Senki (2007)

Director:

Milcho Manchevski

Writer:

Milcho Manchevski (writer)

Release Date:

4 September 2008 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes the dead speak louder than the living

Plot:

The son of a reputable physician struggles to live up to other people's expectations of him. |

Plot Keywords:

Family Relationships | Feet | Unfaithfulness | Doctor | Blood

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Borce Nacev	...	Dr Lazar Perkov
Vesna Stanojevska	...	Menka
Sabina Ajrula	...	Dr. Vera Perkova (as Sabina Ajrula-Tozija)
Salaetin Bilal	...	Gerasim
Ratka Radmanovic	...	Kalina
Filareta Atanasova	...	Gordana
Dime Ilijev	...	Ignjat Perkov
Petar Mircevski	...	Blagojce
Vladimir Jacev	...	Siskin
Goce Vlahov	...	Professor Kokale
Ana Kostovska	...	Radmila
Zaklina Stefkovska	...	Paca
Izabela Novotni	...	Izabela
Ilko Stefanovski	...	Dr Karpuzovski
Vanja Radmilovic	...	Ivana

Also Known As:

Shadows (International: English title) (USA) (new title)
Bones (Germany) (TV title)

Runtime:

Canada:120 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:130 min

Country:

Republic of Macedonia | Germany | Italy | Bulgaria | Spain

Language:

Macedonian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A | Singapore:R21 | Mexico:B15

Filming Locations:

Ohrid, Macedonia

Company:

Blue Eyes Fiction

Trivia:

Macedonia's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Not seen to today

Today evening I watched the Shadows, the third movie of Milcho Manchevski. I believe the title of the movie should be Ghosts rather than Shadows. Even tough I expect it to be a movie about everyday life it turned out to be a horror movie. I believe this is the best Machevski movie so far and it definitely deserves to be at least nominated for Oskar, in the foreign movie category.

In this movie Manchevski uses the same rationality cliché as in his previous movies. However, in Senki this rationality is more stressed which gives good contrasts in the movie. To illustrate this I shall use some scenes from the movie, since I believe that many of you are familiar with them. Manchevski involves the contrasts between the rational and free, the moral and immoral, the individual and the collective, love and hate. The moral and rational win in the end. In a somewhat subconscious way Manchevski stipulates that the possibility of the origin of all the unhappiness lies behind the disobeying of the moral standards and rules. This can be seen in the beginning of the movie, before the doctor's traffic accident, when the doctor drove after having a fight with his wife, who, on the other hand behaved badly towards her child. She was smoking in front of him and even let the child light her cigarette. In the movie we can see various examples of breaking the moral standards. The doctor aimed to respect the morality, even throwing the money amounting to few thousand Euros because they were given to him as a bribe. He did this to respect one of the Ten Commandments – do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. He didn't want to steal and he was ready to help people even in the case of the old lady, that he took to the hospital. In other cases other doctors would say – I would not bother with her, she is old anyway. Doctor Lazar didn't want to commit adultery as an individual whereas everybody around him did. And, finally when he fulfills the task for the mother – the duty given by the church, to bury the bones or else the ghosts would not have peace. Now, a question arises as to where does this sense of morality arise in today's times of high immorality, when the world is in a chaotic state due to sins. Does this glimpse of moral value erupt only at unique individuals who remain heroes in comparison to the other immoral people. Is the source of sin in the fantasies – as in the lesbian scene between the doctor's wife and Menka? It seems like Manchevski subconsciously suggests that this could indeed be the source of all evil.

In conclusion, I believe that Manchevski would like to send a message through this movie that we should act humane and according to the moral standards for this world to become a better place