THE GREAT WATER
Directed by: Ivo Trajkov.
Produced by: Mile Arsovski, Vladimir Chrenovsky, Robert Jazadziski, Suki Medencevic & Ivo Trajkov.
Written by: Vladimir Blazevski, based on the novel by Zhivko Chingo.
Director of Photography: Suki Medencevic.
Edited by: Atanas Georgiev.
Music by: Kiril Dzajkovski.
Released by: Picture This!
Language: English & Macedonian with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Macedonia. 90 min. Not Rated.
With: Saso Kekenovski, Maja Stankovska, Mitko Apostolovski, Meto Jovanovski & Verica Nedska.

A well-known Macedonian politician, Lem Nikodinoski, remembers his childhood in an orphanage after World War II, where he has been send to be reeducated; his intellectual parents, "enemies of the Revolution," oppose the communist government in power. There, Lem (Saso Kekenovski) meets the charming and mysterious 13-year-old Isak (Maja Stankovska), and they become best friends.

When trying to give a larger than life air to Isak, the film loses ground, and a few times makes no sense. Yet the film is extremely effective in depicting the conditions in which the children live. Especially chilling is the assistant headmaster, Komrade Olivera, a young woman who is a fanatical admirer of Stalin and fervent believer in the party's every truth. When she can't find the red shorts she won at a sports competition, she puts all the girls in a freezing room, naked, until they confessed who has stolen them. And another effective scene involves Lem, who commits a terrible crime: he asks the headmaster a probing question. As he stands in front of the classroom, the headmaster asks the class what Lem's punishment should be. Each of the children's responses, such as "saboteur" and "traitor to the party," suggest punishments ranging from being locked in the cellar to death. And they are not kidding.

All in all, it is a powerful film, especially when dealing with the fate of these orphaned children, sufferers of abuse and indoctrination. The film is weaker when dealing with Lem and Isak's friendship and the supposedly heroic figure of Isak. The performances are good, especially by Kekenovski and Stankovska, who give their characters more depth than the screenplay supplies. Verica Nedeska is excellent as Olivera, whose unquestioned fanaticism and violent reactions haunt the protagonists - and the viewer - for a long time. Roxana M. Ramirez
June 17, 2005