Movie Reviews: Fear

Fear
directed by Ivalo Hristov

This is Bulgaria's entry for Best International Film at this year's Academy Awards. It is a timely and timeless film that shares surface similarities to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and Ghost Dog in that Fear features a blunt older woman and two people who communicate despite having no common language.

Fear is timely because the current Ukrainian migrant crisis demonstrates racist hypocrisy by many European nations, both western and eastern. 

Countries that claimed to be full and that were trying to stop further refugees, deport current ones, or become so unwelcoming that present refugees would leave on their own have behaved much differently with white Christian Ukrainian refugees, welcoming them with open arms. 

Even poor "white" nations with no history of slavery or colonialism still have many people with racist contempt for non-whites, especially Blacks. Fear is timeless because it illuminates humanity's good and bad sides while challenging us to do better.

The director created this story when he was ashamed of himself for displaying disdain towards refugees.

Fear isn't a comedy but has some comedic elements. I imagine you'd get more of the humor if you spoke Bulgarian. I relied on subtitles. An unsmiling Bulgarian widow of a certain age, Svetla (Svetlana Yancheva), lives alone and apparently unhappily in a coastal Bulgarian town.

Svetla's lonely and afraid. A former teacher, Svetla lost her job when the school closed. Svetla regularly rides her bicycle to the store where she purchases items on credit. 

During these outings men of a similar age to Svetla flirt with her. These include the stocky Army garrison leader Bochev (Stoyan Bochev), who is direct but polite and the smarmy local tycoon Ivan (Ivan Savov) who is crude, rude, and far less respectful. But Svetla's not feeling either man, especially not Ivan.

While Svetla is hunting rabbits she encounters the African refugee Bamba (Michael Fleming), a young Malian doctor who has lost his family in war. Bamba is travelling to Germany.

Bamba speaks English. Svetla only speaks Bulgarian. 

Svetla is scared of Bamba; she marches him at gunpoint to the Army HQ. But the local garrison is away rounding up Afghani and Syrian refugees. The local TV reporter cajoles Bochev to describe his work as dangerous; Bochev refuses. The cowardly Mayor Slavka (Kristina Yaneva) has no solutions. When Bochev returns he won't take Bamba because his facilities are full. 

Svetla takes Bamba home, feeds him and then keeps him outside or in the cellar. Bamba shows his appreciation by fixing some things. Bamba doesn't leave. Svetla slowly and haltingly starts to warm up to Bamba, allowing him to sleep in the house.

The townspeople, especially Ivan, are scandalized by these developments. People assume the worst of Bamba, even when Bamba saves a life. 

Bamba's presence brings out the town's racism, xenophobia, and hatreds. 

When Bamba says hello he's met with silence or monkey jokes. The locals, men and women alike, are incensed that Bamba and Svetla are living together, perhaps with all that that term implies. At first Bamba doesn't know what people are saying but obviously Svetla does. Svetla's not a woman who takes any s**t from anyone. Things spiral.

Fear shows how a direct line runs from racist jokes to hate speech to worse actions. Fear also shows how much people have in common and how certain human needs and desires are apparent to us regardless of our culture or language.  This was a good movie. It is however, focused on Svetla's growth, not Bamba's.

The cinematography is stark black and white. This helps bring across the harshness of the surroundings and nastiness of the town's residents. As mentioned, the humor is present in the oddest moments, such as when a child who speaks imperfect English tries to translate the Mayor's flowery insincerities to stoic refugees. TRAILER