supposed ability of that organisation to keep the streets drug free.) This shows how easily such power is corrupted.
The behaviour of many of the characters is depressingly familiar: the annoying villager who winds up dead, the father who is seemingly oblivious to the pain he’s caused his kids (“what about how I’m feeling… why don’t you come and visit me”), the cousin of the dead man who insists on upping the stakes of the feud.
But to be honest I did get bored watching it. There were plenty of opportunities for suspense and action not taken – I know the director probably didn’t want to go down this path and this is a matter of personal taste, but I couldn’t help feeling it was a shame he didn’t think “right, a film shot in Albania with an all-Albanian cast is compromise enough I’m going to give the story the Hollywood treatment”. The set up cries out for a more creepiness, tension, maybe even a sex scene (the lead kids are teenagers after all) and some decent humour. Many scenes are repetitive (eg the kid working out) or subplots go nowhere (eg the sister become an entrepreneur). A film I admired and will remember more than enjoyed.
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