Fantastic performances and great direction and cinematography
From the first lingering shot of the idyllic Albanian landscape, with majestic mountains in the background and windswept fields in the foreground, director Joshua Marston immerses the viewer in a powerful fictional tale about a very real issue -- the impact on the families who end up inheriting the "sins of the fathers" from violent blood feuds in one of the poorest European countries.
The beginning of the story quickly sets up the jarring contradictions faced by contemporary Albanians -- horse-drawn carriages alongside motorized vehicles, livestock on the soccer fields, adults and elders clinging to ancient oral traditions while the younger generation is wrapped up in videogames, television, Internet-enabled computers, and handheld mobile devices.
The greatest service Marston does is to shed light on this paradox as the Old clashes with the New, placing the seemingly unfathomable tradition of regulated blood feuds in human context. We see it played out to...
Our Story Too
I ordered this film to try to understand more about the cultural background of a story from my own family lore. My grandmother told the story of "Zio Francesco" who was a shepherd in Calabria in the previous century. The local bandits (now they would be called organized crime) would come periodically to take one or two of his flock, but he was a poor man and the result was real hardship. Finally he informed the carabinieri (local police) where they could find the bandits. They escaped, and the man knew that he could no longer leave the house without being killed. So, each day, he would send his small son out with the sheep. One day there was a thick fog, and the boy was afraid, so the man went out hoping to be veiled by the fog. But the bandits caught him and burned him alive.
Albania is the only country that codified in writing the ancient vendetta law, called the Kanon, but it held the force of custom through wide swaths of the Mediterranean. Before Albania was Communist,...
Blood Feud
The concept of blood feuds between families evolving from incidences that in most societies would be handled by an impartial legal system is instead in many parts of the world handled by informal and traditional reparations ranging from money to another life to be taken. Such is the case in Albania, long known as the North Korea of Europe, where some families still utilize a Kanun of traditional oral laws to resolve disputes and save face (honor). That repute is rapidly changing as new generations embrace a more open and communicative society - yet, resistance, as to be expected, still exists from the elders. Thus is our story.
The naturalistic acting which far exceeds what trained and experienced actors would have produced greatly enhances the believability of the story. That, coupled with fine cinematography and research, results in an engaging film experience.
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