Finland   ¦   WORKING CLASS   ¦   6/10
Finnish labour-experiences are examined via various stories from the shopfloor. The focus on three separate workers, seemingly typical of folk to be found all over the western europe and beyond (or is there perhaps a certain downbeat, Kaurismaki-ish Finnish aspect to their tales - as with the moment when one protagonist is shown rather glumly smoking a cigarette while working with huge rolls of paper in a paper-mill). The scenarios depicted aren't a million miles from S.Soderbergh's Bubble 0- ordinary people, unflatteringly (but realistically) lit - sans the melodrama. Music is nimbly deployed throughout, often the preferred tunes of the workers themselves (one lad is clearly infatuated with heavy-metal). Not exactly the most striking or absorbing of documentaries, but worthwhile for showing us 'quotidian' scenes which we'd seldom have much chance to witness - and doing so via proper celluloid, rather than the digital-video which often seems to be the default choice of non-fiction film-makers. Narration/interview prods the workers to pause and reflect on their position, including the importance of trades unions in their lives. Director has a good eye for the dynamics and rituals of the work-place, showing how the bonds of camaraderie can be quickly forged. Various life-stories emerge, without any particular sense of an agenda being pursued: a solid work giving a kind-of voice to the kind-of 'voiceless.'



Finland   ¦  THE NORTH STAR   ¦   6/10
Economic mid-length running-time proves a good fit for the material: story of a medium-sized business in the wilds of Finland which finds itself reliant on government subsidies to stay afloat. The irony being that it's in fact a Spanish-owned enterprise: the subtext of the film is globalisation, and how tough it is to survive in the current economic climate. But finance isn't the only consideration: the film emphasises how important it is to the factory's Finnish bosses, and to the government, to keep rural areas populated. Having everyone flood to Helsinki would not be a positive development. The factory representatives and town mayor seek help from local and national government, humbly handing out sauna towels as they go - the latter a rather dead-pan and melancholic running 'gag.' Film takes the viewer behind the headlines to examine a specific local case which quietly says rather a lot about situations which hare being replayed all over the EU at the moment as people realise that capitalism is all about winners and losers, and start to realise that all economic systems have their steep downsides...  



Germany   ¦   LUCKY - NIGGERS   ¦   5/10
We're shown graffiti on a wall, asking us was is zeit? The gliding camera passes the wall in slow motion, while classical music plays in the background. Typical of a film which rather ostentatiously addresses Serious Themes: most of them spelled out in bald white-on-black intertitles. Experimental documentary about time, progress, education, the transition from youth to adulthood, focussing on a youth theatre troupe (staging a version of what may or may not be Titus Andronicus) and one particular actor as he later performs his National Service and struggles to adapt to life in his twenties. Air of pretentious phoniness (quoting the proto-surrealist poem 'Maldoror' is seldom a positive sign) pervades proceedings, despite director Heise's high reputation among many critics - case of the Emperor's New Clothes? Elliptical fragments of varying length are delivered: it's up to us to stitch them together into a narrative, if that's what we want from the film. The cubist approach is, of course, a pseud's delight. And what about that gratuitously offensive title? The 'explanation' (if there actually is one) is buried deep inside the film, replying on the audience knowing a particular play by German dramatist Muller (in which a character known as 'the nigger' apparently represents 'the oppressed') - or is this an just attention-seeking, dangerously gratuitous use of a taboo word? On balance, we don't feel inclined to give Heise the benefit of the doubt. Too many long scenes, although some work very well (a welfare-office interview that ends in disappointment for the applicant). Some fall flat, including a sequence at the very end in which the protagonists haltingly reads out a multi-page letter to Heise complaining at his treatment over the course of the film's six-year production: one sympathises, as this sequence makes the 'hero' look borderline idiotic (unwelcome shades of Herzog's Grizzly Man), and we end up somewhat suspicious of the director's motives and talent (or rather lack of).

Neil Young
22nd May / 30th June 2006

WORKING CLASS : [6/10] : Tyovaenluokka : Finland 2004 : Veikko AALTONEN : 102 mins (timed)
THE NORTH STAR : [6/10] : Kainuun tahti : Finland 2004 : Erkko LYYTINEN : 60 mins (timed)
LUCKY - NIGGERS : [5/10] : Im Gluck - Neger : Germany 2006 : Thomas HEISE : 86 mins (timed)

Working Class, The North Star and Lucky - Niggers seen at Moviemento cinema, Linz (Austria), 28th April.

click here for A-Z of all features reviewed at Crossing Europe 2006, or here for a roundup article on the event (written for Tribune magazine)