IN BLOOM

Georgia, 2013, 102 minutes, Colour.
Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria, Zurab Gogaladze.
Directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Gross.

There are not many films which come from Georgia. This film made quite an impact, especially at film festivals including Berlin, Montréal, Sarajevo and in Tblisi itself.

The setting is an atmosphere of civil war in Georgia in 1992. While the film presupposes some audience knowledge of the history of Georgia, its place in the Soviet Union, its relationships with the Soviet Union and later with Russia, the film creates atmosphere of social unrest with touches of misery.

That the focus of the film is on two young girls in Tblisi at the time, 14-year-olds, scenes with their families, one experiencing support, the other finding much more hostility. There is a portrait of the parents, love, tensions, the problem of drinking, grandparents and the possibilities for care as well as their being upset about seeming irresponsibility in the younger generation. The two young girls are friends, seen together, lining up at the bread market, at school, with friends, one being given a gun to take care of, the fascination and the experiments, and ensuing death and throwing away the gun.

With the focus on the two girls and the characters, the issue of their potential and where they would grow up, in what conditions, and how would they grow up in their characters, the film is also grim picture of life in a capital city with the experience of uncertainty, war, the eruption of violence.

1. A film from Georgia, audience knowledge of Georgia, its situation with Russia, neighbouring countries, civil wars, the 1990s?

2. The settings, the city, the neighbourhoods, apartments, workplaces, the bakery, the streets? Authentic feel? Musical score?

3. The setting of war, the dangers, hardships, bread rations and queues, the various groups and loyalties, factions, young people, the exercise of violence? The misery and uncertainties?

4. The title, the focus on the two girls, Eka and Natia, their age, friendship, the different families? The different approaches to life, studies and future, boyfriends?

5. Eka and her family, at home, her contribution, age, family concern, her going out, with Natia, meeting Kote, her experiences, visit to the father in prison, her prospects?

6. Kote, her family, the hostilities, her father, these aspirations at home, the grandmother? The family considering her loose? Friendship with Eka? Meeting Kote, the friendship? The significance of the gun, the gift, her carrying it around, use, throwing it away?

7. Kote, in himself, his loyalties, the girls, disappearance, the atmosphere of the war, his reappearance, the group of young men pursuing him, his death?

8. The adults, the difficulties, at home, drinking, clashes between husbands and wives, the influence of the children, grandparents and their help?

9. A film of the 1990s – seen in retrospect of 20 years later, dramatising the situation, interpreting characters and events?