Valeska Grisebach takes an unknown cast and crafts a tense drama about German construction workers in remote Bulgaria.
Director: Valeska Grisebach
Starring: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov
Run Time: 121m
Being in the malaise of post-Brexit Britain, nationalism is as widespread as ever, and tensions between ethnicities are commonplace. Western reflects this, albeit in a different country, focusing on the interpersonal relationships and tensions between a group of German construction workers on a job in the Bulgarian wilderness and the native inhabitants of the nearby town.
Meinhard (Meinhard Neumann) is our protagonist, a wiry, rugged German chap who is one of the construction workers drafted out to Bulgaria. It immediately becomes clear that he is a strong and silent type, as stoic as they come, especially when compared to his fellow construction workers whose hobbies seem to include: running their mouths, harassing women and bullying Meinhard.
It’s all well and good enjoying the sun and casting out anyone who doesn’t have a beer belly and slight nationalistic tendencies, but the Germans are there to work. However, that job is made considerably harder when the camp can’t access drinking water and a shipment of gravel goes missing, as it turns out most likely due to mafia involvement.
Whilst the rest of the workers fret about what to do, Meinhard travels to the nearby town and tries to speak to the locals. I say tries because of course, they speak Bulgarian and he doesn’t, meaning he doesn’t get very far, save for managing to bum a cigarette off someone using expert sign language (seriously, he smokes like a chimney!) However, after multiple visits to the town, he manages to build up a rapport with the locals, in particular befriending a local landowner, Adrian (Syuleyman Alilov Letifov).
Credit is certainly due to the actors too, who deliver fantastic performances.
This relationship is one of the highlights of the film, even despite the language barrier. Be it atop a mountain or in a back yard, Meinhard and Adrian have a certain cohesion. Credit is certainly due to the actors too, who deliver fantastic performances. One part that showcases this especially is where they have a heart to heart and Meinhard is reduced to tears – I’ll shed no spoilers, but it is a very emotionally gratifying scene, which I really didn’t see coming having seen the trailer.
Another great performance is Weinhardt Wetrek as Vincent, the boss of the construction workers. He serves as the antagonist of the film, virtually stirring up disorder between the Germans and the Bulgarians, especially in the ways that he shows disdain for Bulgaria and its culture, and truly seems to believe that Germany is superior. Wetrek makes him very believable, but we wouldn’t be able to see this without the quality of Grisebach’s direction.
With more wide shots of the landscape than a nature documentary, and even more still, close shots of people’s facial expressions, she certainly knows how to film. It could be said that the film is a tad too ‘artsy’ to appeal to a wider audience with its dialogue heavy, brooding atmosphere, but there’s no doubt it is very well made.
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