POKOJ V DUSI (SOUL AT PEACE)
Slovakia, 2009, 97 minutes, Colour.
Attila Mokos.
Directed by Vladimir Balko.
One of the most popular films at the Slovakian box-office in recent times. For non-Slovakians, it is a very interesting look at the country today via an arresting story.
It starts off rather alienatingly with a middle-aged man, Tonko, released from prison and met by two old friends. He has more than a chip on his shoulder, a bitter attitude as he returns to his country town where he worked in a sawmill (and robbed timber for a friend who marketed it, let him go to jail but has built him a fine home while he was away) and meets his wife and the son he has never seen.
So far, so ordinary and not particularly gripping.
However, it is surprising how the screenplay builds up his character, warts and all, shows us his reliance on his two friends and develops a man who feels that he is not a man any more (he finds he can't shoot a deer in the forest) and towards the end says that the thing that troubles him most is that there is nothing inside, as he points to his heart. It is a strong performance by Attila Mokos.
Needless to say, he can't get a job at the sawmill. He doesn't want to be on benefits so accepts a job at the rather rundown railway station, working with a gypsy. Gypsies are targeted by the community, not even allowed into the local hotels for a drink. It is his two friends who make the attempt to help him. One is a successful businessman who is able to lend him the money to pay his debt to his house builder and alleged friends who wants him to go into another scam. The other is the local parish priest who helps him spiritually, a fine sequence where he makes the equivalent of a confession in the church.
The ending is jolting and disturbing, a reminder that so many stories of ordinary people who make messes of their lives are a call to God, out of the depths.
The film is well and persuasively acted, especially by as Tonko, alienating at first but more interesting as a complex man who is not all that likeable but who deserves a second chance and shows there is more to his character than even he supposed.
The mountainscapes are attractive and the film shows country life in Slovakia, narrowness, hard-headedness and hard-heartedness, unemployment and social difficulties, the traditions of Catholicism, moves towards financial progress (and corruption) and the picture of basic human needs and relationships.
1.The popularity of the film in Slovakia? Contemporary Slovakia? Society, human nature?
2.The impact of the visuals, the beauty of the countryside? The scenes of the village, homes, the timber yards, the railway station, the bars, the offices of the wealthy? Realistic? The musical score?
3.The titles, expectations about Tono?
4.The focus on Tono, his leaving prison, his bitter attitudes, being met by Peter and Marek, the talk with them, unlikable, his driving, pulled over by the police, the confrontation with the officer, the background of dislike, Peter helping out, the bribe? In the bar, the men reacting to his return, buying them drinks? Going home, the meeting with Stefan, the help with the building of the house, meeting his wife, seeing the boy? Expectations?
5.Tono in himself, his bitterness, the person who had betrayed him, prison and its effect, five years, going back to the timber yard, the discussions with the boss, no job – and the background of his stealing timber? Stefan and his scam about red rot, making Maria look it up, the information about the breaking down of the wood? Stefan and his showing him the timber? Going to hunt in the forest, the stag and his not being able to shoot it, the police chasing him? Maria interrogated? Going to the office for benefits? Going to the railway station, the discussion with the stationmaster, lack of jobs, his willingness to work with the gypsy, seeing him at work, the bond with the gypsy? The gypsy not allowed into the bar? The boss and the prejudice? On the train, Stefan and his approach, pushing him off?
6.Stefan in himself, his scams, letting Tono go to prison, building the house, the financial debt, the pressure on him? His relationship to Maria and the child? On the train, the confrontation and threats, pushed off, bruised? Tono in the house, the police coming and using Stefan’s information? Tono and his shrewd getting out of the difficulty with the police, in terms of his not owning the house, therefore not owning the liquor?
7.Peter, financial, his deals, plans for development? Stefan and his badmouthing him? The bribe, the offer, recording it on the computer, showing it to the other official? The deals? The discussions with Tono, the loan?
8.Marek, parish priest, the funerals, people’s respect for him, celebrating mass, his long friendship with Tono? In the church, Tono’s talking about the murder in the prison and its effect on him, the equivalent of a confession?
9.Maria, her love for Tono, the child, tension in the house? Stefan and the confrontation? The truth about the boy? Tono’s relationship with the boy, getting the pup for him, the boy playing with it?
10.The police, the past associations, aggressive? Tono buying the bike from the gypsy boy, it being stolen? Getting the money back, taking the dog? The glimpses of the poverty of gypsy life?
11.Tono, his conscience, his saying that his heart was empty? Knowing the truth, paying back the debt? Going to shoot the stag, unable to kill it, killing himself?
12.The funeral, people’s grief? The pessimism in Tono’s killing himself? Any signs of hope? The role of contemporary Slovakian society in destroying individuals?
