Die Falle

There are obviously different ways to make movies. One of them is to take a lot of money, adapt a simple plot, hire people who win golden statuettes, create special effects of the never-seen-before-type, mount an impressive marketing campaign and then count on sheer peer pressure to make the few unconvinced feel but compelled to see it. And peer pressure never fails.

The other one is to actually have ideas who can reshape the way people think they view the world. To shock the faithful masses, and to make the movie a topic which can be successfully featured on a late-night talk show – a worthy goal of every wanna-be decadent intellectual director. And if such elevated brain-workers like the late night talk show anchors speak about it – it must be a true epiphany!

The third way to make a moive is with a lot of pain – bitter, intense, seeding through the scenes and grapping something deep in you. Not necessarily spectacular, or ground-breaking, but real. This is my favorite way – the results are sharp, simple, subtly ironic in themselves, unpretentious, and moving. One of those such movies is the Serbian Klopka (The Trap), which I only ventured to see now – almost two years after its release. Two years well spent waiting.

IMDB would probably say it is a film noir about transition Serbia (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478813/). It is not. Such a description would only imply a sadly limited contextualization. In fact the genre is a Balkan movie – a very moving, emotional, ironic piece of cinematography. With no pretentions or necessarily creativity. But with a lot of unexpected turns, depression, and introspective brooding, which always leaves an impression that the film is never seen, and yet, feels so painfully familiar. Especially if you were born on the Balkans…

Highly recommned, a true cultural experience – IMDB ranks it at 7.7, but it probably deserves more. (Un)happy viewing!