Shame and Money
Winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize, this Kosovan film stares late capitalism brutally in the face and asks what it means to live a life of value.
In a society that divides people into winners and losers, there’s little room for those who tread the middle path. A good life may hinge on just a handful of cows. When the cows are gone, that’s it.
In a remote corner of a Kosovar village, Shaban (Astrit Kabashi) and Hatixhe (Flonja Kodheli) are still holding on, toiling from morning till night. When tragedy strikes the family, a collision with the cold grip of capitalism becomes inevitable.
In the capital Pristina, Bill Clinton greets visitors with a smile of peace, but at the foot of his statue, an olive branch withers into a twig of the market economy. Human worth is measured by one’s bank balance, and the population is divided into the wealthy and the destitute. The poor must learn to be grateful for the scraps thrown to them by the better-off, and even for exploitation by their own relatives. Although Shaban’s old mother, Nana (Kumrije Hoxa), remains the gatekeeper of morality and decency, the couple’s pursuit of a living drags them to ever new depths. Shame has become a luxury.
Visar Morina, whose film won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic of the World Cinema Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, tears at the heart with his tale of globalisation. Instead of one quick pull, the plaster is peeled off hair by hair. As slowly as hope fades.
Minna Saarinen (translated by Kati Ilomäki)
Screenings
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Kino Engel 2Fri 18.9. at 17.50–19.59129 min, 1/3
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Kino Engel 2Sat 19.9. at 20.30–22.39129 min, 2/3
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Cinema OrionSun 27.9. at 13.30–15.39129 min, 3/3
Trailer
