From Colombian drug-mules in debut Maria Full of Grace to Balkan blood feuds in The Forgiveness of Blood, American
director Joshua Marston again uses an outsider eye to mine drama from
unfamiliar circumstances. Set in northern Albania, early scenes show
rival families contesting land boundaries and bickering in bars, but
when their deep-rooted dispute spills over into murder, the relatives of
the man responsible are forced into hiding lest the male members be
targeted in retaliatory violence.
Largely told from the perspective of two teens caught in the crossfire, Forgiveness…
is an intelligent, emotionally-nuanced work. While the diktats of the
Kanun (traditional Albanian laws predicated on honour and kinship) are
integral to the plot and only gradually explained, Marston and Andamion
Murataj’s script is always comprehensible, with emphasis placed on
universal feelings of adolescent frustration rather than judicial
minutiae. As the siblings weather a conflict that predates them by
generations, their claustrophobic limbo builds into a satisfyingly open
ending.
Out 10th August
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