Rating: 3.5/5
Perhan feeds and cares for his sister Danira. His grandmother, Khatidža, brings home a turkey. Perhan plays the accordion while the turkey gobbles along. Azra comes over to hang out with Perhan. That night they go to a movie and make out under the bleachers. He stops to show her his psychic abilities by moving a can. Later, he goes to Azra’s to ask her family to grant them a marriage. Azra’s mother refuses.
So, Perhan drafts a suicide note and swallows it so that no one will know his shame. He hangs himself from the rope of the bell tower, but a townsperson finds him pulls him down, and takes him home. Khatidža explains that Azra’s mother will not allow the marriage because Perhan is the illegitimate son of a Slovenian soldier who impregnated his late mother and left her destitute.
At the Feast of St. George, Azra and Perhan make love in a boat. So, Perhan decides he will do whatever it takes to win Azra’s mother over. If she wants wealth, then Perhan will determine how to make money. Perhaps his psychic powers can help him?
The film is a Dickensian parable about legacy and morality. Perhan is a boy who wishes to live an honest life but is dealt a tragic origin from which he cannot escape, and people around him take advantage of his earnest nature. The culture he comes up in is Yugoslav Romani, a people without a land to call their own—eternal nomads, hated and scorned by those around them. He isn’t doomed to a life of crime, but his naivete makes him an easy mark.
Also, the boundaries between magic and reality are blurred. Khatidža has the power of healing. Sometimes, people will float — I thought this signified a dream, but nope, they just do that.
The movie goes to great lengths to build its world. I felt lost (in a good way) as I waited to see what story emerged. I felt a little disappointed when the story kicked in. It’s another, “The dishonest way to wealth will always bite you.”
Still, the film is heartbreaking, even if it squanders a fair bit of its runtime.