Eastern European Films at Ames Public Library
Today is 5/24/2012
No Man’s Land (DVD FOREIGN NO) In Serbo-Croatian with English, French, or Spanish captions. 97 min. 2001.
During a foggy night of the Bosnian War in 1993, Bosnian soldiers advance on Serb territory. At daybreak the fog lifts and the Serbs open fire. The only Bosnian survivor watches Serbian soldiers use one Bosnian body to bait a land mine. He fires on them, kills one, and takes the second prisoner. Equally armed, the two share a wary trust as they try to attract help from either side.
Police, Adjective (DVD FOREIGN POL) In Romanian with English captions. 115 min. 2011.
Cristi is a young undercover cop who undergoes a crisis of conscience when he is pressured to arrest a teenager who offers hash to classmates. Not wanting to ruin the life of a young man he considers merely irresponsible, Cristi must either arrest him or face censure by his superior, for whom the word 'conscience' has a different meaning.
Satantango (DVD FOREIGN SAT) In Hungarian with English captions. 435 min. 1994.
The story revolves around an abandoned agricultural collective, where a handful of lost and lonely characters eke out a living until a charismatic con man arrives to shake things up.
The Shop on Main Street (DVD FOREIGN SHO) In Czech/Slovak with English captions. 125 min. 1965.
In 1942, Tono and his wife are struggling because of his antipathy towards the fascist regime. His brother-in-law, the local fuehrer, chooses Tono to oversee a button shop owned by a sweet, harmless Jewish widow, Mrs. Lautman. Unable to explain his position to Mrs. Lautman, Tono gradually accepts her belief that he is her assistant. When the Jews are ordered deported, the well-meaning Tono decides to shield her from the Nazis.
A Short Film about Love (DVD FOREIGN SHO) In Polish with English captions. 83 min. 1988.
A postal worker falls in love with an older woman who lives in the flat opposite his. She tells him that “love” is nothing more than biological impulses. As a reaction to his voyeurism, she draws him into a game that neither can win.
Since Otar Left (DVD FOREIGN SIN) In Georgian, French, and Russian with English captions. 99 min. 2003.
This story portrays three generations of Georgian women in the city of Tbilisi. Eka obsesses over her physician son Otar while the other two women deal with Eka’s desire to see him.
Something like Happiness (DVD FOREIGN SOM) In Czech with English captions. 107 min. 2005.
A trio of friends living in a Czech housing project finds happiness in unexpected places. As a large chemical factory looms over their bleak suburb, Monika, Tonik, and Dasha hope for a brighter future in another place. While supermarket employee Monika hopes that she will venture to America to be with her boyfriend, Tonik secretly pines for Monika, and single mother Dasha finds comfort in the arms of a married man while slowly drifting from reality. As Tonik flees his conservative parents to live on the farm of his eccentric aunt, Dasha's grip on reality finally slips ─ leaving her two young children in the care of Tonik and Monika. As things begin to look up for the willing but inexperienced new parents, a lifetime of happiness is finally within their reach.
Strike (DVD FOREIGN STR) In English, German, or Polish, with English captions. 104 min. 2006.
An illiterate single mother, Agnieszka works long hours as a shipyard welder − until her superiors deny compensation to the widows of 21 workers killed in an industrial disaster. Risking everything to defy the bureaucracy, she inspires the largest labor strike in history, becoming a national hero.
12:08 East of Bucharest (DVD FOREIGN TWE) In Romanian with English or Spanish captions. 89 min. 2006.
On the 16th year after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, a local anchorman invites two men to share their moments of revolutionary glory on his talk show. One is an impish retiree who sometimes poses as Santa Claus, the other is a henpecked, hard-drinking teacher. They recall the day when they stormed their town hall calling "down with Ceausescu." Or did they?
Up and Down (DVD FOREIGN UP) In Czech with English captions. 112 min. 2004.
The discovery of an abandoned child by two smugglers kicks into gear a series of tragi-comic events.
The Way I Spent the End of the World (DVD FOREIGN WAY) In Romanian with English captions. 106 min. 2006.
In 1989, Eva, her little brother Lalalilu, and their parents live on the outskirts of Bucharest. Seven-year-old Lalalilu adores his 17-year-old sister. She and her boyfriend Alexandru accidentally break Ceausescu's statue while kissing in school. When caught, Eva refuses to apologize, is expelled, and transfers to technical school. There she meets Andrei, and they plan to escape from Romania. Learning of her plan, Lalalilu and his loyal, rebellious friends plot to exact revenge on the dictator Ceausescu for driving his sister away.
Werckmeister Harmonies (DVD FOREIGN WER) In Hungarian with English captions. 145 min. 2000.
In a frostbitten, fogbound provincial town lives a young postman, Janos Valushka. One day a traveling circus comes to town, displaying the stuffed body of the largest whale in the world in a corrugated metal trailer. Their arrival in the midst of a terminal frost prompts bizarre rumors which quickly run rife, alluding to a shadowy figure, dubbed the Prince, who supposedly accompanies the circus. Within a short time, the gathering tensions ignite, and an apocalyptic unrest is unleashed, the madness sweeping across the frigid, foggy community, and forever changing Janos' life. Hungarian director Bela Tarr twists reality into impressionism in this adaptation from László Krasznahorkai's novel, while regarding the characters with intensity through long, uninterrupted takes.
When Father Was Away on Business (DVD FOREIGN WHE) In Serbo-Croatian with English captions. 135 min. 1985.
A six-year-old boy tells his version of why Daddy could not stay with his family in post-World War II Yugoslavia. In reality, the child’s father has gone to prison for romancing the lover of a high-ranking party member, but the boy thinks his father is away working.
Witnesses (DVD FOREIGN WIT) In Croatian with English captions. 88 min. 2003.
A collection of interrelated stories center on ethnic conflicts and moral ambiguities in a small Balkan town.
A Year of the Quiet Sun (DVD FOREIGN YEA) In Polish with English captions. 106 min. 1985.
An American war crimes investigator finds love with a Polish widow in the days just after the war’s end, despite the fact that neither speaks the other’s language.
Zelary (DVD FOREIGN ZEL) In Czech with English or French captions. 147 min. 2003.
During World War II, nurse Eliska is part of a resistance movement with her lover, surgeon Richard. When he is discovered, she leaves the hospital to hide from the Nazis. A colleague sends her with a patient to the Moravian mountain village of Zelary. The patient agrees to hide her as his wife. They live in a cabin for two years, waiting for an end to the Nazi occupation. Despite their differences, they form a bond.
Zurek (DVD FOREIGN ZUR) In Polish with English captions. 72 min. 2003.
Halina, a young widow, tramps around a Polish border town in search of her grandchild’s father. Her impaired teenage daughter refuses to name the father, which causes a problem with the infant’s upcoming baptism.
