User Reviews

This film is very interesting for someone is not familiar with old and current immigration laws' fluctuations and amendments in Eastern Europe. The film describes so well how a naive immigrant apparently from Turkey or Bulgaria (in the movie he's referred as "gypsy" later on his name is presumably known) eagerly wants or just needs to head to Germany. He even keeps Deutsche marks rather than Euros in a plastic bag plus local phone numbers there in Germany. This German wish, need or dream seems to keep him alive during his eventual trip without visa across Romania, Hungary, etc.. This guy finds a Romanian man (Nelu) who reacts as actually human being rather than such an immigrant-hunter when he sees the "gypsy" asking for something. Nelu then tries to understand the foreign language of this strange guy he finds by the river while fishing. Overall, the posture of some of the Romanian border patrol agents are also randomly tolerant towards the people crossing their border... either there're still not strong regulations or, in that Romania it is just about the start of a strict migratory law or, the town where this "gypsy" guy is found is just too small that no one really cares about being so strict. Something strikes me about this movie is how naive and actually very fine the people mostly are. Although Nelu uses the money the gypsy gave him, Nelu using it for his own benefit doesn't seem to exploit or to be rude with this new man in Nelu's farm. The gypsy guy happens to be hard-working man, keeping that German wish he's got as a hope, the reason to be diligent and helpful with those are being supportive with them. He follows instructions even though he doesn't understand the language. He only needs to go to Germany somehow; I'm not sure he knows there're borders between his start point to his dreamy final destination, that you may need visas and stuff to touch the country he dreams of... did he know? didn't he know? was he by chance one of those truly naive guys needed to do something without the intention of breaking the law on purpose?

This could be a story about any border. One of those instances when human decency is maintained underground, DESPITE the law, and the law becomes absurd. Nice line: "Da' ce v-o făcut omu' ăsta vouă?" ("What has this man done to you?")

The frontier police (and customs) officers are at times apathetic about the whole business, yet clearly eager to exert their "power" to avoid endangering their position or whatever they want to believe their role is (the opening scene with the fish at the customs is beautiful).

This film also tries to keep the local dialect/communicative style authentic, and the lead actor does a great job at it - a nice touch.

It's only now that I had the opportunity to see Marian Crisan's 'Morgen', a movie made in 2010. It's a film about a Turkish migrant trying to make his way to Germany, the story happening a decade ago. At that time the problem of migrants in Europe existed but was far from the proportions it would reach a few years later. The political reactions that were to shake the entire political system within and between the countries of Europe were not yet visible. But something was preparing, cooking on low fire, as they say. 'Morgen' captures exactly that stage and is an interesting film from a documentary and human point of view, maybe one of the first films to tackle this issue in European cinema.

The story in the film takes place in Salonta, a small city in the border area between Romania and Hungary, near a the sleepy border crossing where Romanian and Hungarian customs officers share the same booth. It is, however, still the European Union's border, which the Turk migrant Behran (Yilmaz Yalçin) cannot cross on his way to the Germany where he is supposed to reunite with his family. He finds refuge in the house of Nelu (András Hatházi), a security guard at a local supermarket. The film deals with the confused world of the Eastern Europe, for which the end of communism meant a freedom that people do not know how to use, while the economic situation has remained rather precarious. A strange relationship forms between the two men. Mistrust and prejudice are amplified by communication difficulties due to the language barrier. The Romanian assumes some risks of sheltering an illegal migrant and helping him to continue his journey in a Europe still divide for foreigners. However, he can not do otherwise, as he would violate a deeper and more powerful human code, older than laws and borders.

The story is simple up to the point that it seems linear and rather idealized. Still, the film manages to impress because of the performances of the two actors in the main roles and of the realism with which it describes the world in which the action takes place, its geographic and human landscape. It feels like we are more in the Balkans than in Europe, in a world where the law is not fully respected, but the prejudices are also not taken until their tragic conclusion. The cinematographic style belongs to the minimalist style of the Romanian 'New Wave', although the technical conditions of the film remind more the Romanian films of the last century - the image is not of the best quality, the sound sometimes makes the dialogs hard to understand even for a native Romanian speaker. However, the human message of the film remains actual today, when in Europe the physical walls and the walls of prejudice not only that they did not disappear but they became even higher.