It's summer break in Slovenia,
and three college students decide to get away from it all on a canoe trip down
the Kolpa River, which separates Slovenia from Croatia. Alja (Tanja Potocnik),
Simona (Iva Krajnc) and Zana (Pia Zemljic) are all happy to just float away and
sunbathe topless. It turns out to be a trip about crossing many different
borders. Alja deals with pressures to be "normal" by marrying and having
children. The naive Simona seems obsessed with finding a fairytale man, but is
confronted by men in a different way when they visit a house on the Croatian side
of the river. Their hosts are a gay couple, and she disapproves. She's also horrified
when she sees Zana and Alja kissing. Zana is looking for love and pursues Alja
throughout the trip. Issues of nationality, tradition, urban versus rural
"family" values, as well as sexism and homophobia are confronted as
they are caught crossing the border illegally and then find themselves in a village
of people much more aggressively traditional than their young, urban selves. When
they are pursued by would be rapists, everything turns even darker. Simona
escapes into a fantasy world as she rejects her friends' more modern values. Zana
and Alja finally make love, but it's unclear if Alja is interested in the relationship
Zana craves. This is the first Slovenian feature film directed by a woman
(Maja Weiss). I have a feeling that many of the cultural references were lost
on me, as the fantasy sequences were confusing. The political and social issues
are quite fascinating though. |