My luck

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Movie
German title My luck
Original title Счастье моё / Stschastje mojo
Country of production Ukraine , Germany
original language German , Russian
Publishing year 2010
length 127 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Sergei Loznitsa
script Sergei Loznitsa
production Heino Deckert ,
Oleg Kokhan
camera Oleg Mutu
cut Danielius Kokanauskis
occupation

Mein Glück (original title Russian: Счастье моё, Stschastje mojo ) from 2010 is the first feature film by the Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa . The film was screened on May 19, 2010 at the Cannes International Film Festival . The premiere was in Germany on October 7, 2010 at the Hamburg Film Festival .

content

The director accompanies the main character on his journey through the Russian provinces, where violence, greed, power and powerlessness reign, where every foreigner is an enemy. A connection to Russia of the war and post-war period is established again and again, which is woven into history in retrospectives.

Part one: in summer

Very liquid concrete is mixed in a concrete mixer on a factory site. An apparently dead man is thrown into a concrete pit, the body is covered with more concrete and the pit is closed with a caterpillar. Men call each other back to work. The driver Georgy starts from the factory premises in a truck and drives home, where his wife is sick on the sofa. He prepares coffee and bread, deposits your money and starts his tour. There, during a police check by corrupt officials, he met an old man who, while continuing his journey, looked back at the time shortly after the war and told him the story of his return to Russia: During a check by a corrupt Russian military police unit, he was spoiled by war from Germany Suitcase with a dress for his wife and a loden jacket 'for gardening', peeled off. He then shot the commander from the train that was supposed to take him back home. People standing by on the platform took note of the murder with almost no involvement. The old man claims that he hasn't had a name since then.

After walking a bit together, the old man leaves Georgy at a petrol station where he is apparently very arbitrarily refused to sell fuel for his truck. He drives on and reaches a road block caused by an overturned truck. A young prostitute offers herself to him. Georgy lets her get into his truck, but instead of accepting her offer ('only standard, nothing perverse'), he supplies her with coffee from his break ration. He asks her about an alternative route past the accident. He pulls out of the line of waiting vehicles and the young woman guides him near her home town. There a conflict arises on the local market: she feels his bread and coffee is dubious and stresses that she wants to earn her money through prostitution, but herself. She goes away scolding loudly. He walks across the market and sees almost only emaciated, worn-out and apparently very poor people in the crowd. Nobody, not even a child, laughs. A boisterous man jostles very aggressively through the crowd.

Georgy continues his detour. This leads him through a very remote area. A breakdown forces him to spend the night in the truck. He is sneakily beaten and robbed by a group of three men.

In an intermediate story that takes place during the World War, two soldiers stalk a wooden house. This is inhabited by a slender man and a boy who are both brightly dressed in summery clothes. After dark they knock on the door of the house. Although the man gave them shelter and provided them with food, they knocked him unconscious the next morning, shot him and ransacked the house.

Second part: in winter

Georgy wakes up in this very house around seventy years later, which is now occupied by a single woman with her son. It's winter, Georgy has lost his ability to speak, he looks badly battered and apathetic. He accompanies the son to the market, where he runs a stand. The woman leaves after being threatened by a police officer and selling Georgy's truck with the load. Left behind and neglected, he wanders through the Russian provinces, receives great rejection and is mistreated several times. He is almost frozen to death by the old man who rode in his truck in the summer - it remains unclear whether they recognize each other.

An old man is walking down a road in the woods, talking loudly to himself. He describes in vivid words scenes that are reminiscent of the Katyn massacre and in which he participated as a soldier. From his words, pride speaks of the deed. A military minibus with two soldiers drives past the man. He stops and the inmates ask for directions. The man reacts brusquely, hits the bus with his walking stick and the soldiers drive on quickly. An argument takes place in the bus: the body of a soldier lies in a wooden box in the hold. A soldier insists on getting rid of this corpse at last, the superior seems undecided. When they take a break because the supervisor wants to 'wash his face' and step out and goes a few meters into the forest, he sees a man hanged in the trees. Distraught, he calls for help, but the other soldier does not notice anything, leads his superior back to the bus and makes the decision to finally get rid of the corpse. They stop at the house where Georgy is staying with the old man and try to unload the corpse for an officer's coat. The supervisor now seems completely traumatized. Georgy leaves the house: In the snow in front of the front door lies a man who has apparently just been killed and who is vaguely reminiscent of Lenin. Georgy folds the man's hands and leaves the property. A truck driver picked up Georgy on a street. With this he experiences another police check, during which he witnesses how two corrupt and violent street policemen beat up a police major from Moscow. He kills her and everyone who was controlled.

Production and publication

The film by director and author Sergei Loznitsa was created in cooperation with Ma.ja.de., Arte, Lemming Film, Sota Cinema Group and ZDF . Danielius Kokanauskis was responsible for editing and Oleg Mutu for the camera . The film premiered on May 19, 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival. This was followed by screenings at many other festivals in Europe, North America, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong. On October 7, 2010 the film was shown at the Hamburg Film Festival . From February 3, 2011, more cinema screenings followed.

Residents from the region around the Ukrainian Chernihiv and from the northeastern town of Snowsk participated in the shooting .

Reviews

“The way Mein Glück provides a radical alternative to any sentimentalism in the cinema, gives it a brittle charm. In a world full of monsters who are staged without any moral judgment, the viewer cannot hope that he will experience salvation through a punishment from evil. How concentrated the moral decay is shown in the course of the film is also very calculating. Every murder, every act of violence acts like a big exclamation mark behind the already clearly conveyed statement that humanity, at least in Ukraine, is depraved and cruel. "

- critic.de - the film site

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of release for Mein Glück . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2011 (PDF; test number: 125 930 K).
  2. ↑ Michael Kienzl: My luck. critic.de - the film page, January 2011, accessed on March 25, 2013 .