GOD EXISTS, AND HER NAME IS PETRUNIJA

Macedonia, 2019, 100 minutes, Colour.
Zorica Nusheva, Labina Mitevska, Stefan Vijisic.
Directed by Tiena Strugar Mitevska.

One doesn’t see too many films coming from Macedonia. This one alerts the audience to the country, countryside, the people, traditions, the role of the Orthodox Church.

The title is certainly provocative – which makes the audience wonder who is this Petrunuiya! And what claims does she have on God!

Well, it is clear by the end of the film that she is not God – but, she is a good stand-in when old religious traditions are challenged, especially by rigid and misogynist men. How could this come about?

Petrunija is in her early 30s, seemingly idle at first, strongly criticised by her dominating mother, loved by her more passive father. She wakes, eats, is a bit on the heavy side, gets a special dress from a friend and goes to a job interview for sewing but gets the male treatment from the boss, critical, touches of sexual harassment.

Disappointed, she wanders home and encounters an Orthodox tradition, the casting of a cross into the sea and the local men, already stripped to the waist, bored with all the prayers, ready to jump into the water and retrieve the cross. She jumps and wins.

While all hell doesn’t necessarily break loose, something akin certainly does. The police take her in and interrogate her. But, it is revealed that she has a degree in history (and hence no employment) and his astute in answering questions. She is also interrogated by the priest and takes her stance. There is a television reporter, a feminist herself, who takes up the cause, does interviews, especially with the mother, and these are seen on television. Her cameraman doesn’t want to continue, she is called back by the studio, but decides to defy them and remain on the job.

The film is strong in dramatising the misogyny of the men, the insults, the verbal abuse with its prostitution overtones, the presumption that a woman has no right to participate in such an activity…

The film builds up its momentum, more audience empathy for Petrunija, and a realisation of the churches’ male dominance and lack of appreciation for the role of women, respect for them. Which may have been some of the motivations for the Ecumenical Jury in Berlin, 2019, to give this film its prize.

1. Provocative and entertaining title? Gender issues? In religion? Male dominance? Male traditions, the place of women? The challenge?

2. Macedonia setting, audience knowledge of the country and its traditions? The town, the surrounding land, the water? Homes, streets, prison? The musical score, religious overtones?

3. Petrunija’a story? Waking up, her mother and her fussing, serious attitude, Petrunija eating, considered fat? Her passive father? The issue of the dress for the interview, her being jobless, at 32, the visit to the manager of the factory, her not being able to sew, no qualifications, her history degree, no jobs for historians? His sex talk, rude, dismissing her?

4. Her state of mind, her expectations, low self-image, talking with her friend, getting the dress?

5. Wandering after the interview, the religious procession, the men in religious garb, processing, chanting, the crosses? The role of ritual?

6. The Orthodox tradition, the clerics, the long prayers, throwing the cross in the water, the men ready, diving in, the competition?

7. Petrunija’s jumping, getting the cross, her reaction, the reaction of the men, the loud denunciations, the sexist and offensive language, their angers? Loud? The clergy and the question for decisions? The policeman and his rules?

8. Petrunija, taken, all wet, the police station, everybody against her, her taking a stand, her shrewdness in her answers, standing her ground, aspects of the law? The interview with the cleric? The sympathetic policeman and the conversations? The coat?

9. Television, the interviewer, her feminist point of view, the hostility of the cameraman and his going? The interviews, the interview with Petrunuija’s mother at home, with the priest, with the police? With Petrunija herself? The journalist and the phone calls, her being called off, taking a risk, staying?

10. Petrunija and the police, the nice policeman, conversation? The conversation with the priest?

11. Some of the men arrested, the crowd outside, the misogyny, the violence, their attitude towards the priest?

12. Petrunija, standing her ground, knowing the law, her decisions, giving back the cross?

13. The effect, her being let go, her challenging the traditions? The significance of this kind of storytelling?