Film Review
Georgian filmmaker Gela Babluani made an explosive debut with this gruesome but thoroughly
compelling existential thriller - a film that made such a mark that soon after its release
Babluani was given the contract to direct the Hollywood remake.
Entitled simply
13, the American remake stars Sam Riley and Alice Barrett and
was released in 2010. Babluani's younger brother George plays
the lead role in the original film, an acting debut that is every
bit as impressive as that of the director.
The most familiar face in the cast is Aurélien Recoing, known for
his sombre appearances in such films as
L'Emploi du temps (2001)
and
L'Ennemi naturel (2004).
In case you were wondering, Tzameti is the Georgian word for 13 - lucky for some.
The first twenty minutes or so of
13 Tzameti may cause you to think this
is going to be an ordinary, old-fashioned kind of French thriller, the black-and-white
photography lending a Nouvelle Vague gloss to a démodé policier. However,
appearance can be very deceptive, and after a slow, almost formulaic, start, the film
soon becomes something very different - an intense Kafka-esque thriller which veers into
some very dark and dangerous places.
This is certainly not a film for the squeamish
(and the reason it's shot in black and white readily becomes apparent). In fact,
it's doubtful whether anyone would have the guts to sit through it more than once.
Like most extreme experiences (bungee-jumping, climbing the North Face of the Eiger or
eating a bowl of Cheerios), it's the kind of thing you would only ever want to do once
- but it's probably an experience worth having, if you can afford the therapy afterwards.
Like any good horror film,
13 Tzameti
is a film that plays on our fascination with the morbid, and in a way that is disturbingly
direct. The spectator starts out as a voyeur but ultimately becomes complicit in
what is soon revealed to be the most sickeningly macabre game of chance. The film's
tight hold on its audience makes it easy to see how almost anyone might be corrupted by
exploitation entertainment of the kind we see before us. There's a good moral point
here - such entertainment exists only because there is a market for it. The true
villains are not the smart sickos who set the things up, but rather the dumb sickos who
are ready to hand over money simply to nurture the darker side of their souls. What
is so disturbing about this film is how plausible is the scenario that Babluani paints,
how plausible and how unavoidable.
Another social aspect the film touches
on is the exploitation of vulnerable poor people by the wealthy and morally deficient.
The grisly 'death game' we see in this film is just one notch up in the desperation stakes
from live organ donation or child pornography. Wherever there is some unfortunate
wretch in dire need of hard cash, there is someone prepared to hand over the money in
some morally dubious transaction. What the film says about our society, particularly
the way in which the wealthy West is ready to exploit the impoverished East, is both distressing
and chillingly accurate.
13 Tzameti is
impressive but it is not without a few defects. Some of the acting is amateurish,
some scenes are badly dubbed and one or two sequences having a clumsy parody feel about
them, undermining the realism and the tension. However, this is really just nit-picking
- these flaws can easily be attributed to inexperience and a low budget. In his
first full length film, Gela Babluani demonstrates that he is a director with great talent
and imagination and is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects. With limited resources,
he skilfully appropriates the elements of film noir and uses them in a modern context
to devastating effect, creating a film that is not just stylish, poignant and absorbing,
but one that also broadcasts some unpalatable truths about the world we now live in.
© James Travers 2007
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