In June, I challenged myself to watch at least one movie from each nation participating in the periodic regional soccer tournament. I did watch the final game, because I was trapped under my cat and couldn’t get away. It went something like this:
My humblest apologies for not finishing all the films before the end of the tournament; there was a lot going on with my family that was more important.
There were no rules for this challenge regarding genre or era; the only requirement was that the audio or subtitles be in English or German.
England: UFOLOGISTS (2022)
YouTube (seems to have been removed), original English
This mockumentary about four UFO-obsessed men in Cornwall, written and directed by the Cornish actor Jason Gregg, who also stars, won “Best Comedy” at the 2023 Swindon Independent Film Festival. Gregg is clearly familiar with #ufotwitter, where I got the link, and just as clearly a big fan of Cornwall. The group reminded me a bit of the Detectorists, awkward but endearing misfits who might not have been friends without their hobby. They are followed around to the sea and some megalithic sites on their “skywatches”, and interviewed together and individually by a journalist who thinks they are nuts. And they might be. Low-budget, but filmed entirely in Cornwall and the dialog was well-written. Gregg is poking fun at me, and himself, but in a gentle way.
The ending was a beautiful surprise.
Denmark: Afgrunden (The Abyss) (1910)
Danish Film Institute website, Danish cards with English subtitles
A pioneering short film about the tragic fate of a woman who chooses to run off with an abusive circus cowboy instead of marrying the vicar’s son. Message received! Her clothes are lovely, though, and there were storks.
The film also includes an erotic dance scene that was banned in Sweden. A bit hard to watch, not because of the content but because the film was so heavily damaged by the time of its restoration. (I did find myself wondering if “AI”[sic] could fill in some of the weird bubbles.)
I’d rather watch a badly degraded film from 1910 than a new 4K super-saturated digital film imposing 21st century fashion and mores on a story that takes place in 1910. YMMV.
Serbia: Dvoboj za Juznu prugu (Battle for the Railway) (1978)
Amazon Prime, Deutsch
Content Warning: On-screen suicides.
Serbia almost broke the project. Searching “Netflix films from [country]” worked for most of the other former Yugoslavian nations, but all I got for Serbia was an historical costume drama about a family of merchants. Of course, probably because this is the sort of film I enjoy even outside a study of European films, Netflix did not license it for Germany. Most of the results for “Serbian film” on Amazon were movies from other countries with Serbian dubbing or documentaries that they wanted to license to me for 12€.
But there was one included with Prime: a WWII action movie I didn’t want to watch because I had just watched one from Slovakia. This one is based true events during Operation Barbarossa: Serbian partisans are working to destroy a stretch of railroad the Germans and Bulgarians (why didn’t Mr Mully teach us about the kingdoms allied with the Axis in World History 2? SMH) have been using to move men and equipment. They’re working with the “Yugoslavian Liberation Army”, some Soviets, and a double agent employed by the occupation government. The film opens with him meeting the head Nazi official on a train and losing to him in chess. It ends differently.
Pretty basic WWII action movie, lots of nice explosions and fires, nice landscape shots, that crazy 70s synth music to set moods, and some folk costume and dancing in the village. The most intriguing character was a woman who went undercover as an Orthodox nun to facilitate her espionage. Most of the partisans died, but their goals were accomplished and many in the occupation force were also killed. In the final scene, we see villagers rebuilding the railroad with ox- and manpower, so the Soviets and their allies could use it. Decent enough flick and better than I expected, but there was so much pain and suffering (the genre requires a doomed romance) and death that I can’t say I enjoyed it.
I don’t know why the photo is blue; the film was in color.
I hate the 21st century: Amazon dropped a content warning for “smoking” on this, but not for the on-screen suicides, which were awful. How is a WWII partisan supposed to surreptitiously light the fuse on the explosives under the bridge without a cigarette, I ask you?
Slovenia: Nahrani me z besedami (Feed Me With Your Words) (2012)
YouTube, original Slovenian with English subtitles
This story about an estranged family is told in three parts, from three different perspectives. In the first part, older son Matej gets a call from his father, whom he hasn’t seen in ten years: his brother Robert has gone to Italy for his research and gone missing. He needs help, and needs Matej’s wife to stay with Matej’s mother, who has dementia. They head off to Italy, annoy the local police, find some clues, and head off to the Austrian border, where they find Robert’s belongings.
In the second part, we follow the story from the POV of Matej’s cosmopolitan and unsympathetic wife Ana and his daughter Veronika, who looks to be about eight. Ana agrees to go out to the country to stay with her MIL because Veronika asks to see the grandparents, but she’s rude to the village storekeeper, gets angry at her MIL for not remembering her name, and freaks out when Veronika finds Robert’s research: graphology and calligraphy. Specifically: He thinks he can find Jesus by examining His handwriting. Veronika thinks it’s neat, and accepts that her granny sometimes thinks she’s still a little girl herself.
In the third part, we follow Robert as he travels to Italy, does some research in a dusty antiquarian library, and encounters a homeless man who writes him a note and speaks an end-times prophecy at him before disappearing. Robert realizes he is the man he has been searching for and follows him, eventually into a river. The film ends abruptly; what happens after the men return to the women back in Slovenia is left to the viewer.
I really wanted a fourth segment to tidy all that up.
I’m going to lay awake all night wondering about what Jesus’ handwriting would look like, and I liked the format, with the story split into parts. But the first two segments underwhelmed me, and too many main characters were unlikable.
One movie to go!
