FOUR FROM THE
ROTTERDAM FILM FEST
by Martijn ter HaarRecycle
(Mahmoud al-Massad, The Netherlands/Jordan).
This is a documentary about the daily life of Abu Amar, a Muslim fundamentalist from Zarqa, which was also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist slain in Iraq by the U.S. in 2006. Abu Amar himself did fight in Afghanistan, but he and his friends have no friendly words for Zarqawi, who was not even religious until he saw the light and went for jihad in Iraq. Abu Ammar has turned to the more studious kind of fundamentalism and is planning to write a book on jihad. His problem is that his father has taken his house and shop because of an argument, so Abu Amar has to try to maintain his family (two wives, lots of children) by collecting cardboard boxes for recycling. A scheme to bring cars to Baghdad becomes a disaster, and after the Amman hotel bombings the Jordanian authorities crack down on fundamentalists and lock up Abu Amar for four months (he did not have anything to do with the bombings). After his release, he is so desperate that he applies for an American visa.
Recycle presents often intriguing insights into the life of orthodox Muslims in the community of Zarqa, but unfortunately director Al-Massad made two major mistakes The first is leaving the audience in the dark about the reasons of Abu Amar's fight with his father, which is the reason for his hardship and greatly influences the way he has to live. The second is that we see Abu Amar, shaven and dressed in a suit and a tie at the airport, which gives the impression that he has received his visa for the U.S. Of course there is no way the U.S. will give a guy like Abu Amar a visa, and at the Q&A with the director it turned out that indeed he was not leaving for the U.S., but for Venezuela . In this same Q&A the director also revealed that the fight with the father was because Abu Amar married his cousin.
What On Earth Have I Done Wrong?
(Doze Chen-zer Niu, Taiwan).
A director of popular Taiwanese TV soaps and shows tries to make a serious film, while hitting rock bottom due to the usual suspects of alcohol, drugs and women. It's all very Less Than Zero, and because everybody plays his or herself, it's also very meta. Which makes What on Earth Have I Done Wrong? a typical case of "been there, done that" hipster drama. However, because of solid, old-fashioned craftmanship with regards to acting and editing, the film is still quite watchable.
Let The Right One In
(Tomas Alfredsson, Sweden).
This one is a winner. It's Sweden in the seventies, it's winter, and twelve-year-old Oskar is bullied at school. Fortunately there's Eli, the new girl next door who comes out to play in the courtyard during the evenings. She insists she's not a girl and cannot be Oskar's friend, but does give helpful tips about how to deal with the bullies. One of the most memorable first kisses in recent movie history is soon in the making, but meanwhile the sleepy Swedish suburbs are disturbed by a series of brutal murders. It's Fucking Amal meets Martin with some gore and a Roald Dahl-style revenge on the bullies subplot thrown in for good measure. Somehow it manages to work both as a sweet love story and as a horror comedy at the same time. And it looks damn good too.
The Unseeable
(Wisit Sasanatieng, Thailand).
Here's an old-fashioned haunted house movie from Thailand that also contains a healthy dose of no-holds-barred melodrama. Most of the honor in this regard goes to lead actress, scream queen, and gene pool lottery winner Siraphan Wattanajinda, whose overacting keeps a steady pace with her beauty. And that makes the movie bad. The other actors try their best, but don't come close, with the one redeeming feature being the soundtrack. The director realizes that visual effects are expensive, but sound effects are much cheaper and at least as effective. So the soundtrack goes BOO! every other minute at the level of a Motörhead concert for the hearing impaired. All this makes it a fun film in a campy Hammer horror sort of way. The locations are great too (best looking haunted house ever) and Wattanajinda is in almost every scene.
©2008 Martijn ter Haar
CineScene