Filmofil.ba sa ponosom predstavlja kritike mladih autora nastale u okviru ovogodišnjeg programa Talents Sarajevo na 21. Sarajevo Film Festivalu
Piše: Gergana Doncheva Prevela sa engleskog: Bojana Pušara
U poređenju sa dva prethodna ostvarenja Radu Juda - The Happiest Girl in the World (2009.) i Everybody in Our Family (2012.) - koja obrađuju savremene probleme, posljednji film, Aferim!, kreće se u neočekivanom pravcu: istorijska je drama. Ovaj kinematografski projekat je veoma ambiciozan poduhvat u kontekstu ponovnog upostavljanja uspješne rumunske tradicije stvaranja istorijskih filmova, koja je narušena turbulentnim promjenama 1989. godine. Ukratko, Aferim! je izuzetno bitno djelo, zato što pokušava izgraditi koncept nacionalne istorije izvan ideoloških klišea koji oslikavaju period socijalizma. Strukturiran je kao crno-bijeli road movie, žanr izuzetno favorizovan u balkanskoj kinematografiji, Aferim! pripovijeda priču o žandaru Konstantinu i njegovom sinu koji traže odbjeglog Roma na području Vlaške. Nedovoljno je poznata činjenica da su na teritoriji današnje Rumunije, tokom 19. vijeka, pripadnici romske manjine imali status robova. Priča se zasniva na autentičnoj dokumentaciji i Radu Judu vješto polazi za rukom da suptilno skrene pažnju i na problem ropstva u Sjevernoj Americi. Dodatno, režiser u centar pripovijedanja stavlja pripadnika određene etničke grupe.
Aferim!; režija: Radu Jude; uloge: Teodor Corban, Mihai Comanoiu, Toma Cuzin; 2015.
Ne umanjujući vrijednost prekrasnih snimaka i precizno izabranih etnografskih detalja koji pripadaju različitim nacionalnostima i manjinama prikazanim na platnu (Mađari, Turci, Rusi, Jevreji, Romi), na diskursivnom nivou, režiser je odlučio da predstavi Rome kroz model viktimizacije. Posmatrajući područje Balkana, Romi su veoma prisutni u kinematografiji i kao rezultat, postali su istaknuta figura u regionalnim filmovima. Ovo je vrlo simptomatično i prirodno povezano sa intenzivnom proliferacijom filmova koja se nastavlja, a traje već tri decenije, kako igranih, tako i dokumentarnih, posvećenih Romima i njihovom stilu života. Bez sumnje, utjecaj istaknutog bosanskog režisera Emira Kusturice je na internacionalnom nivou priznat za promovisanje "romskog" žanra, a njegov bezgranični umjetnički doprinos je potakao veliki broj talentovanih pojedinaca da ga slijede. Dalje, učestalo filmsko predstavljanje etničke grupe Ostali, pretežno Roma, navelo je, na primjer, Gorana Gočića i Mariana Ţuţuia da formiraju novi izraz - ethno cinema - u području balkanskih filmskih studija.
Generalno govoreći, postoje dva osnovna koncepta u građenju romskih likova: 1) egzotičnost i 2) viktimizacija. Prvi koncept podrazumijeva simboličke filmove, kao što su Times of Gypsies/Dom za vešanje (1989.) i White Cat, Black Cat/Bela mačka, crni mačor (1998.), ali takođe i Guča: the Distant Trompet/Guča! (2006.), koji zbog životnosti, muzike i emocija koje donose postaju mnogo popularniji u inostranstvu od ostalih - fokusirajući se pri tom samo na izolovanost pomenute manjine i njihovo siromaštvo. Suštinski preduslov koji objašnjava enorman internacionalni uspjeh koji su postigli "egzotični" filmovi su unaprijed formirana očekivanja publike pod uticajem zapadnoevropske literature i filmskih klasika u kojima su likovi Roma romantizirani i predstavljeni kao utjelovljenje slobode, strasti i nomadskog života. Kao posljedica toga, romska ikonografija koja se preferira je naslijeđena iz drugih umjetničkih pravaca (fikcija, opera, slikarstvo) i svjesno je reciklirana, a potom dalje razvijena u autentične ili komercijalne filmske proizvode. Posmatrajući drugi koncept predstavljanja Roma, glavna dostignuća se vežu uz imena poznatih režisera, kao što su Aleksandar (Saša) Petrović – I Even Met Happy Gypsies/Skupljači perja (1967.), Goran Paskaljević - Guardian Angel/Anđeo Čuvar (1987.); When Day Breaks/Kad svane dan (2012.); Slobodan Šijan - Who Sings Over There?/Ko to tamo peva? (1980.) i Stole Popov - Gypsy Magic/Ciganska magija (1997.). Njihov pristup problemima likova je kritički orijentisan i gledalac se direktno susreće sa gorućim pitanjima nejednakosti, nasilja, očaja i odsustva bilo koje vrste socijalne perspektive, za vrijeme i nakon raspada Jugoslavije. U svijetu koji stvaraju ovi autori nema mjesta za čuda, snove, sretnu ljubav ili blistave fantastične prizore; čak je i muzika, uz rijetke izuzetke (Ko to tamo peva) izuzetno melanholična. U tom kontekstu, vrlo je zanimljivo da poznata i ozloglašena priča koju objavljuju lokalni mediji o romskoj djeci u Italiji i njihovoj stravičnoj sudbini inspiriše Gorana Paskaljevića i Emira Kusturicu da predstave svoje impresivne umjetničke interpretacije, Guardian Angel i potom, The Times of Gypsies, koje imaju različite polazne tačke i konstruisane su potpuno oprečnim stilskim sredstvima.
Aferim! pripada drugom od dva navedena pravca, gdje su romski likovi - Garfin i ostali pripadnici iste manjine - izrazito objektivizirani i depersonalizirani. Ovakav način predstavlja oštar kontrast u odnosu na prikazanu samoironičnost u okvirima Rumunije i izražen smisao za humor sa ciljem rušenja duboko uvriježenih nacionalnih stereotipa o ljudima koji žive na Balkanu i u drugim dijelovima Evrope. Inspiracija autora se očigledno nalazi u bogatom iskustvu i temeljnom poznavanju regionalne literature. Film je osvježavajuća provokacija na već prihvaćeni nefleksibilni šablon kojim se Balkanci predstavljaju zahvaljujući dojmovima zapadnoevropskih putnika. Uprkos pojedinim navedenim elementima, koji su najvjerovatnije rezultat marketinške strategije režisera, Aferim! je, bez sumnje, vrijedan gledanja.
Fillmofil.ba proudly represents the works of young crtics done in program Talents Sarajevo of 21st Sarajevo Film Festival
Aferim!: Contravertions versus fresh provocations
Written by: Gergana Doncheva Translation: Bojana Pušara
In comparison with the two previous films made by Radu Jude - The Happiest Girl in the World (2009) and Everybody in Our Family (2012) - which focused on contemporary problems, the latest one Aferim! goes in an unexpected direction: historical drama. This cinematic project is a rather ambitious enterprise in the context of the well-established Romanian tradition of producing historical features, that was broken after the turbulent changes in 1989. In one sense, Aferim! is a very important work because it attempts to reconceptualize the national history beyond the ideological clichés typical of the socialist epoch. Structured as a black-and-white road movie, a genre widely favourised in the Cinema of the Balkans, Aferim! recounts the story about the gendarme Constantin and his son who are looking for an escaped Gypsy in Wallachia. It is a rarely known fact that in the territories of modern day Romania, during the nineteenth century members of the Roma minority had the status of slaves. The plot is based on authentic documents and Radu Jude skillfully managed to draw attention to his film making subtle reference to the slavery in North America. In addition, the director puts in the center of his narrative a representative of a specific ethnic group.
Aferim!; director: Radu Jude; cast: Teodor Corban, Mihai Comanoiu, Toma Cuzin; 2015
Irrespective of the fabulous camerawork and precisely elaborated ethnographic details related with the different nationalities and minorities that are depicted on the screen (Hungarians, Turks, Russians, Jews, Gypsies); at a discursive level, the filmmaker chose to present Roma people through the model of victimization. In a comparative aspect within the Balkan region, the figure of the Gypsy is extremely preferable in cinematic texts and as a result, Roma characters become an easily distinguishable metonymy for the movies shot in the peninsula. This reduction is quite symptomatic of and naturally linked to the continuing intensive proliferation of films in the latest three decades - both feature and documentary – devoted to Roma personages and their lifestyle. Undoubtedly, the prominent Bosnian director Emir Kusturica was internationally perceived as the most influential promoter of the ‘Gypsy’ genre, whose tremendous artistic impact has marked the emergence of a great number of gifted followers. Moreover, the frequent movie representations of the ethnic Other, predominantly Roma, provoked some scholars, for example Goran Gočić and Marian Ţuţui, to launch a new term - ethno cinema - in the field of Balkan Film Studies. Generally speaking, there are two main conceptual approaches in building up Gypsy personages: 1) exotism and 2) victimization. The first pattern includes emblematic motion pictures such as Times of Gypsies (1989) and White Cat, Black Cat (1998), but also Guča: the Distant Trompet (2006), whose vitality, music scores and emotional appeal made them much more famous abroad than the rest – concentrated only on the mentioned minority’s isolation and poverty. Furthermore, there was an essential prerequisite explaining the enormous international success acquired by the ‘exotic’ movies: the spectators’ preliminary expectations constructed under the influence of Western European literature and cinema classics in which Roma personages were greatly romanticised and treated like a total embodiment of freedom, passion and nomadic lifestyle. Consequently, the Gypsy favourable iconography inherited from other arts (fiction, opera and painting) was consciously recycled and developed further in some original and commercial film productions.
As far as the second model of representing is concerned, its main achievements were related with the names of the well-known filmmakers like Aleksandar (Saša) Petrović – I Even Met Happy Gypsiesa (1967), Goran Paskaljević - Guardian Angel (1987); When Day Breaks (2012); Slobodan Šijan - Who Sings Over There? (1980) and Stole Popov - Gypsy Magic (1997). Their approach to the problems of the characters depicted was critically orientated and put in the public eye the burning issues about inequality, violence, despair and lack of any normal social perspective in the period of the common Yugoslav state and after its dissolution. In the world built by these authors there is no room for miracles, dreams, happy love or brightly fantastic images; even music, with rare exceptions (Who Sings Over There?), is deeply melancholic. Simultaneously, it is quite interesting that a notorious story covered by the local media in the eighties about the disgusting fate of Roma children in Italy inspired Goran Paskaljević and Emir Kusturica to present their impressive artistic interpretations on this topic - Guardian Angel and respectively, The Times of Gypsies - narrated from different standpoints and constructed through opposite stylistic means.
Aferim! fits into the latter trend, albeit the Roma personages - Garfin and the rest of the members of this minority - are strongly objectified and deprived of any individuality. This depictive manner is in a sharp contrast with the demonstrated authentic self-irony in terms of the Romanian community, and the strong sense of humour in the deconstructing of the deeply entrenched national stereotypes about people living in the Balkans and in other parts of Europe. Obviously inspired by the huge travelogue of literature on the region, the movie is a fresh provocation against the confirmed stiff model of representing the Balkans constructed thanks to Western European travelers. In spite of some elements quoted which probably stem from the director’s marketing strategy, undoubtedly, Aferim! is worth being watched.
