This film is an Albanian film that talks about life in a village school in a Communist country. The teachers were suppressed by the Party officials. If the Party officials did not like a teacher, then the teachers and their class of children would have to build longer slogans on the mountain using stones. Also it talked about the poverty of the villagers, that they have no money to replace torn clothing or worn out shoes. Another thing it talked about is that, if you have another political idea other than the Party officials' ideas, then you would be punished very heavily.
For the first time, I see what Albania is like. For me, Albania is very mysterious, because it was closed to the outside world completely until a few yeas ago. From this film, I understand that Albania is still underdeveloped, and the villagers are quite poor and unhappy.
I would like to elaborate on the political surveillance and punishment that the villagers received (Possible spoilers). There was a little boy, about 6 or 7 years old, who had to give a short political talk about the world's political climate. He said that China is a revisionist country, instead of a Socialist country, by mistake. He immediately corrected his mistake and apologised. However, on the following day this incident reached the Party officials, and the boy was detained for interrogation. The Party officials asked him who taught him that China is revisionist. The boy and his class teacher both insisted that it was only a careless and unintentional mistake. However, the Party officials were very convinced that the incident was a planned and vicious attack on Communism. The boy's father was arrested for sabotaging the stone slogans in the mountains (a crime that he never committed), and for "teaching" the little boy such ideas. He was sent to do hard labour. A teacher who defended the boy's father during a village meeting was accused of not being loyal to the Communist party, and was labelled "a danger to the people". He was sentenced to do 6 months of hard labour. As the story unveiled I became very upset. I simply cannot imagine what life is like under this environment. I imagine that, these people are living in terror every day. They do not dare to speak with other people, for fear that they will say something wrong and will be accused of some crimes.
However, this film may be exaggerating the situation, and may have dramatised the events. I enjoyed this film a lot, even though I was disturbed by the story. I hope what happened in the film is not reality.
For the first time, I see what Albania is like. For me, Albania is very mysterious, because it was closed to the outside world completely until a few yeas ago. From this film, I understand that Albania is still underdeveloped, and the villagers are quite poor and unhappy.
I would like to elaborate on the political surveillance and punishment that the villagers received (Possible spoilers). There was a little boy, about 6 or 7 years old, who had to give a short political talk about the world's political climate. He said that China is a revisionist country, instead of a Socialist country, by mistake. He immediately corrected his mistake and apologised. However, on the following day this incident reached the Party officials, and the boy was detained for interrogation. The Party officials asked him who taught him that China is revisionist. The boy and his class teacher both insisted that it was only a careless and unintentional mistake. However, the Party officials were very convinced that the incident was a planned and vicious attack on Communism. The boy's father was arrested for sabotaging the stone slogans in the mountains (a crime that he never committed), and for "teaching" the little boy such ideas. He was sent to do hard labour. A teacher who defended the boy's father during a village meeting was accused of not being loyal to the Communist party, and was labelled "a danger to the people". He was sentenced to do 6 months of hard labour. As the story unveiled I became very upset. I simply cannot imagine what life is like under this environment. I imagine that, these people are living in terror every day. They do not dare to speak with other people, for fear that they will say something wrong and will be accused of some crimes.
However, this film may be exaggerating the situation, and may have dramatised the events. I enjoyed this film a lot, even though I was disturbed by the story. I hope what happened in the film is not reality.