Kaja, ubit ću te!; art-film, Croatia, 1967; D: Vatroslav Mimica, S: Zaim Muzaferija, Uglješa Kojadinović, Antun Nalis, Jolanda Đačić, Izet Hajdarhožić, Husein Čokić, Vladimir Bačić, Boris Dvornik
Trogir. The walls of an old house collapse, a man is dancing and shouting. Fishes and Seahorses are swimming in the sea, the children are playing, but all of a sudden they start to fight. The sea stirs up, a storm is coming. Some youngsters, among them Piero Cotto, place an owl and wait for it to fly away, but the bird doesn't move. Meat is sold on the market and people are preparing to butcher some animals, while a passerby, Lovro, falls unconscious. The Italian Fascist occupiers show up and the town is split between their supporters and their opponents. Piero decides to support the Fascists, hunts for resistance members in town and destroys monuments with his colleagues. A gentleman, Tonko, wants to retrieve his confiscated olive oil, but is instead forced to drink two full glasses of castor oil by the Fascists. In the end, Piero kills Kaya, the owner of a store and resistance member.
"Kaya, I'll Kill You!", considered by some to be the creative highlight of director Vatroslav Mimica, is a bizarre, surreal, episodic and dreamlike art-drama without a real story, which will revolt the viewers used to clear plots, but those with an open mind, who like experimental films with abstract symbols, might even enjoy it. Even though the visual style is standard and the characters ended up like some puppets whose personality is not as important as the author's vision, and despite the fact that some messages are pretentious, there is some abstract quality in this unusual film. Some images are pure poetry, like flowers that grow on the wall or the storm on the sea (the symbol of World War II approaching), while completely allegorical is the insane scene where Fascist soldiers become mad and stab their knives into the wall or when they are bursting their heads through the portait of framed paintings. In one sequence near the opening act, in a religious ceremony, Tonko asks a man, Nikica, to decide whether he will chose heaven or hell after his death, and Nikica replies: "I choose the one who will give me two salty pilchard fishes!"—ironically, Nikica is later seen wearing black uniform and participating with other Fascist soldiers. Obviously, this story about the apparition of evil among the innocent citizens, embodied in militant, violent Fascist occupiers is powerful and contemplative meditation on the division in society during crisis, even though the film is somewhat cold, arbitrary, vague and incomplete.
Grade:++
Trogir. The walls of an old house collapse, a man is dancing and shouting. Fishes and Seahorses are swimming in the sea, the children are playing, but all of a sudden they start to fight. The sea stirs up, a storm is coming. Some youngsters, among them Piero Cotto, place an owl and wait for it to fly away, but the bird doesn't move. Meat is sold on the market and people are preparing to butcher some animals, while a passerby, Lovro, falls unconscious. The Italian Fascist occupiers show up and the town is split between their supporters and their opponents. Piero decides to support the Fascists, hunts for resistance members in town and destroys monuments with his colleagues. A gentleman, Tonko, wants to retrieve his confiscated olive oil, but is instead forced to drink two full glasses of castor oil by the Fascists. In the end, Piero kills Kaya, the owner of a store and resistance member.
"Kaya, I'll Kill You!", considered by some to be the creative highlight of director Vatroslav Mimica, is a bizarre, surreal, episodic and dreamlike art-drama without a real story, which will revolt the viewers used to clear plots, but those with an open mind, who like experimental films with abstract symbols, might even enjoy it. Even though the visual style is standard and the characters ended up like some puppets whose personality is not as important as the author's vision, and despite the fact that some messages are pretentious, there is some abstract quality in this unusual film. Some images are pure poetry, like flowers that grow on the wall or the storm on the sea (the symbol of World War II approaching), while completely allegorical is the insane scene where Fascist soldiers become mad and stab their knives into the wall or when they are bursting their heads through the portait of framed paintings. In one sequence near the opening act, in a religious ceremony, Tonko asks a man, Nikica, to decide whether he will chose heaven or hell after his death, and Nikica replies: "I choose the one who will give me two salty pilchard fishes!"—ironically, Nikica is later seen wearing black uniform and participating with other Fascist soldiers. Obviously, this story about the apparition of evil among the innocent citizens, embodied in militant, violent Fascist occupiers is powerful and contemplative meditation on the division in society during crisis, even though the film is somewhat cold, arbitrary, vague and incomplete.
Grade:++
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