I was a bit numb after watching the film. The film I believe was about relationships and how important that is to these people. Relationships bring them hope in a world where hope seems to be getting harder and harder to find. To someone like me that isn't familiar with the Kurds and their life in Armenia, this film gave subtle glimpses of their quite contented past. Their lavish wallpapers, the few tasteful furniture that are left, the wall rug, the richly painted or wallpapered interiors of their houses, their clothes - these all point to a recent past where life was not as hard as it is in the present. Little by little, the director tried to give us an insight to these people's lives, at the same time making us feel how difficult it was to share this with us how hard it was to communicate this visually without making us feel like we're watching a melodrama and take pity on such a proud people. Surrealism and humor was his tools and I believe he made good use of them the guy on horseback snatching our attention away from certain scenes, the comic skits, a photograph changing its face, a floating piano, the director snaps you out of that heavy feeling building inside you with these tools, only to fill you up again
snap
fill
snap. And in the end, you only feel numb because of the emotional roller coaster ride but feel pity? No.
The story revolves around this village where life got harder and harder as the days went by. The days slowly becomes unbearable to the point that those that can, went out to look for greener pastures bringing with them their family's remaining glimmer of hope. Those left behind that looked to them for hope only learned that those in the outside couldn't offer them anything to make their lives any easier. When all they needed was a little financial help, they were given more complications and uncertainties, even gave them a glimpse of political problems from their native homeland to which they have been long disinterested and detached from.
Everything in the village is slowly crumbling and you can actually see the wallpaper chipping off, the cracks and the stains on the walls, furniture that had seen better days and there was even that sidecar motorcycle that just died on its own and after a few minutes, mysteriously came back to life again. Everything was deteriorating even the resolve and values of the characters themselves. As they get more hopeless by the day, they slowly sell things that they hold dear, their heirloom, their memories even themselves. If they're not doing that, they're trying to get something from each other by dangling false hopes.
They are stuck in an eternal winter. They are trapped in a small village surrounded by snow-covered mountains and the only road leading out of that place leads to "Vodka Lemon" a booze stop, where you get a swig, forget your problems and head on right back to the village in a seemingly eternal loop of being knocked into reality and being zapped into a booze-induced stupor. In between these two points is a cemetery where fittingly, men who are half awake and half dreaming spend time talking to the dead relatives whose faces are stuck in a perpetual scowl. The other end of the long road leads to a dead end, a place where despite its affluence people from the village couldn't get anything from unless they sell something precious to them - couldn't they get work there? An old beat-up bus plies this route and its driver is probably the only person not from that village that understands these people.
As the film progressed, we see that the snow slowly melts and brown and green earth slowly peeks out of its white blanket spring is here, change is here. The landscape changes, but the characters situation never got any better; their hope actually seems like they are melting away with the snow and like a proverbial final nail to the coffin, Vodka Lemon closes down. The director offered us no assurance that the situation of those people would get better, he offered no solution nor resolution. He only pointed us to the people's culture and how that in itself makes for a good enough ending.
The filmmaker offered us not only glimpses of the people's culture, their marriage, their burial ceremonies, their music as well as the dynamics of their relationships, he also offered to those curious enough to search the internet, a bit of their history, telling us to find out why the years 1915 (genocide against the Armenians) and 1941 (end of the Armenian war) are important to them. He also showed how dependent these people have become of their Russian colonial masters and how lost they have become without them. He showed us how happy these people are despite their hopelessness. He also showed that despite their apparent dependence on money and material things, they still firmly hold on something a lot of rich people take for granted the value of family and relationships, even if it doesn't give much of a solution to the problems they currently face.
The story revolves around this village where life got harder and harder as the days went by. The days slowly becomes unbearable to the point that those that can, went out to look for greener pastures bringing with them their family's remaining glimmer of hope. Those left behind that looked to them for hope only learned that those in the outside couldn't offer them anything to make their lives any easier. When all they needed was a little financial help, they were given more complications and uncertainties, even gave them a glimpse of political problems from their native homeland to which they have been long disinterested and detached from.
Everything in the village is slowly crumbling and you can actually see the wallpaper chipping off, the cracks and the stains on the walls, furniture that had seen better days and there was even that sidecar motorcycle that just died on its own and after a few minutes, mysteriously came back to life again. Everything was deteriorating even the resolve and values of the characters themselves. As they get more hopeless by the day, they slowly sell things that they hold dear, their heirloom, their memories even themselves. If they're not doing that, they're trying to get something from each other by dangling false hopes.
They are stuck in an eternal winter. They are trapped in a small village surrounded by snow-covered mountains and the only road leading out of that place leads to "Vodka Lemon" a booze stop, where you get a swig, forget your problems and head on right back to the village in a seemingly eternal loop of being knocked into reality and being zapped into a booze-induced stupor. In between these two points is a cemetery where fittingly, men who are half awake and half dreaming spend time talking to the dead relatives whose faces are stuck in a perpetual scowl. The other end of the long road leads to a dead end, a place where despite its affluence people from the village couldn't get anything from unless they sell something precious to them - couldn't they get work there? An old beat-up bus plies this route and its driver is probably the only person not from that village that understands these people.
As the film progressed, we see that the snow slowly melts and brown and green earth slowly peeks out of its white blanket spring is here, change is here. The landscape changes, but the characters situation never got any better; their hope actually seems like they are melting away with the snow and like a proverbial final nail to the coffin, Vodka Lemon closes down. The director offered us no assurance that the situation of those people would get better, he offered no solution nor resolution. He only pointed us to the people's culture and how that in itself makes for a good enough ending.
The filmmaker offered us not only glimpses of the people's culture, their marriage, their burial ceremonies, their music as well as the dynamics of their relationships, he also offered to those curious enough to search the internet, a bit of their history, telling us to find out why the years 1915 (genocide against the Armenians) and 1941 (end of the Armenian war) are important to them. He also showed how dependent these people have become of their Russian colonial masters and how lost they have become without them. He showed us how happy these people are despite their hopelessness. He also showed that despite their apparent dependence on money and material things, they still firmly hold on something a lot of rich people take for granted the value of family and relationships, even if it doesn't give much of a solution to the problems they currently face.