Import/Export @ The Sydney Film Festival
June 9th 2008 04:33
The poster for "Import/Export" at the Sydney Film Festival is an image that probably will draw crowds: a frame showing a curvy blonde woman, naked, from behind, perched on a bed, performing for a webcam.
Directed by Ulrich Seidl, "Import/Export" pauses on this image only for an instant, giving the audience a momentary glimpse of what we saw on the poster before treading into a much more bleak scenario.
The film contains two independent storylines: one, about Olga, a nurse in some small town in Ukraine, who is desperately trying to make ends meet. She has a baby, but she lives at home with her mother and her younger brother. It's a grim, industrial setting, where water must be fetched in pails, and the hospital only pays 30% of the full wage.
After an unsuccessful bout of performing for a pornographic webcam company, she takes a chance when a friend writes her to go to Vienna, Austria, where she can learn German and then find a job as a cleaning lady. It's good money, so she goes, forming the "Import" section of the movie.
Second, we see Paul, a young Austrian man who wants to start his life. Due to heavy unemployment, Paul has trouble finding a job, settling for one as a security guard, but then losing it after a group of drunk immigrants tie him up and mercilessly taunt him.
Paul struggles in his own wasteland - the living standards might be high in Austria, but everything of value is out of reach. He joins his stepfather on a trip to countries east of Austria to install gumball machines, which forms the "Export" storyline.
Seidl's vision of the two countries is filled with silently bubbling rage. Once Olga comes to Austria, we see how her life and Paul's are not that different. Neither of them is free to do as they please, both of them must sit like dogs at the hands of their masters.
It's barely a narrative, but Seidl doesn't want to sit and tell us stories. He wants to provoke us into willingly abandon our pleasant illusions about European countries. To him, Austria suffers from its own faults, as Olga is fired from her job as a live-in maid for a rich Austrian family; the family lives in such excess greed and wealth that the son is a monster, and the mother would rather Olga be abused than her son be disciplined.
The film raises some controversy as much of the last half of the movie is shot in a hospital, where Olga finds work as a cleaner. The patients are mentally disabled, speaking at random, making noises, wetting their diapers, and Seidl filmed them without permission. It seems cruel on one level, filming them for entertainment, but the resulting footage is anything but deprecating. Between the cold, professional 'care' that is given to them, and the fact that they've been abandoned, these patients are truly alone in the world, waiting to die.
Using two separate storylines is hardly unique, but Seidl's vision seems to be to make the differences between East and West disappear. As he cuts between the stories at an increased pace, we're no longer aware of the differences between the two countries, other than it seems to be miserable in both. Unfortunately, the film flounders as it attempts to flow coherently - Seidl seems more interested in set pieces, and we're dragged along to see them.
There's little that seems fresh in the movie, instead, we're provoked with images of girls masturbating, and the degradation of a prostitute. Seidl managed to evoke us into being disgusted and repelled, but with the bare minimum of effort. While we're recoiling from the images, the film meanders on its way, hardly bothering to carve a path in the ice.
I say: An interesting movie, with a critical eye on Austria. For an English-speaking audience, this is an educational experience, something to learn, but as a film, "Import/Export" falls short of moving the viewer.
See it for: There are moments of humour, usually bracketed by abject misery, making them powerful.
*this image is from an extremely critical review on TheAuteurs
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