Cannes

Snow

Snijeg (Bosnia-Herzegovina-Germany-France)

By JORDAN MINTZER

'Snow' depicts the daily hardships of a war-torn Bosnian village where all that remains are widows and their memories.

A Pyramide Distribution release (in France) of a Mamafilm (Bosnia-Herzegovina)/Rohfilm (Germany)/Les Films de l'Apres-Midi (France) production. (International sales: Pyramide Intl., Paris.) Produced by Elma Tataragic, Benny Drechsel, Karsten Stoeter, Francois d'Artemare.
Directed by Aida Begic. Screenplay, Begic, Elma Tataragic.
 
With: Zana Marjanovic, Jasna Ornela Bery, Sadzida Setic, Vesna Masic, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, Irena Malamuhic, Jelena Kordic, Alma Terzic, Muhamed Hadzovic, Jasmin Geljo, Dejan Spasic.
(Serbo-Croatian dialogue)

 

A polished but often tedious outing that may leave some auds cold, "Snow" depicts the daily hardships of a war-torn Bosnian village where all that remains are widows and their memories. Debut feature by writer-helmer Aida Begic offers up female insights and a local point of view on the (literal) no man's land left by the mid-'90s conflict. Yet strong performances and craftsmanship cannot save a paper-thin narrative that plays like heavy-handed Abbas Kiarostami without the Iranian auteur's poetic virtuosity. B.O. potential looks to be on the cool side, with possible flurries in fests and arthouses.

In the isolated village of Slavno, several women who lost their husbands during the 1992-95 Bosnian War are making the best out of hand-to-mouth existences. With few ties to the outside world or access to modern equipment, they hold their own by farming what's needed to survive the long mountain winters.

Yet young Alma (Zana Marjanovic) has a different idea: After a truck driver (Muhamed Hadzovic) smashes into her roadside fruit-preserves stand, she strikes up a plan to sell her jams throughout the country and in Europe, which should provide support for the rest of the village. Her neighbors, meanwhile, seem to have other worries as they try to cope with the deaths of their husbands and children, whose bodies have never been retrieved.

Pic's first half plays out episodically, with snippets of the daily grind (farming, washing, eating, etc.) mixed in with subtle hints of past massacres. Dialogue is kept to a minimum, as the rule in the village seems to be to never speak about what happened, at least directly.

Story picks up slightly when two conniving real-estate developers (Jasmin Geljo, Dejan Spasic) show up to buy out the whole village, forcing the women to confront both past and future. Although most of the villagers opt to sell, a harsh winter storm leaves the salesmen stranded in town, and their link to the war and local killings brings out the ugly truth behind the disappearances.

Restraining her direction to reveal the mundane loneliness of the isolated protags, Begic -- whose short "First Death Experience" was in Cannes' 2002 Official Selection -- offers up little in terms of narrative pull, although she gets steady perfs out of her strong femme cast. Never seen and hardly discussed, the war nonetheless remains the film's true lead character, and perhaps Begic could have given it more frontal treatment.

Tech side is very accomplished, with lush lensing and colorful yet realistic set design. Editing could be better paced, and some trimming earlier on could help move things ahead to more narrative-driven closing reels.

Camera (color), Erol Zubcevic; editor, Miralem Zubcevic; music, Igor Camo; production designer, Vedran Hrustanovic; costume designer, Sanja Dzeba; sound (Dolby Digital), Frank Bubenzer. Reviewed at Cinematheque Francaise, Paris, May 7, 2008. (In Cannes Film Festival -- Critics' Week.) Running time: 104 MIN.