Venice Review: Victim (2022) | Raised on the movies
Some lies can cause a snowball effect and have an incredible impact on society. Moreover, in an increasingly polarized world, every piece of information or incident involves multiple actors who manipulate truth or lies to fit their own narrative. The tense social drama of Michal Blasko Victim (original title: ‘Obet’, 2022) shows how a caring mother is unwittingly caught up in a political brawl. Similar to the Romanian new wave cinema, director Blasko is looking for a touch of realism that draws on the aesthetics of documentary cinema. In fact, the visual approach does not draw attention to itself. The minimalist visual design instead pushes us to follow the kind-hearted but exhausted mother as she grapples with the various emotional, political and social dimensions of her problem.
Written by Jakub Medvecky, Victim is based on a real incident. However, director Blasko isn’t interested in making outright political drama. The story unfolds from the perspective of a single mother, Irina Zyrchenko (Vita Smachelyuk). And the filmmaker simply observes the points where the individual – his morality and his conscience – is swept away by the larger socio-political problems. Interestingly, Victim opens with a scene that foreshadows how Irina will find herself caught in a situation beyond her control.
A bus broke down which could cause a 4-5 hour delay in reaching its destination. Irina anxiously takes her things out of the bus. She approaches each car stuck in traffic, asking if they could drive her to the Czech border town. She says her son is in hospital and needs to join him immediately. We do not see how she arrives at the hospital. But the opening scene of Victim establishes a temporary setback and Irina’s prowess in fighting her way to the son in order to protect him. Other reverses present themselves to her.
Irina’s son Igor (Gleb Kuchuk) has a head injury. The doctor’s initial report says he was assaulted. An investigator interrogates a dazed Igor. In response, the teenager whispers about three unknown attackers. The identity of Irina and Igor immediately evokes a lot of speculation regarding the assault. Irina and her son are Ukrainians living in the Czech Republic. She is a single mother, she works as a cleaning lady and plans to open a hair salon with a friend. His Czech citizenship was denied once due to a minor technicality. But Irina may soon get her citizenship, and she plans to settle in the country.
Irina was in Ukraine getting papers for her citizenship application when the incident happened. She left Igor alone in the apartment complex. The police and the media believe that social prejudice could be the motivation behind the crime. The mother and son would live in a bad neighborhood. Immediately, suspicion falls on the members of another minority community: the Roma or Roma (the pejorative term “Gypsies” is also used to address them). A Roma single mother lives in the apartment above Irina with her three sons. The woman’s eldest son is being held in connection with the case.
Igor is a competitive gymnast. But since he lost a kidney due to the injury, his dreams of becoming a gymnast are over. Subsequently, an activist named Michal Selsky, from the same neighborhood, meets Irina in the hospital. He subtly begs the mother to take this to the media. He strongly believes that the local police would not do the necessary when it comes to minority communities. Additionally, Michal launches a political campaign, using public anger to spread his outfit’s political agenda. On the other hand, the mayor of the city meets Irina and promises her money and other rewards if she remains silent. And that’s when Irina learns the devastating truth from Igor: it was just a stupid accident. The boy was just hanging from the handrail to show off to the girl he had a crush on. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell.
The authorities would give him hell if the stupid lie came out. On the other hand, news of Igor’s alleged assault causes political chaos in the small town. Irina is also troubled by her awareness that an innocent Roma boy – her neighbor’s son – is suffering inside the prison. Nevertheless, the main concern of the mother is to protect and save her son. Meanwhile, Irina becomes the target of unseen stalkers, who ring her doorbell in the middle of the night and smash her car windows.
Director Blasko and cinematographer Adam Mach opt for a darker setting, where handheld camera work is often paired with long static takes. Such a technique allows us to immerse ourselves in the scene with the characters, and to closely observe their feelings. Victim is structured in a way that progressively emphasizes behavioral responses to moral and sociopolitical issues in Europe today. The film never becomes overtly political. But Victim carefully shows how Irina – who never remains an active player in the narrative – is forced to carry the burden of things that were never in her control. She is already on the sidelines and what is more disturbing is that she is struggling with other victims of social prejudice.
Blasko and screenwriter Medvecky also give us plenty of room to understand Irina, even as she faces one moral dilemma after another. We witness several compassionate gestures from Irina. Yet, his fateful decision may eventually do more harm to his family as well as society as a whole. At the same time, given her position in society, does she have any other choice? Blasko could have ended Victim in a relatively sensational way. But the film ends with a quiet moment of pensive sadness. Irina has obtained the relevant papers which give her a new identity. However, now that Irina is part of a majority society, does that change anything? There is only a gnawing sense of emptiness, where there should be feelings of accomplishment.
Globally, Victim (91 minutes) is a vividly rendered, multi-layered social drama that uses a mother’s moral dilemma to address themes such as guilt, social discrimination and xenophobia.