THE GREAT WATER (GOLEMATA VODA) (a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: THE GREAT WATER tells a great deal about totalitarianism and human nature. It is a timeless story about power and is a fine piece of filmmaking. At times, however, this is a painful film to watch. But in the last fifteen minutes it turns out to be a complex, ironic, and ultimately very moving story. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10.
The story of THE GREAT WATER takes place in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In Yugoslavia in World War II, the Communist Marshall Tito led the primary resistance to the Nazis in Yugoslavia. When the war was over the Communists under Tito ruthlessly seized control of the country in the name of and with the methods of Stalinism. Eventually Tito would be a moderating force against the power of the Soviets, but those days were years after the main body of the story. THE GREAT WATER is mostly about how the force of Soviet tyranny was used to indoctrinate the orphaned children of parents considered enemies of the Soviets.
As the film opens an important politician, Lem Nikodinoski (played as an old man by Meto Jovanovski) has suffered a heart attack and may be dying. As he lies in his hospital bed he remembers in the summer of 1945 how as an orphan of parents who were enemies of Tito he was seized by the Soviet army and taken to a bleak institution in Macedonia. The building is an ugly deserted factory turned into an orphanage. We see a young Lem (now played by Saso Kekenovski) whose wide-eyed fear makes him look almost like a mouse. And he has reason to fear. The Stalinist system has no compassion for the child of what it considers traitors. Staff and older children alike bully Lem. Compassion seems to come only from one attractive girl Verna and perhaps the potential for compassion from the Comrade Olivera, a woman perhaps in her late teens who is a drill master for the orphans' military-like training. The camp is overseen by Komrade Ariton (Miko Apostolovski), an ambitious martinet who oversees the indoctrination of the orphans into their new religion of worshipping Comrade Stalin. While Lem is still new to the system an attractive boy even newer to the orphanage/camp, Isak Keyton (Maja Stankovska), is brought in. Lem decides to make Isak his friend, though Isak seems to want no part of Lem.
THE GREAT WATER looks at the evils of a totalitarian system. People must force themselves to be hypocrites and profess love for Stalin just to get along. Insincere self-denunciations are a matter of form. Also we see how vulgarians seem to be the ones who profit from system that looks for obedience and professed loyalty over character. The film effectively makes both points. We see the methods by which the young were weaned from their previous religion and forced to accept the Stalin as their god.
The strong point of the film is the acting. The production values are frequently excellent but there is perhaps a little too much use is made of color filters to create mood. The film is narrated in English with dialog in Macedonian. (The narration may possibly vary by country of release.) The film is directed and co-produced by Ivo Trajkov with a screenplay by Vladimir Blazevski based on the (reportedly young adult) novel by Zhivko Chingo.
THE GREAT WATER has its grim and painful and even disturbing moments. Stay with it. Even the harrowing moments have a strong reason for being in the film. I rate it a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10. If this is not on my top ten of the year, 2005 will be a very good year indeed. I suggest the viewer stay through the end-credits, as the story really is not over until the final frame of the film.
Mark R. Leeper mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2005 Mark R. Leeper
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