Import Export Movie Download

9 / 10

A great, disturbing film!
Import/Export is not a film one recommends easily. It is a great film but it is not one to look at casually. The director Ulrich Seidl already has a reputation for drastic dialog and acting in his films. He started with documentaries and this is always apparent in his consequent films. The atmosphere is often unbearably realistic, many of his actors deliver so convincing performances that one thinks they must have been brought in from the street. They are not though. This, combined with simple framing leads to the strong documentary impression.

In this film the focus is on two story lines which move in opposite directions. On starts in the Ukrainia and moves to Vienna, Austria and the other starts in Vienna and ends in Ukrainia. Both show a harsh life with violence and humiliation and sexual exploitation. While viewing this film I often wanted to look away or close my eyes as to protect my soul from the terrible experiences, the two protagonists are facing in very different ways. The moments of violence, humiliation and sexuality, although shorter then in his earlier films, are shown in a very graphic way, and stay in your mind long after the picture is over. Maybe you will never forget them.

In this, the film has some parallels to Lukas Moodysons “Lilja 4-ever” which also makes you forget that it is a work of fiction you are watching. Moodyson concentrates himself completely on the tragic story of the main character’s exploitation through the economic system and the resulting criminality in eastern Europe, plus the demand for sex without love in the western world and it”s tragic consequences for your unprotected girls.

Seidl, on the other hand, chooses a young but grown up woman and mother in Ukrainia, a trained nurse, who can’t make a living by working in a hospital and is forced to work as a porn model in from of an internet camera. Then she leaves for Vienna to work there in various unpleasant jobs.

In the second storyline Seidl shows a young man from Vienna, trying unsuccessful to hold a job and always on the run from people he borrowed money from. He joins his stepfather on his trip through eastern Europe, delivering game automates and the like. They are both frustrated by their poor outlook of their future, and although they don’t like each other, they both concur in spending their money easily on booze and women which they like to intimidate and humiliate.

The film has some rare comic moments, but often scenes open on a funny note but then change fast into something that makes you choke on your own laughter. All in all a great, disturbing film!Read More