Euro 2024 Film Spotlight

A criteria for previous Euro Film spotlights (Euro 2008, Euro 2012, Euro 2016) was to select previously unseen films or films from unknown directors. This led to some exciting discoveries and many months of viewing or hunting the film down. This time around, I have kept things a bit simpler. The main criteria for this Euro 2024 Film spotlight is to select some of the best films previously seen from each country. As a result, this will allow for a much more richer cinematic head-to-head competition. 9 decades are represented by these films with the earliest from 1949 and the newest from one from 2021.

Here are the 24 Top European films:

Group A
Germany: Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog)
Switzerland: The Boat is Full (1981, Markus Imhoof)
Hungary: Satantango (1994, Béla Tarr)
Scotland: Gregory’s girl (1980, Bill Forsyth)

Group B
Spain: Death of a Cyclist (1955, Juan Antonio Bardem)
Italy: The Battle of Algiers (1966, Gillo Pontecorvo)
Albania: Daybreak (2017, Gentian Koçi)
Croatia: Buick Riviera (2008, Goran Rusinovic)

Group C
Slovenia: Spare Parts (2003, Damjan Kozole)
Denmark: Babette’s Feast (1987, Gabriel Axel)
Serbia: Underground (1995, Emir Kusturica)
England: The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

Group D
Poland: Dekalog (1989/90, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Holland: The Vanishing (1988, George Sluizer)
Austria: Homo Sapiens (2016, Nikolaus Geyrhalter)
France: Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)

Group E
Belgium: Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)
Slovakia: Orbis Pictus (1997, Martin Sulík)
Romania:  The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Cristi Puiu)
Ukraine:  My Joy (2010, Sergey Loznitsa)

Group F
Turkey: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Georgia: What Do We See When We Look At the Sky? (2021, Aleksandre Koberidze)
Portugal:  Mudar de Vida (Change of Life, 1966, Paulo Rocha)
Czech Republic: Closely Watched Trains (1966, Jirí Menzel)

Results of the Group matches, knockout phases will be posted in a few weeks.

Czech New Wave

A long time ago, once I discovered the beauty of World Cinema, I feverishly tried to work my way through all the essential films. Part of this journey meant taking the path down all the critical waves of cinema. A few films from the Czech New Wave were quickly checked off my list with as many VHS tapes (??!!!) that I could find. Then when DVDs came along, I managed to get a few more in. Blu-Ray and streaming followed but over the years, I stopped exploring the past because I was too busy viewing contemporary films including those from the Czech Republic or trying to catch the new cinematic wave. However, as it turns out, I never finished my due diligence when it came to the Czech New Wave which constitutes films from the early 1960s until 1968. I saw the following essential films but there are many more to discover still.

Diamonds of the Night (1964, Jan Nemec)
Loves of a Blond (1965, Milos Forman)
Closely Watched Trains (1966, Jiří Menzel)
Daisies (1966, Vera Chytilová)
Marketa Lazarová (1967, František Vláčil)
The Fireman’s Ball (1967, Milos Forman)
Capricious Summer (1968, Jiří Menzel)
The Joke (1969, Jaromil Jires)

Over the next few weeks, I will be diving back into the Czech New Wave. Thankfully, there is plenty of essential reading material to assist me in my journey.

1. A list of films to chase thanks to Zeppo on mubi
2. Surrealism in and out of the Czech New Wave
3. Vera Chytilová
4. Drahomíra Vihanová
5. Czech Rule Breakers
6. Taste of Cinema with 10 Essential films
7. Key films and directors
8. Tanner Tafelski on the films that inspired the Czech New Wave. In essence, a precursor to the Czech New Wave.

Euro 2012: Czech Republic Films

Entry #15 of the Euro 2012 Book & Film Spotlight looks at the two Czech films.

Surviving Life (2010, Jan Svankmajer)



Evžen (Václav Helšus) has met the perfect woman. However, there is one tiny problem, she is only present in his dreams and disappears once he wakes up. Since Evžen’s real life isn’t very exciting, he longs to go to sleep as much as possible in order to meet his dream woman. Surviving Life is packed with the stop-animation technique associated with Jan Svankmajer’s films, such as Lunacy. The animation seamlessly blends reality and fantasy thereby creating a medium where worthy ideas about dreams are presented in a lighthearted manner.



Protektor (2009, Marek Najbrt)



Director Marek Najbrt and co-writers Benjamin Tucek and Robert Geisler smartly depict how a couple’s relationship is altered by the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Before the Nazi invasion, Hana (Jana Plodková) is an upcoming actress who is the talk of the town while her husband Emil (Marek Daniel) quietly watches from the sidelines. A colleague warns Hana that the Nazi invasion would change things because of her Jewish identity and that she should leave the country. Hana dismisses the warnings but his words prove true as Jews are banned from the arts and Hana is forced to stay home. In the meantime, Emil’s radio show becomes popular and his voice makes him a vital mouthpiece for the Nazis. The Nazis even turn a blind eye towards Hana because of their need for Emil. However, Hana is not happy to be locked in her home and starts to rebel in her own ways. Emil is also not happy with his situation and is forced to make a choice to either aid the Nazis or assert his Czech identity.

Protektor includes a pulsating score that propels the momentum especially in the multiples scenes of the two actors riding their bikes. Overall, a slick production that also pays a loving tribute towards classic cinema.

Eastern Europe, part V

I am almost at the end of the Eastern European cinema & soccer spotlight. Plenty of themes have emerged from all the films but for this part, I will only focus on the mood evoked by the films in question.

Lightness showing shades of darkness:

Fuse (2003, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Director Pjer Zalica): Rating 8/10

The war between 1992 & 1994 has spawned plenty of films, mostly dealing with themes of war & rebuilding efforts - parents dealing with their dead sons, villages & towns dealing with unemployment and economy restructuring and shattered love stories. Fuse starts with a father trying to cope with the death of one of his sons in the war; he still does not believe his son has died and has conversations with his son's ghost (or himself as it turns out). There are plenty of tragic stories around the town of Tesanj as the locals attempt to move on. When the unexpected news arrives that the American president (Bill Clinton) will be visiting town, the town council look for ways to brush aside the corruption and ugliness in order to present a happy face. That means dealing with the local prostitution and crime ring along with trying to establish friendly relations with the neighbouring Serbian town. A U.N force is sent to ensure that the two towns can peacefully patrol the borders. Plenty of farcical situations are shown regarding how the two sets of patrol guards deal with each other, along with some painful truths about the war. It is to Zalica's credit that the humour is balanced with the tragedy in such a delicate manner. Like No Man's Land, the film also shows the difficulties that independent U.N forces can have in trying to understand the local situations.

Dealing with tragedy & darkness with some touches of lightness:

Pretty Village Pretty Flames (1996, Former Yugoslavia, Director Srdjan Dragojevic): Rating 7/10

Srdjan Dragojevic has crafted a powerful film that shows the insanity & cruelty of war. The film starts off with two childhood friends, Milan (a Serb) and Halil (a Muslim) overlooking the opening of a national unity tunnel in 1971. We follow these two friends story over the next few decades when the war places them on opposite sides of the tunnel, Milan inside with 6 other people who are cut off from their Serbian army and Halil outside the tunnel. The bulk of the film is spent inside the tunnel with Milan and the other people trying to survive the opposing forces bullets. The film moves forward and backwards in time, enabling us to get respite from the harrowing war scenes. In the film's future sequences, Milan is lying in a hospital bed trying to get his strength back and plot his final revenge. In the past sequences, we see the two childhood friends growing up. But the film does not spare us the evil of war showing close up footage of burning villages and the lengths people go to survive in harsh conditions. The moments of jokes and humour in the tunnel manage to take away from of the edge from the darkness that surrounds this film.

Darkness descends :

Mirage (2004, Macedonia, Director Svetozar Ristovski): Rating 10/10

Mirage starts off similar to Underground -- a gypsy band is led by a drunk man (in Underground it was two drunk men) through the streets at night time, causing disturbance and waking people up. That is where the similarity ends though. The rest of Mirage shows a universal theme about how society can shape a young person; the film could have been set in any city in the world, let alone Veles, Macedonia. The drunken man in the film is a father who is trying to cope with his work situation and the changing political landscape of Macedonia. His wife & young son Marko quietly endure everything, whereas his teenage daughter gives him a headache as she seeks to sleep with anyone of her desire. Both the teenage daughter and father take their frustrations out on Marko, the quiet 12 year old who endures his father's beating and his sister's verbal lashings. Marko is an innocent boy but we see how the bleak environment surrounding him shapes his behaviour. Marko is bullied at school by a bunch of thugs who have power to do anything because one of the bully's father is the local chief of police. The only initial hope in Marko's life is his writing -- his teacher mentions his poetry could win him a trip to Paris. That gives him some purpose to escape his life around him. And when Marko comes across a convict named Paris, he sees that as a sign that Paris, France will be his destiny. But in the end, both Paris and his teacher let him down -- in a painful scene, we see Marko being beaten up by the bullies outside his teacher's home and when the teacher arrives, he sees the bullies and gets away to let Marko be thrashed. Paris tells Marko to take care of himself and even shows him how to use a gun but when Marko really needs him, he leaves.

Everytime when Marko sees a glimmer of hope that things will improve, things get worse. We can slowly see the darkness increasing and the ending is a real kick in the gut. Marko gets his revenge but that is not the kind of justice one would have hoped for but it does prove that weakness can't survive in a society where force and might are prized. Not pleasant viewing but a well crafted film.

Iska's Journey (2007, Hungary, Director Csaba Bollók): Rating 8/10

Another film where a 12 year old sees their life go from bad to worse. This time, it is a young girl whose hopes of a decent future are completely shattered when the screen fades to black at the end. The film's start finds young Iska trying to earn whatever little money she can by collecting metal scrap at the junkyard. Her parents are of no help to her and are willing to nab any little money Iska makes. As a result, she is left to fend for herself gathering food at a mining cafeteria. When things start to get bad, she leaves home and finds herself at an orphanage where things aren't any better. Atleast she manages to make friends with a boy her age. There is a hint of love that develops between the two as they plan to take the train to the seaside. However, Iska has to wrap one final thing up before leaving with the boy. And this is where things take an unexpected turn for the worst. What happens next is nothing short of cruel and ensures we leave the film with no hope of Iska ever having a decent go at life. During the first half, I was reminded of the beautiful Polish film Jestem which I saw in part I of the Eastern European series. But the last 20 minutes of this 92 minute film is a prequel of sorts to events shown in Lukas Moodysson's 2002 film Lilja 4-ever.

Some form of lightness:

After so much darkness, a light humour film is more than welcome. And I managed to get three such films -- two Czech and one Latvian short film.

Wonder (2007, Czech Republic, Director Mirjam Landa): Rating 7/10

A light hearted comedy/musical which starts off with Micky fleeing a prison. The only thing that got him through prison was his love of Karin, a local theater artist. So the first thing Micky does after leaving prison is to go audition for Karin's latest musical production. Through a series of clever tricks, he gets to play a part in the play. Predictably, Karin falls for him and Micky manages to get on everyone's good sides. Some quirky characters present in this film, especially the high strung director who demands a perfect performance from all actors. The musical performances are enjoyable and make for a decent viewing despite the contrived and predictable story.

Holiday Makers (2007, Czech Republic, Director Jirí Vejdelek): Rating 8/10

This is a real riot from the opening few minutes when a group of people board a tourist bus headed for a beach vacation in Italy. I was reminded of the two recent Bollywood films Honeymoon Travels and Just Married which dealt with similar themes. But those Bollywood films only focused on married couples. Holiday Makers has better etched out characters and deals with couple and parental relationship issues. The two bus drivers are downright hilarious in their dead-pan manner -- both drivers are named Karel and are obsessed with little details. For example, they debate on how long they should give the passengers at a rest-room stop or are persistent that the passengers return the coffee cup handles otherwise no one would be able to enjoy their coffee.

Ready and Done (2007, 23 min, Latvia, Director Inese Klava): Rating 9/10

This short documentary provides plenty of dead-pan humour, just by placing a camera in a 60 year old elevator in a Latvian hospital. We get the unexpected reactions of the hospital staff and patients who enter the elevator to find a camera there. The camera captures the last few days of this aging elevator which is to be replaced by a brand new elevator. The new elevator is 'supposed' to be faster, easier to use and more efficient. Supposed is the key word as we find that new technology comes with more problems. Also, we get to meet lift operator whose job might be rendered obsolete by the new elevator.

Observing Life go by:

Theodore (2007, 29 min, Latvia, Director Laila Pakalnina): Rating 8/10

This mostly silent film shows life through the eyes of Theodore, an aging Latvian man who is on the last few years (or days) of his life. Theodore uses his bicycle to get around and heads down to drink some beers while watching life go by. We get to see the sights that Theodore does first hand and we clearly hear all the sounds around him, including the peaceful sound of his bicycle as it makes its way across the countryside.

Eastern Europe, part IV

The Eastern Europe series continues to provide rich cinematic viewing. The previous collections involved only watching features but this selection has six documentaries and three features. When I started this experiment more than a month ago, I wanted to study Eastern European soccer and film together. But as the weeks have gone on, the soccer spotlight has fallen a bit short. Still, the films have made provided a good viewing point into past and current Eastern Europe.

Films:


Part I started with war and collapse of a nation. Other topics were touched upon in part II but part III ended with the army take-over of a city. Part IV picks up exactly from that theme.....

Nation & city under siege:

Emir Kusturica's Underground had this memorable line: "A war is not a war until a brother kills a brother". Well in Kusturica's When Father was away on business, it is not a brother but a brother-in law who turns on his family. But one can argue such a situation is bound to happen in a state when people are kept under constant watch and citizens are encouraged to put the good of the nation before individual freedom. While this political situation is considered evil, in soccer it is such a situation that works wonders for a team -- if all players work hard for a team and put their own egos aside, sometimes a team can achieve victory. So if something works in soccer, then why can't it work in society? The difference is that in soccer, if a person goes against the system, he is not tortured and put in prison.(unfortunately, Iraq is an exception where soccer players were put in prison and beaten after bad results. A topic for another time...)

So what happens when a man is put in prison for something he said? It sets a horrible example for others and keeps the fear machine working. As the film's title points out, the kids of such a father are told that their beloved dad is away on business while he is locked away in a prison. Only when the kids are older do they understand what their father had to go through. As it turns out, the father was arrested by his brother-in law but it was the father's girlfriend who tipped off the brother-in law. So when the father returns to society, he seeks out the ex-girlfriend for revenge. And revenge ends up being a passionate animal like love making session. While the fucking is going on, the innocent son, who was kicking a soccer ball, catches a glimpse of his father with another woman. He leaves the soccer ball on one side and instead watches the other game. What is going through his mind? We will never find out but the goal has been scored and the soccer ball & the woman lay harmlessly on the ground. Waiting to be touched again...one day...

A peaceful city. Then war and destruction. Death is at every corner as buildings are destroyed. Slowly, the city tries to rebuild and finds some joy when some of the enemies are sentenced for their crimes. Sergei Loznitsa does a remarkable job in putting together a film from Soviet government archives of the siege of Leningrad. Blockade has no dialogues but is actual archive footage between 1941-1944 which shows how the city is shattered. Loznitsa has recorded a new sound-track which is remarkably in sync with the images shown on screen. This film proves that sometimes scripted film can't even close to the drama that everyday life offers. But it is amazing that someone was actually capturing all these images back in 1941?

The beautiful Hungarian film Happy New Life never really tells us which city is under watch but in the film's fictional world, we learn that young kids were taken from their homes and then experimented upon. After more than decade, these kids are released into society as adults. Who are these kids? What was their childhood like? These people will never know and they struggle with modern life. We come across such an adult who tries to find about his past. But all he gets are a few pieces of paper which tell him nothing. So he is forced to resort to his own ways to dig up his past. He goes about his regular life but each day is painful for him and he is constantly on the verge of living and dying. Amazingly shot, this vintage film lets the images paint as a picture of a suffering victim who is trying to cope with life after his government took away his innocence. An official selection for TIFF 2007 and hopefully it makes out for CIFF and VIFF as well.

Sometimes only a portion of a nation can is clamped down upon while the rest of the country goes about their life as usual. In Balkan Champion Réka Kincses shows the political struggles that her ethnic Hungarian father faced in Transylvania. The current geographical map shows that Transylvania belongs to Romania but it was once part of Hungary. So understandably, the region is populated by plenty of ethnic Hungarian people whose rights were not recognized by the Romanian government. Kincses tried to fight for his people but the political games forced him into exile. Réka does a wonderful job of digging into the past and tries to understand the reasons for her father's problems. This is an emotional film that shows the suffering that the family also had to undergo as a result of the father's political battles.

Suffering:

A nation's political situation is not the only cause for a individual's suffering. Circumstances sometimes deal an unlucky hand to some people. The powerful Czech doc Marcela brutally shows the destruction and suffering of Marcela. Her life has been captured by tv for over 25 years and we see it go from good to terrible. In 1980, everything was good for Marcela -- she was newly married with the love of her life. But a year after the birth of her first child, her marriage starts to fall apart and she gets a divorce. A few years later, the reunion of Marcela and Jiří takes place (once again captured on camera) but that ends again. We see this woman change over time and find her getting sucked into deeper depression. The hammer blow comes when tragedy strikes her daughter, plunging Marcela into utter darkness. But she survives her attempted suicide attempts and continues to carry on when the camera leaves her in 2006.

This is another example of the power that documentaries have over scripted features. Although watching such raw footage of a person's collapse is not pleasant viewing but it is still worthy cinema because it can show how easy it is to get sucked into an endless cycle of misery. One can see the film and acknowledge the problem but can everyone be strong enough to fight their inner demons?

The Romanian dark comedy A Roof Overhead shows the suffering two women go through in a mental hospital. Their suffering is almost matched by the constant stress that the doctors have to go through daily while working in the under-staffed and under-funded hospital. So in order to alleviate the funding problem, a lot of the patients are discharged. So the two women find themselves free in society. However, they find more problems in their everyday life. On a suggestion by one of them, the two head to the country side to live in an inherited house. But the country house is no longer a luxury place; it does not even have a roof (hence the title). We come across plenty of colorful and eccentric characters in the country-side. An often hilarious film with a tinge of sadness tucked away. The movie feels similar to The Oak, another film which managed to capture the raw spirit of the Romanian life. And yes, the gypsy music is also present.

The well shot Romanian film Village of Socks shows how poverty & unemployment effects life in a small Romanian village. Thankfully, some of the village women are able to make money thanks to sock making to generate some income. At times the topic might be dry but this is a polished film that captures some precious shots of everyday life.

Beauty & everyday life:

Miss Universe 1929 chronicles the life and times of Austria's only Miss Universe. The film uses rare raw footage and old photographs to show a love story of Lisl Goldarbeiter, Austria's shining beauty. Even though there are plenty of repeated shots and dull moments, the film has some merit when it highlights everyday life as the World War disrupts a country.

I first heard about Georgia thanks to Shota Arveladze & Kaka Kaladze, two acclaimed soccer players. But it is Kaka's story that made plenty of headlines. In 2001, his brother was kidnaped in Georgia and a huge ransom was demanded. Despite his parents paying the ransom, the brother was not returned. It is believed that his brother's dead body was found in 2005. What can one infer from this? Even a powerful soccer player, a national hero, can't use all the political and financial resourced to get his brother back. So what of the ordinary citizen?

So I was glad to get the chance to watch Akhmeteli 4, a documentary which shows everyday life of the residents in the director's former apartment building. Artchil returns back home to Tbilisi after more than a decade to see how things have changed. A simple film which manages to show how everyday citizens are going about their lives. We even see the locals betting on Western European soccer scores. It is amazing to see how much knowledge the locals have of Western soccer while most of Western Europe hardly knows anything about Eastern soccer. But I am sure that knowledge will improve in upcoming years as Eastern European soccer players are becoming very important to the big European soccer leagues. In the meantime, the betting will go on -- will Chelsea win by 2 goals, with the Dutch team avoid defeat this week? The bets are placed in Eastern Europe, the games are played in the West, and maybe, just some money makes it to the winner in the East. So as to continue the circle of betting in between shots of coffee and alcohol.