Monday, July 23, 2007

Iska's Journey


Iska's Journey by Hungarian director Csaba Bollock plays in the Contemporary World Cinema program.

In her dirt-poor village in the Zsil River valley, Iska, 12 years old, works in terrible conditions scavenging metal, coal and anything else of value from the rubble. When she returns home penniless after daring to dicker with a buyer, her resourcefulness is rewarded with a sound beating. Deciding she's better off on her own, Iska leaves home and begins to drift, soon finding herself ensnared in an orphanage system. There she is interrogated for possible signs of physical abuse by her parents, she replies: "They don’t beat me every day". She then sets out on her first voyage from her small town to the Black Sea, where she becomes the victim of human trafficking, meeting on her path other children in the same situation yet determined to escape their harsh destiny.


Sounds like it will be very much a downer film, but one that might be powerful. Seems to fall in the vein of the great 'Lilya-4-ever."

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