‘Great camera work, beautifully shot, a complete story. I highly recommend this film.’
Mihai Catalin Cazacu
Synopsis
The film begins with the noise of a fly buzzing, but the viewer cannot see the insect itself because the moving camera is pretending to be the fly. The camera approaches the settlement from above, filming over roofs, backyards and windows, then finally the ‘fly’ lands on Vejsil’s shoulder. He is a Roma boy who lives somewhere near Zagreb. One morning, he wakes up and puts on his best clothes. Heeding the advice of a film professional, who recognises that the boy has excellent drawing skills, he decides to enrol in school.
As he walks along a canal to the school, there are many obstacles he must overcome to achieve his goal. But even if he perseveres and makes it to school at whatever cost, he will arrive there too late. The Canal is a docufiction about a talented young Roma boy who faces stereotypically depicted modern-day oppression – yet what is unique is the way he struggles with everyday difficulties to get a high-quality education.
Though the film is not made by a Romani director, his close position nevertheless clearly shows his intimate relationship with the community. The beautifully shot, dynamic work carefully depicts the suffering of a Romani character and uses interesting visual solutions to bring the character nearer to ordinance.
Vjesil is followed closely by the camera from behind, meaning that the story is introduced to us from his own perspective. Our attention slowly shifts from the difficult circumstances Vjesil has to deal with to him as a person, and to the desperation expressed on his face as he tries to reach his goal.
The end of the film has a twist: in the last scene, Vejsil and his artwork are shown on a television which is placed near the canal. The TV newsman introduces him as a twelve-year-old Picasso.
The viewer is left to wonder whether Vejsil’s TV appearance predicts the near future or refers to the recent past from which the whole story proceeds.
The Canal was distributed as part of the Zagreb Stories series, which is based on scripts for short feature films that were written on the subject of Zagreb neighbourhoods.
Zoran Sudar is a Croatian director who makes promotional videos and TV films. His mainstream feature film Posljednja volja (The Last Will, 2001) earned him the Breza Award for Best Debut and the Golden Gate of Pula Audience Award at Pula Film Festival.
The script for The Canal was written by Sanja Kovacevic. Her screenplay for this short film was one of the best in the city of Zagreb’s own screenplay competition.