A Critique of the Hungarian Film 'Just the Wind' by Laura Lassiaz and Manon Grandpaul

« Just the wind » deals with a Romany family composed of a grand-father, the mother, a daughter and a brother. The mother works in a cleaning company and she is so poor. We can see their everyday life but only one day in their life. At the beginning, we can see the daughter call her father to have a Skype conversation. He lives in Canada and all the family has to rejoin him but he doesn’t have enough money. She talks to him about her fears because, a similar family was killed the day before. We see then the day of the family: the mother goes to work, the daughter goes to school but she can’t stay here. The brother who spends time away from school time has to nothing occupy himself. With this day, we can see the extreme poverty which afflicts this family. They have a house without electricity and water. They don’t have any lights. The living conditions appear so difficult for us.

At the end of this day, the family goes to sleep and the daughter hears some sounds. Her mother answers “It’s just the wind”. This is the title of the movie. Then, they discover that it is not the wind but people who have a gun. At the end of the movie, everybody dies except the son.

'Just the wind' is denunciation without moralizing. We found this film very slow and boring, we felt no sympathy for the characters and so we quickly lost interest in their fate. A well studied production, beautifully filmed but with few words and a tragic story about people who suffer from insecurity and racism.

In conclusion, we follow 24 hours in the life of a Roma family discovering their appalling conditions made worse because they are excluded from other inhabitants of their village because of their nationality.

This film is an important message against racism.

'It's a Free World' A Summary and Critique by Margot Jonckheere and Jessica Da Silva

The film focuses on a  British woman who wants to create her own recruitment agency. At the begining of the film, we can see a scene where Angie is fired because she refuses to accept the avances of her boss. So Angie doesn't understand this decision because she thinks she is the most efficient emplyee working for this particular company. She feels that she is exploited by her boss.
That's why she threatens to sue her boss but instead she decides to create her own agency with her friend Rose. But Rose doesnt agree because she anticipates all kinds of problems like taxes, administrative papers... etc.. Rose thinks that they don't have the experience and the right contacts. Angie thinks it's possible: She's determined.
So, the two girls go to a pub and Angie explains her idea to install the agency in the back yard of this pub.
A few days later, they start their business: the concept of this agency is to recruit people who come  to the yard but they are not sure to work. It shows us the point of view of immigrant  workers. Ken Loach shows us their misery. It's really touching because we see this woman who has more and more problems because she wants to prove that she can create and manage her own company. She has more and more debts because she promises to pay her employees but the company where they work don't want to pay Angie.
She has many problems because she doesn't want to hire people who haven't legal papers. Immigrants are violent, they threaten her. This film presents us the real life, and we can see what happens in the world. The social inequalities and also the struggle of a desperate mother. She can't manage the education of her son, because of her work which takes a lot of her time.
After, her son goes to open the door to receive the pizza they have ordered. But her son is kidnapped by the immigrants, they also threaten Angie because they want to be paid.
During the film, Rose leaves the project with Angie because she doesn't agree with her behaviour. She continues the project alone and at the end of the film we can see Angie recruiting people to work in England. She is determined. This movie makes us sad and we can better unstand the inequalities in the world.

Summary and Critique of 'It's a Free World' by Clara Michellier and Léa Rodriguez

At the beginning of the film Angie is dismissed by her boss after she refuses to accept his sexual advances. She decides to set up her own recruitment company with her flatmate Rose. She asks her local pub manager Andy if she can use his backyard, which is both spacious and well situated, to collect her casual labourers before they are transported to the biulding site or the factory where they will be employed on short term contracts.

This movie shows that Angie is both a good and a bad example at the same time. Indeed, she is outlawed and does not think necessarily about the consequences and is not an exemplary mother. However, at the same time Angie has a strength of character after having rebelled against her employer, and she is a woman who persists in proving to the company that she is capable of taking her life into her own hands, of managing her company and that she is stable enough to get back her son to be able to take care of him.

'It's a Free World' A Summary and Critique by Lucas LETELLIER

IT’S A FREE WORLD

“It’s a Free World” is a British drama film directed by the famous film-maker Ken Loach that was released in 2007 in the UK.

Angie is an ambitious working class woman who is frustrated at working in little and low paid jobs. She has a lot of debts and she is not able to educate her kid, Jamie, on her own so he lives with his grandparents. She works for a British recruitment company in London that employs its workforce in the ex-USSR countries such as Poland. After a work trip to Katowice, she gets fired for no reason. She is 32 and as it is her thirtieth job since she started working, she decides to make a change in her professional life to reverse her insecure situation. Discussing it with her friend and also flat mate Rose, she decides to start up her own recruitment business with the help of Rose, in Andy’s restaurant courtyard. Rose is a bit reluctant as they don’t have any license but Angie promises her that as soon as they earn profits, they will make it legal. Angie also promises her friend and new colleague not to employ any illegal workers, only the ones from the European Union but under the pressure of the employers she works with, they start employing illegal immigrant workers and giving them fake passports. Rose isn’t too sure about that but she finally accepts. After one of the employer refuses to pay Angie and Rose’s twenty employees, the situation gets worse for the two businesswomen and Rose becomes more and more worried because some of the workers threaten them. Angie tries desperately to keep it running and one day she anonymously informs the police about a camp of immigrants to place her newly arrived Ukrainian workers. This event was too much for Rose and she finally decides to quit. Few days later, the unpaid workers kidnap her son and tie her up to receive their money. They find a quarter of what they were due and released her son. At the end of the movie, Angie completely gives up her scruples and goes further into the illegal recruitment of immigrants to get her out of her disastrous financial situation.

In this movie, Ken Loach shows the difficulties of people to have a decent work for both British people and immigrants. The expansion of the European Union to the countries of ex-USSR has given new opportunities for those populations but it has also made the competition disloyal for the West European workers and led to the exploitation of this new workforce. With the example of Angie’s situation and her will to succeed by employing illegal workers, paying them badly with no guarantee of work the next day, Ken Loach shows how some people can become immoral and forget their values to try to escape this situation.

“It’s a Free World” is great movie to understand people’s professional difficulties nowadays. Through Angie’s character, we both understand and dislike the choices she makes and this makes us feel uncomfortable.

Film review by German student

"Poupata" (Flower buds)

The Czech film “Poupata” is a social drama which shows a family living in an industrial area. Every family member has his own story and his own problems. The daughter becomes pregnant unintentionally and her brother is in love with a stripper and grows cannabis together with a friend. Both teenagers are without work and perspectives for their future. The mother is a cleaning woman and tries to improve their situation by earning and saving money. She has many dreams for the future, but her husband has no illusions about their life. He knows that he cannot change their situation and does not even try to.

The actors are likeable and the spectator can sympathise with them. Therefore the story seems to be authentic and touching. You can well imagine how the characters live and how hard their living conditions are, it could be a realistic example of a real family living in this area. However, it is sometimes hard to believe and shocking for the viewer to see the living conditions and their hopeless situation. He easily feels sorry for them and starts to think about how to help them.

But the ending arrives very abruptly and surprisingly. It is unknown what will happen to the family and how the situation changes. That might be a little bit confusing.
All in all, it is a recommendable film. The situation is shown in an authentic way and the viewer gets to know the situation of the family very well.

Written by Nicole Hartwig, Georg-Büchner-Gymnasium Letter, Germany

Film review by German student

"Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (The Edukators)

"Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" is a critical film about capitalism and the inequity between rich and poor people.

Three young do-gooders are breaking in houses of rich persons to leave their messages inside. But everything goes wrong when they are surprised by the owner on one occasion, so they decide to kidnap him. While spending time together both sides change their minds about the view they had on each other.

The film gives a good example for the two extremes in our society, there are the rich people who fit in perfectly in our capitalistic society because they give up on their ideals and the other ones who are against society and want to change the world on their own. Because of the intimate atmosphere you feel like you are part of the conversations, which makes it possible to understand the different opinions and the reasons for them. The film's messages - to have a second closer view on others and never to give up your beliefs - are thought-provoking. Another reason for this effect are the likable characters. You enter their lives for a while, get to know them better and understand their motivations, so that they become realistic and you get the feeling you are connected.

The movie is focused on capitalism in Western countries. In a few parts of their conversations the characters discuss the problems of developing countries, but scenes of problems are only shown in Germany.

The surprising ending is very good, because it gives a very last thought-provoking impulse and makes you think about everything you have seen and thought in the film before.

Written by Anabel Helberg, Georg-Büchner-Gymnasium Seelze, Germany

Film review by Hungarian students

Critique "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (The Edukators)

The movie is about 3 young adults (Jan, Jule and her boyfriend) who are dissatisfied with society, because some people earn much more money than others with the same amount of work.  The guys break into houses and leave a message: "You are too rich!"

The characters are portrayed in a very distant and cold way, there is no passion between them. It’s hard to identify with them.

The camera work is interesting. It’s restless, with dark shots. There is no continuity between the scenes. Music doesn’t play such a big role in this film.

Aside from the money issue, we discovered another social problem. The police and the conductors are much too aggressive.

This movie is a very good basis for a discussion, because we have different opinions about the behaviour and idealism of the main characters.

Film review by Hungarian students

Critique "Just the Wind"

The film is based on an actual incidence in Hungary. The plot however is fiction. It’s about a day in the life of a Hungarian Romany family. They live under very difficult circumstances. The mother is a cleaning woman in a school and a public worker. Her husband has emigrated to Canada and he promised his family that they could join him later, but they don’t have money. They have two children, Rio and Anna, and the grandfather also lives with them. Because of their ethnical background, they have to face humiliation and discrimination every day.   

For some time, in their neighborhood, Roma families were killed by a group of racists. At night they hear noises, and the mother tells them not to worry, because it’s just the wind. But actually it’s the murderers who come into the house and start shooting the family. Everybody dies, just Rio escapes through the bedroom window.

The solution could have been that the mother gets further education, and then maybe they could have broken out of their bad social situation. The film introduces a deep social problem, that is based on prejudice and radical opinions. These opinions, in this case racism, usually occur when people feel that their future is uncertain, and they let their frustration out on innocent people.

This film is very shattering and divisive.

Film review by Czech students

IT'S A FREE WORLD

 / Julie Švihálková, Veronika Londáková – Czech Republic/

This is a very special movie talking about work experience and freedom which give us the opportunity to do what we like to do.

However, there are some rules in the world, which have to be respected and if we (people) do not respect them we have to pay for it.

This movie describes brutality in some countries and it also shows how unfair this whole world can be. We can see taking this action especially against the people who have come to other countries because they have run away from their reality hoping that living in other country will be better. But then the immigrants realize that they don't have enough money, a job or any other things they have to have or which they need to survive in a city like London. By the time, they ran away from their home they didn't realize that life could be even harder than it had been before. So these are the reasons why the people suddenly become poor and homeless. It doesn't always have to be like this, sometimes the people have a talent which helps them to deal with their new life and they become very happy people and even more happy because they have made this decision.

But come on... It isn't always like this and we all know that, this is not actually a free world I think this world is full of people who are being treated like animals and we know nothing about most of them, so let's stop and think for a while, is this really a free world?

Film review by Czech students

Flower Buds / Poupata/ Czech film

* Social drama

* Producer: Zdeněk Jiráský

* It was made in: 2011

The plot was taken at Christmas time and it is talking about gradual breakdown of four family members who live in a small town (daughter Agáta, son Honza, mother Kamila and father Jarda). Each character lives in its dream which they would like to come true but it is gradually crashing. Agáta would like to live in a perfect family but she is pregnant with her boyfriend who was intoxicated on St. Nicholas party and had an accident after which he ends up on a wheelchair. Honza thinks that love is the most important thing in the world, so he sells weed, which he grew with his friend, to buy a stripper because he is in love with her. Kamila finds out that her husband owns 180 000 Kč (Czech crowns). Jarda not only fails slot machines, but also is fired from his job, moreover he causes his friend death and he debts his family.

The name of the film evokes the Communist reign because it refers to the title of a song which was well known those days. It was an accompanying song to the last “Spartakiáda” (national sport events of the Eastern bloc countries). Bits of the choreography are seen in the film when the adult ladies are gathering to exercise. The name “Flower Buds” is probably used as a metaphor to demonstrate the disability of the main characters to bloom. They are struggling in the new world unable to move further, unable to change themselves.

Points of Interest:

* Shooting lasted only 30 days

* Unemployed people, from the cities where the film was made, were casting in this drama. They got money and they did not report to the social management and the social management took them their social benefits. The movie-makers tried to do something about it but the state stayed relentless.

* The film has received a few film awards, for example: Silver Hugo on World film festival.

Nikola Bělíková, Jana Vitouchová – Czech Republic