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"In Vanda's Room," quite simply, a brilliant work, by Portuguese master

Posted by tinear on April 30, 2010 at 08:00:34:
Pedro Costa, which rightly places him in the Tarkovsky, Tarr group of excellence.
The most poverty ridden corner of Lisbon is being demolished to make way for redevelopment and the many squatters who huddle within the abandoned frames of the ancient homes slowly are driven away by the bulldozers.
But the lives of these people had been destroyed many years before. Though this is not a documentary, it is indistinguishable from one. The drug-addicted Vanda and her sister and criminal friends play out their days amidst the rubble and, though such a minute, almost analytical exposing of their lives might seem inescapably to be depressing and horrific, a miraculous and transformative experience occurs within the viewer. Just as those that survived the horrendous bombing attacks of WWII--- whether they were English or German--- drew forth both our pity and our admiration, so do these people who seem to be under continuous siege from a far more implacable enemy, their inner ghosts and a society which seems unaware of them.
This may be one of the most difficult films you will ever see but the rewards are great. Costa creates a film so subtle, so intelligent that it is religious.
This is a trilogy of the destruction of the Fontainhas neighborhood with many characters, such as the real life denizen Vanda, reappearing throughout.
There is no film director as courageous as Costa, showing a brutal, devastated humanity but one with human feeling, including love, still able to survive and flower.
This is art stripped of all non-essentials.