Review of Vodka Lemon

Introduction

Hamo lives in Armenia. Every week he visits his wife in the cemetery and tells her the news. He has useless sons; one is in Paris and it looks like he will stay, the other is asking him for money and negotiating a bride price for his daughter. There seems to be no future for anyone. Hamo must sell his furniture to continue to eat. His son knows his own daughter will have a better life with her husband in Russia.

When Hamo meets up with Nina at the cemetery things start to look up. Despite the grinding poverty both of them have a little more to live for and the film is infused with a sense of optimism.

Yes, believe it or not this is a comedy.

The director is Hineer Saleem from Kurdistan. This film is about the Kurds in Armenia. he states in the documentary how he wants to film in his own country when he is able.

Video

Presented in widescreen the locations are remarkable. There is a great sense of space which reflects the empty heart of Armenia.

There are no problems with the picture.

Audio

The soundtrack including the funeral and wedding band is good without ever being intrusive.

There were no problems with the reproduction.

Features

This is a reasonably priced disc so I was suprised that there were any extras. However,a very good making of documentary, which lasts 42 minutes, is included which goes some way to explain the thought behind the film, the extreme weather conditions and how to get an old man to carry a wardrobe to market.

Conclusion

This is one of the most interesting and thought provoking films I have seen for some time. Quite simply it appears to be a comedy of live in the harsh post Soviet Armenia. But it also has a quite surreal edge and a long time after viewing images and scenes continued to replay in my mind. The opening scene has a man being towed on his bed to play music at a funeral; I did think for a moment I was in `Last of the Summer Wine` country.

These people are clinging to the wreckage in a country left behind by the new Russian State and it is both fascinating and worrying. In Armenia it appears the young have nothing to look forward to and the old have been abandoned. One son has already left the country, a daughter falls into prostitution, the other son exacts a bride price for his daughter from a prospective husband. The older people who have served their country exist at the lowest level. Hamo is a retired soldier reduced to selling off his uniform. Nina`s husband was killed(it is implied) in battle but she works in a road side drinks stall and has to rely on the goodwill of the bus driver to travel the bus for free.

Despite all this the film does have an optimistic tone and the moments of comedy make the film all the more effective. Filmed in real time the bleak mid-winter does eventually become spring and the final tone is uplifting rather than depressing.

I can`t pretend it has made me an expert on Kurd affairs but I think it has at least made me and other people aware of the situation and perhaps made us a little less dissatisfied with our own lives.

Oh, and you might want to wear your thermals whilst your watching it.