QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM SARAJEVO
Age catches up with everyone, but these elderly patients are not keen to lie down and let the nurses in their home tell them what to do. Rising up, they revolt and take over, threatening the assistants with whatever weapons they have at their disposal. High heels are utilised when arms are in short supply. The elderly succeed and tackle the assistants. Typically, disorder emerges among the revolutionaries, who do not know how to proceed with this new utopia.
In terms of narration, The Pavilion feels like a contemporary, spiritual makeover a movie based on Orwell’s work, particularly Animal Farm (John Halas & Joy Batchelor, 1954), but it’s also wonderfully comedic detailing the amateur takeover. One of the “revolutionaries” takes command, barking orders on the telephone. “As for our demands, I’ll let you know in due time”, he bellows, though no ideas are immediately apparent. Sparked by a Bosnian spirit, director Dino Mustafić lets the gags run quick and fast, undercut by a political undertone.
Thematically, this feature deals predominantly with ageism, with the characters liberated by the fact that they can coil and torture the establishment that has made their Autumnal years harrowing and unpleasant. One of the men gifts his supervisor soup that is tasteless and flavourless, the grub that was given to the patients daily.Mustafić gleefully shows the captured nurse in ropes and bondage, a farcical creation that flits between indie and opera in execution. Stylistically, the director utilises a number of clever cuts, the uprising delivered with rapid-fire takes, long shots, close-ups and chop-aways.
It’s rife with tension, but the laughs never wither or dissipate. Actors Mirjana Karanović, Jasna Diklić and Ermin Bravo play up the pastiche, their faces are a melding of grimaces, sighs and smiles. It’s refreshing to see older actors embracing ludicrous setpieces, embodying the energies and presence of younger people. Letting out decades of pent up anger, they capture the younger generation, tying them down much as they attempted to keep the older people buried. Like Orwell’s writings, the polemical flavours cement the piece, and in The Pavilion, this story offers audiences a chance to empathise with one of the most marginalised sects of society.
Straight from the off, these vagabonds mean business. They destroy phones with guns, so no one can alert an outside force. When a bullet enters into one of the terrorists/kidnappers/liberators, they are bandaged immediately. Where the film deviates from Orwell is in demonstration: the British writer was socialist, the feeling of this movie is much more anarchic. The tone isn’t to set up a new society, but to overthrow the “have’s” (ie the nurses).
Like most great comedies, the picture has moral depth. Obscene as life may be, these patients wouldn’t enjoy overtaking other people if the actions didn’t stem from such a place of agonising truth. The zingers and one liners work precisely because they are delivered by people who have undergone so much trauma in their personal lives. And now, they have the chance to create a tasty alternative for themselves.
Director Dino Mustafić mixes giddiness with action and suspense. The scenes are brightly lit, and every action is beautifully captured next to psychedelic colours. In terms of mise-en-scene, the camera captures everything, putting all the singular flairs and details onto the frame. But the heart of the work belongs to the boisterous ensemble, actors of a certain vintage chewing the scenery as anti-establishmentarian characters keen on bringing out a new reality from their immediate surroundings. Humanity is evident in ever the dialogue.
The Pavilion was the opening film of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival.
