The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)

An Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud that finds Nik becoming the prime target and his sister, Rudina, forced to leave school in order to take over the family business

Director:

Joshua Marston

Writers:

Joshua Marston, Andamion Murataj

Stars:

Tristan Halilaj, Refet Abazi, Sindi Lacej

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tristan Halilaj	...	Nik
Refet Abazi	...	Mark
Zana Hasaj	...	Bardha
Erjon Mani	...	Tom
Luan Jaha	...	Zef
Çun Lajçi	...	Ded (as Çun Lajçi)
Veton Osmani	...	Sokol
Zefir 'Bep' Bushati	...	Valmir
Selman Lokaj	...	Kreshnik
Kol Zefi	...	Shpend
Sindi Lacej	...	Rudina
Ilire Vinca Celaj	...	Drita
Esmeralda Gjonlulaj	...	Bora
Elsajed Tallalli	...	Dren
Ibrahim Ymeri	...	School Director

Storyline

This film's center is a family in Albania. The main characters are Rudina, the oldest daughter, and Nik, the oldest son. Both have a pretty normal life. Rudina is an A-student in high-school and Nik very popular. He just fell in love with one of his fellow students. Their father earns the families income with a little bread delivery service. For that he uses a short cut through the neighbours ground, but the neighbour doesn't necessarily like that. But the ground had actually belonged to Rudina's and Nik's family once. One day the conflict escalates and the neighbour gets killed by Rudina's and Nik's father and their uncle. Because only their uncle gets caught by the police and their father is able to hide, the old law of blood feud is against the family. They cannot leave their house. Only the women of the family are allowed to leave the house. So Rudina has to quit school and continue the bread delivery service of the father, so the family can survive. The situation is tense as ...

---

Plot Keywords:

blood feud | murder | father son relationship | brother sister relationship | vendetta | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA Albania Denmark Italy

Language:

Albanian

Release Date:

17 September 2011 (Albania)

Also Known As:

Falja e gjakut

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$26,724 (USA) (24 February 2012)

Gross:

$119,683 (USA) (6 April 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sundance Selects, Fandango, Portobello Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Një Bardhoke"
Written by Rifat Zymberi
Performed by Rifat Zymberi

User Reviews

A film of great humanity

Belgian playwright and poet Maurice Maeterlinck said, "At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past." As demonstrated in Joshua Marston's second feature, The Forgiveness of Blood, customs, traditions, dogmas, and deeply embedded ways of thinking that were once pertinent can become irrelevant and even damaging with the passing of time. An example is the Albanian Kanun law, an uncodified collection of customs and rules perpetuated by word of mouth since the fifteenth century. Incongruously existing side by side with high-definition TV, Facebook, cell phones, and texting, these traditions are anathema to the lives of many young Albanians.

As the film opens, an ancient horse-drawn cart plods its way along a narrow road surrounded by a broad expanse of open fields. On land previously owned by his grandfather, the driver Mark (Reft Abazi) and his teenage son Nik (Tristan Halilaj), a senior in high school, use the road to earn their living selling bread. Resentful and jealous, Sokol (Vetan Osmani), the current owner of the land, creates obstacles to the father and son accompanied by growing threats. The deep-seated antagonism rooted in years of jealousy and animosity is revealed at the local pub when insults are exchanged that stop short of violence. When Sokol closes the road, however, to Mark's cart and threatens him with a knife in the presence of his adolescent daughter Rudina ((Sindi Lacej), Mark returns with his brother (Luan Jaha) and Sokol is stabbed to death in a murder that takes place off-camera.

The brother is arrested and sent to jail for eighteen years, while Mark, accused of complicity in Sokol's murder, goes into hiding. One of the unwritten laws is the stricture that, in the case of blood feuds or other crimes between neighbors, an entire family must suffer the consequences of the crime even if only one member is guilty of the offense and that the family of the deceased can extract retribution by killing a male member of the guilty clan. The blood feud and the application of the Kanun law hits hardest on the two older children as well as young Dren. Rudina, who has dreams of going to university, is forced to leave school to take over father's business of delivering bread which she expands to include other items.

Nik, however, whose ambition includes wanting to open an Internet café, is chained to the home possibly for a long period of time, afraid to venture out for fear of retribution. The Forgiveness of Blood is not only a story about a conflict between past and present, but an exploration of the inner lives of people in a culture that we in the West are hardly even aware of. As in Marston's 2004 acclaimed Maria Full of Grace, his latest film is filled with a powerful authenticity racked with unnerving tension that tells a potent story of unfulfilled hopes and dreams. Immersing himself in the culture, Marston interviewed families living in isolation as mandated by the Kanun law, and shows events as they unfold without judgment or evaluation. With local first-time actors, Lacej and Halilaj giving nuanced and convincing performances, the result is a film of great humanity.