DAYS OF CROATIAN CINEMA 2002

Documentary Film: Does Quantity translate into Quality?

Considering the number of documentary films screened, and the number of entries (67 entries, 33 screened), Croatian documentary production seems to be very much alive and kicking, moreover, per capita production surpassed that of the Indian film industry. In view of this, one wonders whether the old Marxist saying that quantity makes quality still stands, or in other words, was the quantity large enough to produce some praiseworthy quality. Although tempted to give a negative answer, I must observe that the Days of Croatian film have offered a number of really successful documentaries; a number significant enough to set in motion the law of large numbers.

The films that were screened could roughly be divided in three categories: films with social issues, poetical-essayistic, and ’happily balanced’. Several films were strongly politically and socially colored (Amarcord, 1991-2001; Pavillion 22; Bitter Dreams) with a strong theme and a firm attitude, but lacked structure, and were of small aesthetic relevance. As opposed to these, there were films that were keener on creating an authentic setting instead of mirroring the author’s attitude. There was a Day, The Forgotten and Gold Diggers from the End of the World closely fit the label poetic or essayistic documentary. The third, rather versatile group included social, psychological, even reportage works, some of them more relevant than others, although they were all much behind the middle poetic group. We may conclude that, on the whole, Croatian documentary presents a solid and quite decent part of Croatian film production, although not very innovative.

Bruno Kragić