The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2008)

The story of Alex, who, with the help of his charismatic grandfather, Bai Dan, embarks on a journey in search of his real self.

Director:

Stephan Komandarev

Writers:

Yurii Dachev (screenplay), Stephan Komandarev (screenplay)

Stars:

Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic, Carlo Ljubek, Hristo Mutafchiev

9 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic	...	Bai Dan (as Miki Manojlovic)
Carlo Ljubek	...	Alexander 'Sashko' Georgiev
Hristo Mutafchiev	...	Vasil 'Vasko' Georgiev
Ana Papadopulu	...	Yana Georgieva
Lyudmila Cheshmedzhieva	...	Baba Sladka
Nikolai Urumov	...	State Security Agent
Blagovest Mutafchiev	...	Alexander 'Sashko' Georgiev as child
Vasil Vasilev-Zueka	...	Ivo Chikagoto
Dorka Gryllus	...	Maria
Heinz-Josef Braun	...	Dr. Schreiber (as Heinz Josef Braun)
Erden Alkan	...	Turk
Pavel Popandov	...	Cafe owner
Georgi Kadurin	...	Sforza
Stefan Valdobrev	...	Stoyan
Alexander Doynov	...	Backgammon player

Storyline

What's in a game? For a young man, who has left his country behind, lost his memory and forgotten his love, the game might be the only way out. This is a story about a Bulgarian boy who grows up to be a German man. After a car accident Alex can't remember even what his name is. In an attempt to cure him from amnesia, his grandfather Bai Dan comes over to Germany and organizes a spiritual journey for his grandson back into his past, to the country where he came from. In changing places, time and transport, crossing half Europe, they play backgammon, the simplest, and yet the most complex of all games. That game leads Alex to the realizations of who he is, and that game is symbolic to the story. Destiny is the dice we hold in our own hands and life is a game on the edge between chance and skill.

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Plot Keywords:

amnesia | dice | car accident | backgammon | bulgaria | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site (Bulgarian, Slovenian, English) Official site [France]

Country:

Bulgaria Germany Slovenia Hungary Serbia

Language:

Bulgarian German Italian Slovenian English Hungarian

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (Bulgaria)

Also Known As:

The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner

Filming Locations:

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

RFF International, Pallas Film, Vertigo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Official submission of Bulgaria for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010.

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Goofs

It's very unlikely that both cables to brake the bike would break away at once.

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Connections

Referenced in Estrenos Críticos: Harry Potter y las Pelis que no conocía ni Dios (2011)

User Reviews

Good movie with consistent story

I went to the theater with low expectations of another boring post-totalitarian Bulgarian movie and was pleasantly surprised - it had an actual story which was told consistently, the characters were lively, there were no irritating protracted shots in silence (trademark to many, many other Bulgarian movies) and the dialogue was real. While based on a novel the movie elegantly manages to stay focused and the plot is not overstretched.

Things I didn't like: the one-sided densely evil picture of the totalitarian oppressors that rendered them preposterously inhuman, the clichéd camera (e.g. yellowish retrospectives, rotation around characters while they played backgammon) and superfluous didacticism in some scenes.

All in all it's worth watching, but eight years of script rewriting could yield a bit better result.