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Berlinale 2017, Day 7 (The Other Side of Hope)

This film was heavily anticipated. The old man actually asked me to buy two tickets for this screening for his friends, but I couldn’t do it because I wanted this time slot for Loris and myself. Due to the trains running late (yet again), I made it to the movie theater only 10 minutes or so before the film opened, even though I leave the house 1 1/2 hours early for almost every screening, and afterwards I had to rush to pick up O. In the end, it worked out fine but I didn’t actually meet the old man that day.

Of course it’s not necessary to see a Kaurismäki at the Berlinale, because his films are always available afterwards. But it was hands down the best film in this Thursday morning time slot, and Loris and I felt like seeing it, so there we are.

drrt

Toivon tuolla puolen (The Other Side of Hope)
Finland/Germany 2017, Aki Kaurismäki, 98′

Khaled is a Syrian refugee who more or less by chance ended up in Helsinki. He applies for asylum in Finland but gets rejected, so he decides to flee and stay in the country illegally. Wikström is a merchant and decides to leave his wife, give up on his former business of selling shirts and ties and open up a restaurant instead. While Khaled is homeless on the streets, he is discovered by Wikström behind the garbage bins. With the help of his three employees and their little dog, Wikström takes Khaled in, gives him a place to sleep and a job in the restaurant.

The verdict is pretty clear: How can anyone not like this film? Everybody I know including all the online reviews I read seem to agree that the new Kaurismäki is lovely in every aspect. If that refugee film didn’t win the year before, this one would have definitely gotten the Golden Bear. Much like “Le Havre”, “The Other Side of Hope” is optimistic, funny and has extremely lovable characters. In this case, the degree of lovableness goes through the roof, and everybody of relevance is either simply likable or a genuinely good person who does good things. What’s not to like?

One thing I noticed immediately was that the refugees are all pretty good-looking (the main character, the good friend, the sister) whereas all the locals are pretty ugly and/or old. It makes for an amusing contrast and I believe it also contributes to many comical situations.

Another thing I noted (a little later, of course) was that it took awhile until our main characters finally meet. It said it was 45 minutes in some review, but I had the impression it was more like one hour. In any case they spent at least half of the film not yet knowing about each other’s existence, which also means that you didn’t get to see them together that much. I thought it was the film’s only weakness: except for that scene in which they meet, there is not that much personal interaction between them. Their friendship is largely dependent on what they are (Finnish, Syrian) and much less on who they are, which I had been looking forward to.

Danish dude mentioned to me that the infamous Scandinavian unfriendliness or distance towards people is rooted in their impressively well functioning social welfare system. Just like how in Germany nobody gives you a seat on the subway no matter how much you look like you might need it, people in Denmark don’t make small talk with you, let alone become your friend, because they don’t meddle in other people’s affairs and believe that nobody needs their support, because the system will take care of it. As a result, expats in Copenhagen never meet or befriend any Danes, and leave the city because no social contacts are keeping them there. “The Other Side of Hope” shows a different aspect of Scandinavia… or it’s wishful thinking because in reality Finns don’t talk to each other either.

Finally, and this is so typically me, the dark ending of the film (and the shadow of violence cast upon it) was actually most memorable for me. It is an image that I can still recall very vividly, and it does make me wonder why all the reviewers and even I thought that the film was a feel-good movie. Of course the ending was beautiful, but with just that one violent scene at the end Kaurismäki managed to give a believable and realistic portrayal of a Finland that is not just composed of lovable, helpful people. It didn’t feel that way when I just saw it, but the more I reminisce about the film, the more I am devastated by the sadness of its ending. I think it was a masterpiece move of Kaurismäki’s to include this kind of dichotomy in “The Other Side of Hope”, and it reminds me that I need to see more of his films.

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Berlinale 2017, Day 2 (Bihttoš, Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest)

I have never actually seen a film in the NATIVe section before. This year, there is a focus on the arctic region and the groups of people living in those cold areas. I was drawn to these two films because they had animated components in them (I am such a sucker for that), and because they seem to be very personal stories by female film makers. The director for “Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest” was actually present, and she is this cute lady dressed in a Sami-inspired blouse and skirt (which is OK and not cultural appropriation when she does it) who repeated several times how happy and honored she was to be at the Berlinale. It was a lovely showing overall.

drrt

Bihttoš (Rebel)
Canada/Norway 2014, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, 14′

Being the daughter of a Sami father and Blackfoot mother, the director tells the story of her parents and how she finally learned about her father’s history which led to his lifelong depression.

The animation in this film was OK, but nothing to write home about. Maybe I should just accept that a low budget typically doesn’t allow for very good animation, and perhaps my expectations for animation is just too high. Other than that, the story was lovely, but also nothing to write home about. The director’s family is definitely very special and unusual, and their lives are so tragically scarred by the fact that they are indigenous people. Even though the film was far from being in your face activist, the message was still strong. At the same time, narratively this was essentially like a woman telling her family’s life story in 10 minutes at a dinner party, so despite the actually interesting family background I am not surprised the film is merely a short film.

drrt

Kuun metsän Kaisa (Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest)
Finland 2016, Katja Gauriloff, 86′

Similarly to the preceding short film, “Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest” is a partially animated quasi-autobiographical film (in this case about the director’s great-grandmother) telling the story about Kaisa’s friendship with a Swiss writer who ended up helping the Sami people after they lost everything during WWII.

While I thought the film was very interesting, it was actually one of the few times at the Berlinale when I explicitly felt like the film was slow. This is notable because I usually avoid the slow artsy films at the Berlinale (or they don’t feel very slow to me because the slow pace matches my enjoyment of the film). A part of me really loves the film and its topic, and another part thought that it was strangely paced and at times almost boring because of that. I’m also not entirely sure what to think of Kaisa, which is actually a compliment to the film because it depicts her as just a human individual and not just some indigenous person without a specific personality attached. On one hand she is awesome, on the other hand you can tell that she’s “no angel” either, as the film says. In some aspects she reminded me of Vivian Maier who seems like she was an amazing woman yet somehow a monster at the same time.

I have to admit that I have an almost racist fascination with Sami people (which is another reason why I ended up in this screening). Just like how as a little child I had trouble understanding why Jewish people were ostracized and persecuted because in my mind they looked like Germans, I am surprised by the level of hostility towards the Sami because to my eyes they basically look like other white people. I learned through the film that they are Orthodox and of course have a very different culture from other Scandinavian ethnic groups, but I guess I just don’t have enough of an understanding to what makes a group of people treat another group badly when they could just as well co-exist in a friendly manner.

Just like before, I was actually not particularly into the sloppy and dark animated parts, though the story Kaisa tells is kind of cool. I think my favorite parts of the film were those in which you could see glimpses of Sami life, and I was deeply touched by the hardships they went through during WWII. So props to that movie for getting its point across.