Kozhikode, one of the six Indian cities that have been chosen for this year’s European Film Festival, hosted the 14th European Union Film Festival held from March 29 to April 2. Films from 15 countries were been screened for the festival.
Most of the films I viewed in the package seek to shore up friendly-ties between EU and Asian and African countries or to prove the stand of these countries vis-a- vis some political issue, better still to acquaint their audience with people, culture, language of other countries.
I truly, madly, deeply loved the Polish movie Hania (2007) directed by Janusz Kaminski and Arabian Nights (2007) from Luxembourg directed by Paul Kieffer.
The plot of Hania revolves around the life the perfect young and gorgeous couple, who has good jobs, good home and so forth, but Ola, the cute wife of Wojtka, yearns for a child. Wojtka who is a workaholic disappoints her saying that they are not still prepared for it. She turns to her childhood friend, Jozef, who runs a pre school to help adopt a child. She brings home a quite, unconventional, contemplative wonder kid, Janek who plays a big role to bring the couples closer. The setting of the film is a livid, lovely winter and the Christmas with all its liveliness. Janek teaches Wojtka the essence of a man’s short life and how can it be made worth living with people you love. But I don’t why the script kills the boy with some ailment after he takes an effort to fly in the air. And he does it! The final bird’s eye view shot is Janek’s from heaven, watching the little family take a stroll in a lush garden with their biological baby.
Another must-watch in the fest is Arabian Nights, a Luxembourg movie. “What happens when a westerner falls in love with the enchanting East?”
When ticket inspector Georges Turmes first meets Yamina Ben Khouri on the train between Luxembourg City and Bettembourg, she is just another passenger. When he sees her again, she is trying to sleep between some old petrol barrels and an abandoned garage near the railway station. When they run into each other a third time, she is trying to hide in the train toilet, severely beaten up, blood all over face. Georges offers her help, and she accepts, reluctantly – and both their lives will change forever. Then Yamina disappears, leaving Georges completely disoriented. He leaves a final note to his wife that he was going to leave her. Trying to find Yamina, Georges meets her old acquaintances. The more of them he speaks to, the less he seems to know about her; everybody has a different version of her life. Finally, he is convinced he has to go to Algiers to rescue her.
From being penniless to hire a room at night, the ghastly accident he witnesses in which Yamina was traveling, and the consequent spending a night sleeping in cold mud floor, the second half of the movie chronicles the real hardships he has to undergo to locate the whereabouts of his damsel. He walks through the red-hot desert sands and reaches at an oasis populated area. He sees Yamina and her family under a tent. Totally worn-out by the cruel Saharan desert, Georges, wearily walks towards her and both immerse in a deep hug.
“Dream or reality? A simple and beautiful drama from Luxembourg.”
1 comment:
Good report
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