‘Blaga’s Lessons’ Review: Brutal Drama Packs A Provocative Punch – Karlovy Vary Int’l Film Festival
deadline.comThe lessons learned in this pitch-black German-Bulgarian co-production are very grim indeed, a social-realist drama that takes an unexpectedly shocking turn at its harrowing climax.
The film’s recent win at Karlovy Vary, where it took the Grand Prix in the Crystal Globe Competition, should give it a welcome boost on the arthouse circuit, but the unwary are warned that Stephan Komandarev’s latest feature packs a punch not seen since Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke in their provocative prime.
Blaga (Eli Skorcheva) is a widow, grieving after the recent death of her beloved husband Hristo, a former policeman. After saving up, she plans to buy a plot of land to bury him in, 40 days after his passing, with a custom-made double gravestone for them both.
Hristo “believed in Lenin more than Jesus”, but Blaga’s desire to substitute a cross for a red star is expressly forbidden in Bulgarian law.
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