ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Ecumenical Jury Prize

God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya

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“Haven’t I got the right to be happy?”

In Teona Strugar Mitevska’s God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, tradition and modernity come into conflict. We watch as a woman must find her own value when everyone around her sees her as worthless. The church, the community, the police and even her mother all seem to be against her. But she holds on to the hope of a better life—because of a cross. God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya was awarded the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival.

Petrunya (Zorica Nusheva) lives in the Macedonian town of Shtip. She is 32, unwed, unemployed, a bit overweight, and thoroughly unmotivated. Her mother hounds her to change her life. Her best friend seems a bit unsympathetic as well. She goes off on a job interview that goes nowhere because she has no work experience, a major in history, and isn’t sexually appealing to the would be boss.

On her way back, she comes across a procession for a traditional event. Each year on Epihany in many Eastern European towns, the Orthodox priest throws a cross into the water and the men chase after it. Whoever catches the cross receives a year of happiness. Impulsively, Petrunya jumps into the river and catches the cross. Chaos ensues. Women are not allowed to be part of the event. The men are irate. Yet she manages to escape with the cross. In time the police are called in, but has a law been broken, or just tradition? Everyone wants her to give the cross back, but she feels that she has a right to the cross and to the promised happiness. Meanwhile, a woman TV reporter (Labina Mitevska) sees this as a story about discrimination against women (and an opportunity for her own advancement.) As the story progresses, we see Petrunya evolve from insecurity to empowerment.

The film is a statement about paternalistic society and the traditions that hold that in place. Through the first part of the film, there are various shots of manikins. It seems to point to the emptiness of the men we find in the film. The director notes that a few years ago, a woman did take part in such an event and it brought great animosity into her life. But a few years later, when another woman managed to win this event, she was celebrated. So things do slowly change.

For the most part, the cross in this film serves as a MacGuffin, i.e., something that moves the plot along without being dramatically involved. But there are some interesting aspects of the story that show forth precisely because a cross is involved. One of the questions that comes up frequently is to whom the cross belongs. The police inspector tells the priest that if he files a report that says the woman stole the cross, he could act on that crime. But the priest cannot break God’s love by lying. The men of the town who tried to catch the cross, believe it belongs to them. Yet when they confront Petrunya they are anything but Christ-like (even though one of them does look like the way Jesus is pictured in European art). Petrunya is asked if she is religious, but she fails to respond one way or the other, because she doesn’t see the relevance. What matters is that she has the cross and should receive the blessing that goes with it.

All this raises questions for viewers with a faith perspective. What does it mean for the church to be so involved in upholding tradition when it causes pain to others? What does it mean that the church is taking part in a sacred ritual, but the men who are competing are doing it not out of devotion, but out of a toxic masculinity? And really, that question of to whom the cross belongs. Is the cross meant for the strongest or is it to empower the weak? When we grasp the cross, as Petrunya does, are we going to find the blessings we seek?

God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya is playing in select theaters and available on virtual cinema.

Photos courtesy of 1844 Entertainment.

Styx – The Ethics of Life and Death

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If you see someone in need, should you help? That may seem like a simple question, but it is one that we must deal with in many ways almost every day. Often we help. Often we have reasons not to help. Wolfgang Fischer’s film Styx is a moving story of a woman who must make choice after choice that could result in life or death for many people. The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin Film Festival.

Rike (Susanne Wolff), a young emergency doctor, sets off on a vacation of sailing her 11-meter yacht, Asa Gray, to Ascension Island, about half way between Africa and South America. About the first half of the film focuses on the common aspects of the trip: provisioning, setting off, contacting nearby freighters. Then, a storm comes up. Alone on the boat, she must work through the storm to stay afloat. But in the calm after the storm, everything changes.

She awakes to find a derelict trawler a few hundred yards away. It is full of refugees seeking to go to Europe. It is taking on water and could sink. They call to her to rescue them, but there are more than her boat can hold. She radios for help. The Coast Guard responds that they’ll send help and advise her to keep her distance. But after several hours no help comes. Soon some of the refugees begin swimming toward her, many fail and drown, but one, a boy about 12 (Gedion Odour Wekesa) barely makes it, and she hauls him aboard, totally exhausted and begins caring for him. More radio messages to authorities, more promises, but still no help. What is she to do?

The title comes from the river that in Greek mythology led from Earth to the Underworld. It was a river that sat between life and death. Those on the trawler were essentially on Charon’s boat on the way to Hades. But in this case they were not without hope, even though the hope fails to materialize.

The name of Rike’s yacht is also interesting. Asa Gray was a 19th Century botanist and friend of Charles Darwin who strove to demonstrate that evolution was not in conflict with religion. There are times within the film that we get the impression that for many of those who are not responding the loss of these lives is just a form of survival of the fittest. Although religion is not overtly included in the story, the morality that is a part of religion does make this very much a story that fits within Asa Gray’s beliefs.

This is a parable of moral obligations. Rike’s legal obligation was fulfilled when she radioed for help. She could have set on her way again. Instead she stayed. When the boy arrived, she gave him extensive medical aid. She sought others to help at various times. She was not satisfied with doing the bare minimum of care for those in need. She put herself at risk in the process.

The film is also a judgment on the way the world is approaching the near global refugee crises. Whether in the Middle East, Europe, or the southern U.S. border, there are those seeking safe, secure lives, but are often met with many official obstacles. Worse, they are met with indifference. Within the film there are those who could come and save those doomed on the trawler: the Coast Guard, freighters. But none are willing to break the policies they have been given. None is willing to question the policies or to judge whether life is more important than rules.

This is a new telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25ff.). Jesus spoke that parable in answer to the question “Who is my neighbor (who the Law says I must love)?” In the biblical parable there are those who have important reasons for denying aid to an injured traveler. The story has definite racial, religious, and economic components. The hero of the story is the person who not only takes action to help, but goes to great lengths to do so.

As we look at the refugees around the world or at our border—or even when we look at the hungry and homeless in our streets—we need to consider each day how we will act.  Will we choose to pass by on the other side of the road, like some in the Good Samaritan? Will we do the minimum, safe action, as Rike could have done by sailing on after radioing for help? Will we do all we can to aid those in dire straits?

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Capernaum – Chaos or Miracles

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How does one survive without being “officially” a person? For people such as refugees or the poor, there may be no paper trail of their existence. In Capernaum, from Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, we see a boy struggle with life in that kind of world.

Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is about twelve years old (based on a doctor’s physical exam), but looks younger. His family can’t provide for him or his sister. Soon they arrange for his sister’s marriage (at fourteen) and in anger Zain leaves to live in the streets. He is resourceful and determined. Soon he his taken in by Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), an Ethiopian refugee without proper work papers. Zain becomes a caregiver and provider for her and her baby son Yonas. Zain survives by his street smarts, but when Rahil is arrested Zain’s resources become vary scarce as he tries to care for Yonas on his own. After Zain is arrested for a serious crime, he ends up in court where he demands justice, suing his parents for bringing him into this world.

I’ve seen two of Labaki’s previous films (Caramel and Where Do We Go Now?). Both are lighthearted with a bit of bite. They deal with women finding empowerment. Capernaum is a much different kind of film. It is about those who have no power and little chance at empowerment. It makes it clear that for people such as these, no help can be forthcoming without some sort of paper that proves you exist. The film portrays these people with dignity. The film is especially focused on children in this plight. It makes it painfully clear that these are people like us, but who are trapped by systems that make them invisible and powerless. This vision of humanity led to the film winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes.

Labaki used many non-professional actors in making this film in order to have their true reactions. Many of those in the film actually lead lives such as we see on screen. There are refugees and undocumented people. Often she would describe a scene for them and let them play it out in their own words and emotions. This brings a sense of realism into the story. The kinds of heartbreak that we see onscreen are daily lives for many.

In production notes for the film, Labaki says the title comes from the French word “capharnaüm” which translates as “chaos”. She also notes that it is the name of a biblical city, which was “a place where miracles could happen.” She goes on to say, “That’s what’s going on in the world right now. It’s a mixture of chaos and miracles every day.” It is interesting to look at the film with those two concepts in mind. We can ask ourselves where we see the miracles in Zain and Rahil’s world? There is hope in the film, but it is certainly elusive. But the very idea of having hope in such a dark world could be a miracle itself.

Capernaum has been nominated for a Golden Globe and is Lebanon’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar consideration.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Mia Madre – The Illusion of Control

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“Mama, what are you thinking about?”  “Tomorrow.”

Mia Madre was the winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes in 2015. Ecumenical Juries often focus on finding stories of the human condition that speak to the spiritual needs that are common to us all. That is certainly the case with Mia Madre.

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Margherita (Margherita Buy) is an Italian film director trying to make a film with American actor Barry Huggins (John Turturro) who seems to be nothing but problems. At the same time her mother’s health is steadily slipping away and her daughter is becoming increasingly distant. The situations lead to both humor and pathos that become interwoven.

For Margherita, this all represents a loss of control. Although as director of her film she is titularly in control, Huggins’s style and shortcomings as an actor is creating chaos in the production. And of course the dying process with her mother is something totally out of her control. As she moves between the worlds of the movie set and the sickroom she struggles to maintain balance.

Shots from "Mia Madre"

There is the wisdom of this film. Much of our lives we struggle to maintain the balance of control without realizing that, like Margherita’s work as a film director, control is often only an illusion we have constructed. In reality there are so many forces that push us and pull us in different directions that we are constantly in danger of losing the balance of our lives. Often it is in the letting loose of control that allows grace to come into our lives. That is clearly the case with the storyline involving Margherita and her mother. Being able to let go is often the first step in discovering something more rewarding than feeling in control. It is somewhat ironic that giving up control may provide strength and power that others bring to us in our weakness. So it is with Margherita and her juggling act of professional and personal life. In there will be sadness, but also there will be great reward.

Photos courtesy of Music Box Films