Latvian Neorealism in the Films of Laila Pakalniņa

Home , Iranian New Wave, Italian neorealism, Neorealism (art), Poetic realism, Slice of life

BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE Article Alternative Networks of Globalisation: Latvian Neorealism in the Films of Laila Pakalniņa

KLĀRA BRŪVERIS, University of New South Wales, Australia; email: [email protected]

38 DOI: 10.1515/bsmr-2017-0003 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE ABSTRACT This paper examines the development of neorealist tendencies in the oeuvre of contemporary Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalnina. Her work is positioned within the global dissemination of cinematic neorealism, and its local manifestations, which, it is argued, develop in specific national contexts in reaction to dramatic societal and political changes. Pakalniņa’s films are examined as a documentation of the change from a communist satellite state to an independent democratic, capitalist country. Heavily influenced by the Riga School of Poetic Documentary, a movement in Latvian cinema that adhered to the conventions of poetic documentary filmmaking, the article analyses how her films replicate and further develop the stylistic and aesthetic devices of the Italian neorealists and the succeeding cinematic new waves. In doing so the argument is put forth that Pakalnina has developed neorealism Latvian style.

Due to their size, small nations do not pos- grassroots globalisation is also occurring in sess the economic or political capital to Latvia. More specifically, the Latvian direc- participate in dominant networks of globali- tor Laila Pakalniņa is participating in an sation, which serve the interests of larger, alternative network of cinema globalisation wealthier nations that use global networks by re-appropriating the stylistic and aes- for political or financial gain (Hjort, Petrie thetic tropes of Italian neorealism, which 2007: 8). Thus, small nations and the film- positions her work as part of a broader makers in small nations are often part of global trend in art cinema. This trend is what Arjun Appadurai has called ‘grassroots one of ‘new waves’. James Tweedie main- globalisation’ or ‘globalisation from below’ tains that the new waves, which started (Appadurai 2000: 3). Grassroots globalisa- to develop in different national cinemas tion contests the hierarchical nature of glo- after World War II, engage with, and further balisation that benefits only those who can develop, the tropes of Italian neorealism. participate in or drive neoliberal capitalist Tweedie contends that starting with the free trade. It develops an understanding French New Wave, these art cinemas have or theory of globalisation ‘on behalf of the created what he calls a ‘cinematic network poor’; of social mobilisation and knowledge with a global reach beyond the obvious transfer outside the global processes of example of Hollywood and its worldwide the corporate capitalist and nation-state distribution system’ (Tweedie 2013: 24). system that benefit the wealthy (Appadurai It is the grassroots movement of cinematic 2000: 3). globalisation. Latvia lacks political and financial This paper examines Laila Pakalniņa’s capital and so it is not surprising that films and argues that they should be viewed

39 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE as part of this alternative film community. chini and Sklar emphasise a global neoreal- This is due to her development of a neore- ist style that often evades definition. Never- alist style specific to the Latvian context. theless, a common denominator appears in Pakalniņa uses an alternative global cinema the publications on cinematic neorealism. network to disseminate stories of the Lat- This is the grassroots nature of the style in vian experience to audiences outside of the its many manifestations. A brief examina- domestic market, through films such asThe tion of Italian neorealism, the progenitor Shoe (Kurpe, Latvia/Germany/France, 1998) of this style, highlights the development of and Pizzas (Picas, Latvia, 2012), which have this grassroots quality or characteristic. travelled to numerous international film Italian neorealism is generally consid- festivals. Pakalniņa employs well-known ered to be a post-World War II phenomenon. aesthetics often associated with Italian Its development is attributed to the new neorealism and the successive new waves, generation of filmmakers, such as Vitto- thereby becoming part of a larger pattern rio De Sica and Federico Fellini, who were of alternative global filmmaking. However, eager to depict reality and reveal unmasked before acknowledging Pakalniņa’s work as truths. As Lino Micciché asserts neoreal- part of this alternative global cinematic ten- ism was a shared ethical position for these dency, it is necessary to further formulate young Italian directors (Micciché 2002 in what constitutes this grassroots network. Giovacchini, Sklar 2012: 5). They contested the institutionalisation of cinema by Mus- PAKALNIŅA AND THE solini and the Fascist government in Italy, GRASSROOTS GLOBAL CINEMA which used cinema as a propaganda tool Numerous scholars, such as Saverio during the 1930s and early 1940s (Eades Giovacchini and Robert Sklar (2012), Hamid 2012). Instead, De Sica, Fellini and other Naficy (2012), Laura E. Ruberto and Kristi neorealist directors used cinema to rep- M. Wilson (2007), have argued that the re- resent the ‘brutality of war and its conse- appropriation of the stylistics and themes of quences’ (Eades 2012: 114). As Mira Liehm Italian neorealism constitutes a global style states it was a ‘moral weapon aimed at or global network of alternative cinema. Gio- the artistic conventions of the past’ vacchini and Sklar contend that neorealism (Liehm 1984 in Učník 2007: 54). has become a ‘citizen of the world’ owing to The Italian neorealists reacted against its expropriation by different national cin- local artistic conventions and commercial emas (Giovacchini, Sklar 2012: 11). Naficy Italian films, as well as the glamour of Hol- points out that the conventions of neoreal- lywood (Ruberto, Wilson 2007: 7). Hollywood ism have become predominant in various films were seen as hiding the realities of national cinemas during periods of social ravaged post-war Europe and glossing over and political turmoil (Naficy 2012: 232). the uneven socioeconomic development According to Ruberto and Wilson, neoreal- of a newly modernised Italy (Tweedie 2013: ism provides an aesthetic framework that 11). In opposition to Hollywood and the is an alternative to the Hollywood imports conventions of local commercial cinema that dominate the exhibition market in most the Italian neorealists examined the reper- national cinemas. Tweedie claims that the cussions of World War II and the changing various cinematic new waves, many of which nature of Italian society, with particular base their stylistics on the conventions of focus on the experiences of the underprivi- neorealism, should not be viewed as ‘iso- leged. Whether reacting against the institu- lated events but as a series of interlaced tional propaganda of Italian cinema or the moments’ (Tweedie 2013: 3). glamour of Hollywood films that depicted a The aforementioned scholars agree reality very different from their own socio- that neorealism has been absorbed into dif- political context, their main purpose was to ferent national cinemas with varying results reveal the real and to make people reflect (Giovacchini, Sklar 2012). However Giovac- on reality (Učník 2007: 59–60).

40 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE In order to ensure that their techniques that are both entertaining audiences engaged with the social prob- and innovative. lems they depicted in their films the Ital- The deployment of neorealism as a ian neorealists took inspiration from the protest against the ‘artistic conventions of poetic realist experiments of the 1930s. the past’ plays out on both local and global As Luca Caminati argues, the popularity of levels. Tweedie insists that cinematic new Griersonian narrative documentaries such waves should be seen as developing from a as Nanook of the North (USA/France, 1922, need to account for globalisation. Most new directed by Robert J. Flaherty) and Tabu: wave filmmakers depict and document the A Story of the South Seas (USA, 1931, changing political, social, cultural and phys- F. W. Murnau) were influential in the devel- ical landscapes of their nations, which are opment of neorealism in Italy after World brought about by increasing global flows War II (Caminati 2012: 58). In turn, docu- of culture and capital (Tweedie 2013: 6). mentary stylistics came to constitute the Tweedie elaborates, stating, ‘[e]ach of these Italian neorealist style (Učník 2007: 56). cinemas is discovered by an international Neorealist directors often employed non- film circuit at the same time that a domes- professional actors and filmed on location. tic economic revolution signals the society’s Furthermore, the plots of their films were engagement with an emerging system of often loosely structured, open-ended and global markets’ (Tweedie 2013: 18). focused on portraying ‘slice of life scenes’, This is further explained through a where the director depicted ‘contemporary brief examination of the French New Wave. true-to-life subjects’ (Sadoul 1966 in Naficy Directors such as François Truffaut and 2012: 226) completing menial and quotidian Jean-Luc Godard were committed to docu- tasks (Neupert 2007: 60). The protagonists menting Paris as it experienced its ‘second were often members of the working class massive modernisation’ (Tweedie 2013: 18). and used vernacular dialogue (Sadoul This involved unprecedented urbanisation 1966 in Naficy 2012: 226). Most importantly and the emergence of an American-style the films implied social criticism (ibid.). consumer culture obsessed with images New wave cinematic movements such and material products (Tweedie 2013: 47). as the French New Wave, Iranian New Wave In other words, they used their films to and Czech New Wave re-appropriate the document and to account for the change in documentary style of the Italian neoreal- French society brought about by globalisa- ists for their own grassroots purposes. As tion. Ruberto and Wilson contend, the neorealist Tweedie suggests that the new waves style continues to be attractive to new wave did not and do not merely account for glo- directors who seek to respond to the domi- balisation, but are also part of, or partici- nant artistic conventions that aim to cloak pate in, the creation of globalisation; an socio-political issues and present a roman- alternative globalisation. The new waves, ticised image of the world. Neorealism is he states, are part of a historical search appealing because it inspires ‘politicized, for a universal cinematic language. When ideological, and aesthetic alternatives cinema first appeared, critics envisaged it to Hollywood narrative tendencies, while would surpass the problems of literature by simultaneously accomplishing the task creating a global visual language (Tweedie of entertaining’ (Ruberto, Wilson 2007: 10). 2013: 9). Tweedie points out that this search Similarly to the Italian neorealists who for the ‘cinematic tower of Babel’ was not were inspired by the poetic realism of successful until after World War II when a docufiction from the 1930s, contemporary ‘burgeoning art house and film festival cir- manifestations of neorealism occur when cuit developed into one of the major sites a director or directors wish to depict for [an] alternative conception of cinematic reality or confront their audience with globalisation’ (Tweedie 2013: 10). Lubica social issues, using stylistic and aesthetic Učník expands Tweedie’s argument stating

41 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE that the constant re-appropriation of neo- alism in its many manifestations is often realism by various cinematic new waves has irreconcilable with Italian neorealism as it formed ‘a constant return of the repressed’ converges with ‘local cinematic, political, (Učník 2007: 55). This further supports the and intellectual traditions’ (Ruberto, Wil- idea that the new waves constitute a grass- son 2014: 4). What remains consistent is roots cinematic network, where filmmakers the engagement with the everyday and the can achieve global reach even when they driving motivation to examine the question lack the social and economic capital to par- ‘what is reality?’ (Učník 2007: 61).1 ticipate in the mainstream film exhibition Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalniņa also networks dominated by Hollywood films. attempts to engage her audience with real- The French New Wave of the 1950s ity. Her films, as īL va Pētersone explains, and 1960s first popularised the Italian neo- encourage audience members to experi- realist documentary aesthetic as an alter- ence ‘real time’ and observe ‘the most quo- native cinematic language to Hollywood. tidian actions in our lives’ (Pētersone 2012). Various scholars have highlighted the simi- She works in opposition to the ‘classical larities between Italian neorealism and the (Hollywood) style’ (Rietuma 2012: 37), and French New Wave, including Tweedie, Caro- also in opposition to the dominant artistic line Eades and Richard Neupert. The French conventions of Latvian cinema, such as New Wave, similarly to the Italian neoreal- Andrejs Ēķis’ and Aigars Grauba’s national ists, tried to capture the reality of post-war ‘blockbusters’ that attempt to emulate France. The new wave directors existed in Hollywood conventions. Unlike many con- a rapidly changing landscape where, as temporary Latvian filmmakers, Pakalniņa is mentioned earlier, the modernisation of not interested in presenting romanticised France led to drastic urbanisation and the images of the past, but rather, she uses her emergence of an obsessive consumer cul- films to explore the ‘subtle and complicated ture (Tweedie 2013: 47). They focused not ways’ in which the shift from Soviet rule to so much on narrative, but pursuant to the an independent democratic and capital- neorealist tradition, were engrossed with ist nation has affected and is affecting the capturing the modernisation of France by everyday man (Vītols 2012: 332). concentrating on ‘slice of life’ scenes and The stylistics that she employs to trying to achieve the greatest verisimilitude. examine ‘reality’ arguably classify her films They also filmed on location and employed as part of the global neorealist style. Inga non-professional actors (Tweedie 2013: Pērkone contends that her films should be 26–27). understood as a continuation of what she Tweedie asserts that the ‘new waves’ calls the modernist poetics of the French are part of a larger alternative network New Wave and Italian neorealism, particu- of cinematic globalisation, but that local larly in regards to her engagement with experience is still very important. The Italian loose and open-ended narrative structures neorealists and French New Wave directors (Pērkone 2013: 95). Maruta Vītols states were primarily interested in recording the ‘particularities of a unique local experi- 1 It is important to highlight that this paper is not ence’ (Tweedie 2013: 18), i.e. how post-World endorsing a centre–periphery approach to the examination of alternative film movements across War II modernisation was affecting the the globe. The Italian neorealists themselves were landscapes and social practices of their highly influenced by Grierson, who in turn was influenced by Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov. nation. While the characteristics of, and However, historically the term ‘new wave’ was first used motivations behind, the new waves are for the French New Wave and its progenitor Italian neorealism, which is one reason for using these cinema similar, their content is uniquely different. styles to mark the beginning of the new wave As Tweedie states, ‘particular regions expe- movements. In fact highlighting the similarities between the various new waves across both the rience their own dynamics of power and East and West hinders the development of a resistance’ (Tweedie 2013: 8). In a similar dichotomous framework, suggesting that cultural norms between the regions are not as divergent as vein Ruberto and Wilson argue that neore- some might think.

42 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE that Pakalniņa’s treatment of landscapes is tary was a movement that formed in the similar to that of Italian neorealist Michel- 1960s during the thaw in the Soviet Union angelo Antonioni (Vītols 2010: 36), because when Griersonian cinema was becom- a celebration of the mundane and an ing popular. It should be no surprise that emphasis on the beauty that lies in the quo- a movement formed in Latvia during this tidian is central to Pakalniņa’s oeuvre (Vītols time that emulated the motivations and 2013: 93). This is highlighted through a simi- stylistic techniques of Grierson, and his lar engagement with ‘slice of life’ scenes stylistic successors, the French New Wave and the use of non-professional actors. and the Italian neorealists. As Vītols points Pētersone (2012) also points out Pakalniņa’s out the Riga School of Poetic Documentary dominant use of static long shots, further ‘provided audiences with films focused aligning her work with Italian neorealist on artistic expression ... that encouraged conventions. metaphoric readings, frequently suggest- Pakalniņa’s neorealist style devel- ing a subversive critique of the totalitarian oped during her time at the All-Union State regime’ (Vītols 2012: 328). Pētersone sup- Institute of Cinematography (Всесоюзный ports Vītols’ argument stating that their goal государственный институт кинематографии, was to film ordinary people with artistic VGIK) in Moscow. The Griersonian poetic poeticism (Pētersone 2012), similarly to the documentary tradition was highly valued lauded Griersonian tradition. in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. As Julia The White Bells (Baltie zvani, Latvia, Vassilieva states, Grierson re-entered 1961, directed by Ivars Kraulītis), the first Soviet cinematic culture during Khrush- film attributed to the Riga School of Poetic chev’s Thaw in the 1960s. After Stalin’s Documentary, exemplifies the combination death the USSR found itself with a new of documentary and fiction that defines leader, Nikita Khrushchev, whose cultural this movement. The short film is difficult to policies initially allowed for more artistic categorise. It follows the journey of a young innovation and national expression. During girl who is trying to find her favourite flow- Stalin’s reign of terror cinema took shape in ers, the white bells. The camera follows the form of state-endorsed propaganda, but her as she weaves through the streets of in this new cultural milieu filmmakers could Riga, overcoming various obstacles to find take more risks and push the boundaries her flowers. In the end she is successful, when it came to how life in the Soviet Union although this success seems to be only could be depicted onscreen. Soviet histo- temporary since, while crossing the street, rians emphasised the 1930s British poetic she drops her flowers, which are then documentary movement begun by Grierson almost flattened by a steamroller. Luck- as a style to emulate, due to its attention to ily, someone stops the roller and she runs social problems and its poetic treatment of across to pick up the flowers before the film human labour onscreen (Vassilieva 2014: ends. The narrative of the film is fictional, 38). Arguably, the popularisation of Grier- however, the girl in the film was not a pro- sonian filmmaking led to an interest in the fessional actress. (Figure 1) Furthermore, Italian neorealists and French New Wave throughout the film the narrative of the girl who continued the tenets of the British is interrupted by long shots and extreme poetic documentary style. The ready access long shots of the city of Riga, which are not to these film styles informed the develop- staged but filmed on location.(Figure 2) ment of two key influences on Pakalniņa’s The white flowers are a metaphor for the own style. The first was Andrei Tarkovsky Latvian nation, arguably trying to be reu- (Auzāne 2012), who was heavily influenced nited with their rightful master, the Latvian by the Italian neorealists and the French people. The sequence with the steamroller New Wave (Redwood 2010: 21). The second is particularly important as it was meant to was the Riga School of Poetic Documentary. signify the strength of the Latvian people The Riga School of Poetic Documen- in the face of the Soviet occupation, sug-

43 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE gesting that their freedom would not be Her filmmaking career started in the throes squashed by the Soviet state, but would of the social and political upheaval in Lat- survive, and they would once again be an via, and this is what she ‘documents’ in her independent nation. While the girl’s search films. Latvia regained its independence for the white bells is fictional, the meta- from the Soviet Union in 1991 after the phorical narrative was arguably one based unstable and corrupt period of glasnost. in reality. This transition from the Soviet era to the Pakalniņa’s films are equally as dif- new capitalist economy had a profound ficult to categorise and are considered impact on the filmmaking system in Latvia. by scholars, such as Vītols (2012) and It was a period marked by uncertainty with Pētersone (2012), as being a continuation the privatisation of studios and decreased of the Riga School of Poetic Documentary state funding. This led to a great loss of jobs in the post-communist era. In fact her first in the industry, resulting in decreased pro- feature-length narrative filmThe Shoe is duction figures. often discussed by scholars in conjunc- This uncertainty was also evident in tion with her documentary films, due to her the social and political spheres in Latvia. use of location shooting, non-professional At first the collapse of the Soviet Union actors and an open-ended narrative struc- resulted in what Sigma Ankrava calls a ture that is formed around the depiction of state of euphoria (Ankrava 2004: 26). Many slice-of-life scenes. While her later fiction Latvians believed the problems of the Soviet films become more definitively fictive, -doc era would just disappear once independ- umentary stylistics are still central to her ence was regained. This state of euphoria work and are used to ‘provide social insight’ quickly turned into bitter disillusionment, (Pētersone 2012). as the legacy of the Soviet era continued to Thus it becomes clear that Pakalniņa’s create problems for the newly independent cinematic style shares many similarities nation. The 1990s were marked by instabil- with neorealism. Her motivation in produc- ity in the Latvian economy and politics, with ing films is to examine the post-Soviet widespread corruption as politicians and reality of the Latvian nation. To do this she businessmen exploited the new democratic employs techniques similar to those used capitalist system, driven by neoliberal val- by the Riga School of Poetic Documentary, ues. the French New Wave and the Italian neo- Furthermore, after independence was realists among others – all of whom are regained, the Latvian nation lacked a com- considered to be part of a global neoreal- mon goal or vision for its future develop- ist trend. It is also evident that Pakalniņa ment. The economic and political instability responds to a very specific socio-political manifested itself on the social level as well, milieu. The neorealist stylistics within her with public opinion divided in regard to films converges with national traditions and what an independent Latvia was and what discourses, to create what could ostensibly it meant to be Latvian. The collapse of the be called Latvian neorealism. In order to Soviet Union brought about the end of the understand how the documentary stylistics grand Soviet narrative of Socialist Realism, of this global style intersects with local con- and consequently, the post-Soviet states cerns, it is first necessary to gain a deeper were thrown into a nascent state of being. understanding of the socio-political context The Soviet narrative for each individual to which Pakalniņa is responding. nation and the Soviet Union as a whole, which had dictated the understanding THE TRANSITION FROM of self for over 60 years, dissolved. At the SOVIET TO GLOBAL LATVIA same time it was impossible to return to the Pakalniņa graduated from the VGIK in 1991; homogenous and nationalistic narratives of however, she had already begun experi- the nation from the past, such as agrarian menting with filmmaking in the late 1980s. nationalism, since Latvia’s increasing par-

44 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

FIGURE 1. The amateur actress searching for the white bells. FIGURE 2. Documentary footage of Riga from The White Bells.

45 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE ticipation in global networks complicated Soviet to a democratic and capitalist state. a simplistic ethnocentric understanding of Similarly to the Italian neorealists and the the nation. As Gerard Delanty points out, French New Wave, she is not interested in states become post-sovereign in a globally creating films based on a fictional world, connected world, complicating a return to which gloss over the social problems and a hermetic national identity (Delanty 2009: changes occurring in her society, instead 119). This period of transition was marked she contemplates the present. The neore- by uncertainty and confusion in regard to alist stylistics she employs differs slightly the development of a new Latvian identity from their manifestation in Italian or French for the re-independent nation. cinema, and is informed by the specific This confusion and insecurity led to transitional period to which Pakalniņa is the development of numerous competing responding. national narratives: the victimhood narrative; agrarian nationalism and liberal inter- Narratives and landscapes: nationalism. Ankrava argues that this led ambulatory cinema to the existence of a postcolonial syndrome The cinematic conventions of the new in Latvia which is manifested through a waves developed from a desire to capture profound identity crisis; a crisis that is the changing nature of society. To achieve aggravated by the ‘drastic changes in social this, new wave filmmakers focused on roles and identities’ in Latvia (Ankrava 2004: ‘documenting’ changing landscapes. The 26–27). Ankrava states that the post-Soviet loose and open-ended narratives of the identity crisis in Latvia is marked by the films were structured around seemingly unsuccessful transition from the Soviet random depictions of unrelated landscapes. communist system to a free and liberal To retain some narrative coherence, new capitalist market. The people of Latvia are wave filmmakers often wrote their films caught in limbo between the demeaning around a character’s journey through the past and the promised democratic and streets of specific locales. The directors of capitalist future. They are in-between, in the French New Wave, for example, ‘set their transit. This transition is evident on the protagonists loose’ on the streets of Paris, streets of Riga, where Soviet apartment where they collided and interacted with the buildings crumble alongside modern new ‘stuff that together constitutes the mise- luxury flats, and where advertisements for en-scène of Paris in the 1950s and 1960s’ the latest Gucci handbag or Mercedes car (Tweedie 2013: 88). The directors used char- sit amongst the relics of Soviet monuments acters as vehicles through which they could to the proletariat. navigate the city and document the changes This is the transition that Pakalniņa occurring in Paris due to the modernisa- documents in her films. Her earlier work tion of post-war France (Tweedie 2013: 91). was marked by a critique of the Soviet past Tweedie argues that the new wave cinemas (Vītols 2010: 38). However, as the euphoria are, therefore, ‘ambulatory’. in the newly sovereign nation started to This same ‘ambulatory’ quality is also dissipate, exacerbated by increased global visible in Pakalniņa’s films. īV tols points flows of culture and capital, the national out that Pakalniņa pays little attention to identity crisis moved to the fore of public ‘conventional patterns of the classic narra- discussion and her films began to contend tive’ (Vītols 2010: 37). Landscapes are often with the everyday political reality in a tran- the focus of her films. Vītols further asserts sitional Latvia (Vītols 2010: 38). that the ‘life of the spaces [in her films] assumes precedence over the humans that DOCUMENTING inhabit these landscapes’ (Vītols 2010: 36). THE TRANSITION Pakalniņa disregards the demands of nar- Pakalniņa ‘documents’ and examines the rative, remaining devoted to documentary confusion inherent in the transition from a stylistics that capture moments of change

46 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE in Riga and Latvia. In her earlier work she ‘dissidents’ and ensure that people lived uses this ambulatory structure to focus on their lives according to party rules. Through- the way the Latvian landscape was changed out the Soviet era people were brutally by the Soviet invasion, which the analysis of oppressed as a result of their ideological The Shoe will demonstrate. In her later work differences (Currie 1998: 81). In contem- this same ambulatory structure is used to porary Latvian fiction Marcel Cornis-Pope examine the increasing influence of con- identifies a lack of linear narrative, replaced sumer culture on the nation, exemplified by instead by open-ended and disjunctive an analysis of Pizzas. texts (Cornis-Pope 2012: 152). He sees this The Shoe is based on a true story told as a reaction to the grand and linear Soviet to Pakalniņa by her mother. Her mother narrative forced on the Latvian nation dur- lived in the military port town of Liepaja on ing its occupation. These open-ended and the west coast of Latvia in the 1950s. Every disjunctive texts highlight the ‘unstable day the military would rake the sand of the nature of self and identity as something beach. If anyone tried to escape from the in the “making” rather than as something Soviet Union, or enter it as a spy, their foot- given’ (Cornis-Pope 2012: 152). Argu- prints would disrupt the raked sand, and ably, this lack of narrative conclusion also the border guards would be alerted. At that reflects the transition Latvia is undergoing time, Liepaja was one of the most western in which, to date, the consequences of the points of the Soviet Union and one of the past and the direction of the nation’s future most important military bases. One day the development are unknown and unclear. It is patrol found footprints coming out of the important to note that this is similar to the water but no footprints entering the sea. Italian neorealists who experimented with The military went on a hunt around the town narrative structure in opposition to fascist to find the supposed spy; however, they propaganda. could not find him or her. This was because The film’s plot is structured simply a young woman had walked backwards into around the soldiers’ journey throughout the water to swim and then carefully fol- Liepaja in search of the ‘spy’. The camera lowed her footsteps back through the sand follows them as they walk through the to the shore.2 streets of Liepaja, often at an amble, their The film was inspired by this local tale, path interrupted and changed by interac- and uses it to emphasise the absurdity of tions with the townspeople and the build- the Soviet state’s paranoia, as well as to ings. The soldiers’ interaction with the mock the ineptitude of the state’s security townsfolk and the landscape is shown to be protocols. Young soldiers are ordered to find clumsy and unnatural. The locals are sus- the culprit who has left her shoe behind on picious of the soldiers and their presence the beach. In the tradition of postmodern disrupts the peace and natural rhythms of pastiche, the soldiers embark on a Cin- the landscape. derella mission. The film does not have a The disruptive role of the Soviet sol- narrative resolution, nor does the narrative diers is established in the first moments of develop in the course of the film. the film. The film opens with a long shot of The loose narrative structure of the the beach at Liepaja. (Figure 3) The scene film can be understood as a reaction is peaceful; the only audible sounds come against the restrictions of the Soviet Union. from the waves lapping up on the shore. The Mark Currie argues that narrative linear- sun is slowly rising over the horizon. This is ity is a way of repressing difference. Soviet a typical cinematic moment in Pakalniņa’s propaganda films, which dominated Soviet oeuvre. Then suddenly three soldiers and a screens, presented a very particular nar- dog interrupt the peaceful scene, disturbing rative of the state that aimed to repress the pristine sand. (Figure 4) The sonically peaceful atmosphere is shattered by the 2 Author’s interview with Laila Pakalniņa (21 June 2013). piercing sound of a whistle. As the scene

47 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

FIGURE 3. The beach in The Shoe before the soldiers arrive. FIGURE 4. The soldiers disrupt the peace of the space.

48 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

FIGURE 5. The Cinderella story turns into a grotesque nightmare. FIGURE 6. Pakalniņa visually represents the rejection of the Soviet past.

49 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE unfolds, more and more army personal and Suddenly the three soldiers burst into the vehicles arrive on the beach, until the land- frame, grabbing the woman and forcing her scape Pakalniņa presented in the open- to try on the shoe they found on the beach. ing moments is almost unrecognisable. She screams and kicks, afraid of what they Pakalniņa is apparently commenting on the want from her. The soldiers hold her down, forceful and unnatural nature of the Soviet and force the shoe upon her foot – the story occupation, showing the landscape as pure of Cinderella turns into a grotesque night- and unharmed before the Soviet soldiers mare. (Figure 5) invaded the space. Sometimes the soldiers are met with Similar disruptive moments are inter- resistance while they disrupt the daily lives spersed throughout the film, as the soldiers of the townspeople. This is most vividly continue on their journey through Liepaja. depicted when the soldiers interrupt an Most of the scenes in the film begin with old lady sweeping the street outside her the camera focused on a particular part house. The soldiers ask if she has seen a of the town’s landscape; similarly to the strange woman around town. The woman opening scene, this landscape is peaceful completely ignores the soldiers. Pakalniņa and quiet. Suddenly the soldiers appear powerfully depicts this refusal by directing in the frame imposing themselves on the the attention of the audience to the wom- area, changing the landscape visually, sonian’s back. The soldiers remain off screen cally and atmospherically. For example, as they question the woman. The audience Pakalniņa frames a deserted garden at the is shown a medium close-up of the lower back of a brick house; again the only audible neck and upper back of the woman sweep- sounds are those natural to the scene, birds ing the streets. Pakalniņa seems to be chirping, the wind rustling amongst the long directing the audience to take note of the blades of grass. All of a sudden the heavy refusal, emphasising that this is an impor- sounds of army boots interrupt this silence tant moment. It is as if Pakalniņa is bluntly and the figures of the three soldiers sully showing the nation ‘turning its back’ on its the brick façade of the house. In yet another Soviet past. (Figure 6) scene a cobblestone street is filmed from a The Shoe can be seen to document the high angle. Traditional wooden houses sit on profound impact that the Soviet invasion either side of the street. The scene is peace- and occupation had on Latvia. While the ful, with a young woman leisurely riding her film is fictional and the ‘slice of life’ scenes bicycle down the street. All of a sudden an are scripted, there are elements of the film army truck comes roaring past, once again that seem to uphold neorealist documen- shattering the peaceful atmosphere and tary stylistics. This is true of the landscape changing what Vītols calls ‘the life of the scenes, which are shot on location and spaces’ (Vītols 2010: 36). have not been manipulated by including As the soldiers walk and drive through artificial sets. Furthermore, the people in the various landscapes of Liepaja, they con- the ‘slice of life’ scenes are not professional tinue to disrupt the daily lives of the town’s actors. This is a common characteristic of inhabitants. It is important to highlight that Pakalniņa’s films. As īV tols states, ‘amateur all the townspeople are depicted in ‘slice actors ... move through [her] cinematic of life’ scenes similar to those employed by spaces ... [in] a quasi-documentary frame- the Italian neorealists. Pakalniņa diverges work’ (Vītols 2010: 38). It should be under- slightly from the neorealist tradition by stood that Liepaja represents a microcosm constantly interrupting these menial and of Latvia in the film. The soldiers are used quotidian activities with the violence of the by Pakalniņa as metaphors for the disrup- soldiers, a metaphor for the violence of the tive nature of the Soviet occupation, which Soviet invasion. A woman, for example, is not only changed the nature of society but standing at her kitchen sink with her back also changed Latvian landscapes. This is towards the camera, framed in a long shot. facilitated by the ambulatory structure of

50 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

FIGURE 7. A woman stretches at the Zvejniekciems station in a vignette from Pizzas. FIGURE 8. The wedding party demands ice cream from the pizza boys.

51 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE the film, which follows the journey of the A train slowly travels through the station soldiers throughout the city depicting their and blocks the girl from view. As the train interaction with the landscapes and people leaves the station the girl has disappeared. they come across. This moment is beyond the ‘narrative’ of In her later films Pakalniņa employs the film, isolated in its own randomness. It the same ambulatory structure to examine is unclear why this moment appears in the the impact that the new capitalist social film as no context is provided. The inter- order has had on the Latvian landscape and ruption of the narrative by the slice of life the behaviour of the Latvian people. In Piz- scenes again demonstrates how Pakalniņa zas, for example, the structure of the film is re-appropriates this neorealist stylistic based on the journey of two pizza boys who technique in order to highlight the specific travel through the Latvian countryside and experience of the Latvian nation. The inter- come across various ‘slice of life’ scenes. ruption of the boys’ journey by the slice of Instead of using them to comment on the life vignettes conceivably mirrors the con- impact that the Soviet invasion had on the tinual occupation of the Latvian nation by Latvian landscape, this time she uses them greater European powers. The confusion to comment on the increasing development which Pakalniņa creates in her audience by of a consumer society in Latvia. inserting these random scenes can be seen Pizzas, similarly to The Shoe, is based to mirror the confusion felt by the Latvian on a true story that Pakalniņa came across people when their nation was inexplicably in a newspaper. Two young men working at occupied by Russia, Poland, Germany etc. a fast-food pizza place get drunk during Pizzas is one of Pakalniņa’s latest their shift and decide to steal some money films, so she is also commenting on the from the cash register. A woman who works unrelenting nature of consumer culture, with them sees them steal the money. In the which has become increasingly prominent absence of the manager, she writes a note in Latvia since independence was regained documenting what she saw and places it in in 1991. Today, the cityscape of Riga is the safe so that the boys cannot destroy it. punctuated by advertisements for con- The boys desperately try to open the safe sumer goods. More and more global fashion but can’t, so they steal the safe and drive companies are opening stores in newly away. Soon they realise that they are in the built American-style shopping malls. Their pizza company’s truck, with the logo plas- appearance in Riga reflects the consumer- tered all over it. They decide to steal another driven culture that is continually developing car and make for the border. and becoming increasingly noticeable in In the film the two boys are from Latvia Latvia. This drive for consumption and how and they flee to Estonia. Along the way they it has changed the nation is displayed in drift into, or past, various vignettes, such the vignettes. In one vignette, for example, as a wedding party trapped in the rain and the boys are stopped by a wedding party. desperate for ice cream; a young boy who is It is night time and rain is falling heavily, lost in the forest whom they mistake for a but the wedding party crowds around the gnome; and two old ladies that need a light pizza truck making incessant demands bulb replaced. The film has a very loose nar- for ice cream. (Figure 8) It is almost as if rative thread and these vignettes disrupt the advertising on the side of the pizza van the representation of their escape journey has put them into a trance causing them and make the film very fragmentary. to become animalistic in their desire to get For example, seventeen minutes into the product that is being sold. The fact that the film, the boys have already embarked it is a wedding party that is demanding the on their journey. A tracking shot follows the ice cream is significant, as it arguably con- pizza van driving down a highway. All of a trasts traditional values against those of a sudden the camera cuts to a girl stretching capitalist consumer culture. In this scene at the Zvejniekciems train station. (Figure 7) Pakalniņa seems to suggest that the values

52 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE of consumer culture have won. receive more attention than the mise-en- Similarly to directors from other new scène or the soundscape. For Pakalniņa, it waves, Pakalniņa structures her films is not important that the audience experi- through her characters’ journeys. These ences the same emotions as the charac- journeys are not full of adventure, and do ters, or empathises with them, but that not follow a conventional narrative struc- the audience is drawn into the world of the ture, they are ambulatory. This allows her film through the characters seen onscreen. to combine otherwise seemingly unrelated Atmosphere is of utmost importance to ‘slice of life’ scenes that ‘document’ chang- her and her characters are simply there to ing landscapes. These slice of life scenes allow the audience to enter the world of the are either interrupted, as in The Shoe, or film and experience the cinematographic are interruptive, as in Pizzas. This places a atmosphere which has been created.3 As specific national twist on what is arguably Vītols was quoted above, ‘the life of the a common stylistic in the global neorealist spaces themselves assumes precedence style, leading to the particular manifesta- over the humans that inhabit these land- tion of a neorealism specific to Latvia, built scapes’ (Vītols 2010: 36). on a narrative of continual occupation. Pakalniņa’s incomplete and fragmentary characters also arguably reflect the Decentred subjects ruptured national psyche. It is possible Another changing element of contemporary to maintain that her characters provide a Latvian society that Pakalniņa aims to ‘doc- commentary on the transition between a ument’ is the confused and conflicted state socialist state and a sovereign democratic of the Latvian psyche, which, as argued and capitalist nation, and the effect it has earlier, is in a state of in-between-ness. had on the Latvian population. This frag- The characters in Pakalniņa’s films cannot mentation is most evident in the protago- be understood, she does not establish a nists of Pizzas. First of all, only parts of the back story for them. In The Shoe, while the two actors playing the pizza boys are shown motivation for the soldiers’ search through on screen, rarely does the audience see the town is presented to the audience, the their entire bodies. The opening sequence audience are not allowed to connect with is a good example. The scene takes place in them emotionally. All of Pakalniņa’s charac- the pizza parlour. The pizza boys are mak- ters are like that; they are characters that ing absurd pizzas with all sorts of objects do not develop and are almost two-dimen- – plastic cutlery, nuts and bolts, cardboard sional. This is apparently the result of using and bottle tops. It is obvious that they have characters merely as vehicles with which been drinking and they decide they need Pakalniņa navigates the changing land- more to drink, but don’t have any money to scapes of Latvia. Her characters are given a buy more alcohol. This is when the woman marginal role in the diegetic realm that she catches them stealing money from the till creates. and places a letter in the safe documenting In an interview with Pakalniņa, she what she has witnessed. This scene, as well admitted that she deliberately writes char- as the rest of the film, is filmed so that the acters that do not develop throughout the characters are almost always shown frag- film or form a connection with the audience. mentarily. (Figure 9) Rather her characters are part of a mosaic This sequence exemplifies the frag- that constitutes her films. They appear and mentary representation of the characters disappear without explanation or develop- in the film. If their entire body is depicted, ment. For Pakalniņa characters are like the it is usually shot from an extreme angle, or glue that holds the film’s elements together. in a position where the protagonists do not They are not the most important part of dominate the frame. Pakalniņa depicts the a film for her, just another element of the film’s whole that should not necessarily 3 Author’s interview with Laila Pakalniņa (21 June 2013).

53 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

54 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

FIGURE 9. This sequence demonstrates the fragmentary representation of Pakalniņa’s characters.

55 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE characters in a fragmented way, seemingly of many other scenes in which the boys are encouraging the audience to perceive the shown doing something that make no sense world in the film as fragmentary as well. in the context of the narrative, and no rea- The film seems as if it has been patched son is provided for their motivation. together, and the intimacy of the shots Pakalniņa’s characters are marginal- appears to force the fragmentation into the ised, as is often the case in other manifesta- mind of the audience. This makes it hard to tions of neorealist cinema, since filmmak- develop a complete picture of the charac- ers of various new waves tend to focus on ters, and they also come across as incom- social groups that are not represented in plete. mainstream cinema, both locally and glob- The boys from the pizza parlour are ally. Latvian film in general tends to repre- also represented as chaotic and frequently sent the ‘everyday’ man. This stems from a act sporadically and for no reason. One of negative national discourse in which Latvia the last sequences in the film best portrays is viewed as a nation of victims. In con- this randomness. The two boys have finally trast, Pakalniņa actively marginalises her arrived in Estonia, where they ski down the characters. They are shown in fragments, sand dunes on a beach. Suddenly, one of the often seemingly underdeveloped, whose boys decides it is time to leave and drives motivations are hidden from the audience off leaving the other behind. It is another making their actions seem inexplicable and strange scene, in which Pakalniņa provides random. In doing so she is commenting on no information about the motivation of the the ruptured national psyche that remains characters, leaving the audience to wonder in a transient state after the collapse of the about the boys’ behaviour. Soviet Union. This divergence from neoreal- In the scene prior to the one described ist traditions further highlights how national above, the two boys are sitting in a carwash, specificities have led to the re-appropriation scanning the different Estonian radio chan- of the global neorealist style in Latvia. nels. Abruptly the camera cuts to a medium shot of a beach. The camera focuses on the CONCLUSION backs of the two boys, now wearing pink Tweedie argues that the numerous new cleaning aprons, with skis and ski poles. waves that have emerged since World War They race down the sand dune, one falls II re-appropriate the cinematic conventions down when he gets to the bottom. The cam- first made popular by the Italian neoreal- era then cuts to an extreme close-up of an ists. He asserts that they should be viewed eye, it opens. The camera cuts to a shot of as part of a global network, an alternative the sky and a hand comes into frame pre- cinematic globalisation that was created tending to be an aeroplane. One of the boys in opposition to the spectacle and fantasy is sleeping in a boat that is frozen in the ice. of Hollywood. It is, to borrow Appadurai’s All of a sudden it is winter. The camera cuts term, a ‘grassroots’ form of globalisation to a point-of-view shot from the perspective in cinema. The key convention that unifies of the pizza boy: he sees two skis upright the various new waves is the deployment in the snow-covered sand. Frantically he of documentary stylistics to capture the starts looking for his friend who is at the changing nature of society during a socio- other end of the beach. (Figure 10) He cultural or political moment of upheaval. begins to run to music by Latvian rap art- This is achieved through loosely structured ist Gacho, musing about his true calling in narratives, in which characters are used as life. Once the boy finds his friend, his friend vehicles to explore the changing cityscape. tells him he is going back to Latvia. There is There is a particular focus on achieving the no suggestion as to why the boys decided greatest possible verisimilitude through the to ski down the sand dune, or an explana- use of non-professional actors and location tion for the sudden leap in time, which the shooting, even though the films are often characters do not acknowledge. It is typical classified as fiction.

56 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

FIGURE 10. One of the pizza boys searches for his friend.

57 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE Inspired by the Riga School of Poetic Documentary, Pakalniņa ‘documents’ the changing nature of Latvian society after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. She does this by employing an ambulatory structure, in which her characters journey aimlessly through different landscapes. Verisimilitude is achieved, similarly to other new wave directors, by shooting on location and hiring non-professional actors. Her earlier films comment on the invasion of Latvia by the Soviets, who in The Shoe are shown to disrupt and violate peaceful landscapes. In her later work, such as Pizzas, she has moved on to examine the increasing presence of consumer goods and consumer culture in Latvia, which is encouraged by increasing global flows. While her films continue the stylistic traditions of global neorealism, she also diverts from convention through the re-appropriation of neorealist techniques to suit an examination of a Latvian reality. In doing so she has created Latvian neorealism.

58 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2016 / VOLUME 4 / ARTICLE

REFERENCES Ankrava, Sigma 2004. ‘The Postcolonial Syndrome and Vassilieva, Julia 2014. ‘John Grierson and Russian Identity Crisis in Latvia’. – Latvijas Universitātes raksti: Cinema: An Uneasy Dialogue’. – Zoe Druick, Deane Literatūrzinātne, folkloristiska, māksla 666, 24–35. Williams (eds.), The Grierson Effect: Tracing Documen- http://www.lu.lv/materiali/apgads/raksti/666.pdf tary’s International Movement. London: Palgrave (22 November 2016). Macmillan, 29–42. Appadurai, Arjun 2000. ‘Grassroots Globalization and Vītols, Maruta 2010. ‘Alternative Spaces, Alternative the Research Imagination’. – Public Culture 12, 1, 1–19. Voices: The Art of Laila Pakalniņa’. – Renata Šukaitytė Auzāne, Ilze 2012. ‘Ko gribēšu, to darīšu’. – Diena, (ed.), Baltic Cinemas After the 90s: Shifting (Hi)stories 27 December. and (Id)entities. Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos Caminati, Luca 2012. ‘The Role of Documentary Film leidykla, 33–39. in the Formation of the Neorealist Cinema’. – Saverio Vītols, Maruta 2012. ‘Investigating the Past, Envisioning Giovacchini, Robert Sklar (eds.), Global Neorealism: the Future: An Exploration of Post-1991 Latvian The Transnational History of a Film Style. Jackson: Documentary’. – Anikó Imre (ed.), A Companion to University Press of Mississippi, 52–67. Eastern European Cinemas. Malden, Oxford: Cornis-Pope, Marcel 2012. ‘Local and Global Frames in Wiley-Blackwell, 325–343. Recent Eastern European Literatures: Postcommunism, Vītols, Maruta 2013. ‘Negotiating a New Europe: Laila Postmodernism, and Postcoloniality’. – Journal of Pakalniņa’s The Bus (2004) and Transnational Land- Postcolonial Writing 48, 2, 143–154. scapes’. – Jakub Kazecki, Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Cynthia Currie, Mark 1998. Postmodern Narrative Theory. J. Miller (eds.), Border Visions: Identity and Diaspora in Hampshire, New York: Palgrave. Film. Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 91–106. Delanty, Gerard 2009. The Cosmopolitan Imagination: The Renewal of Critical Social Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Eades, Caroline 2012. ‘Another “Cinéma de Papa” for the French New Wave?’. – Saverio Giovacchini, Robert Sklar (eds.), Global Neorealism: The Transnational History of a Film Style. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 103–124. Giovacchini, Saverio; Sklar, Robert 2012. ‘Introduction: The Geography and History of Global Neorealism’. – Saverio Giovacchini, Robert Sklar (eds.), Global Neoreal- ism: The Transnational History of a Film Style. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 3–15. Hjort, Mette; Petrie, Duncan 2007. The Cinema of Small Nations. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Liehm, Mira 1984. Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present. Los Angeles: University of California Press. Micciché, Lino 2002. ‘De Santis e il verisimile’. – Vito Zagarrio (ed.), Non c’è pace tra gli ulivi. Un neorealismo postmoderno. Rome: Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, 7–8. Naficy, Hamid 2012. ‘Neorealism Iranian Style’. – Saverio Giovacchini, Robert Sklar (eds.), Global Neorealism: The Transnational History of a Film Style. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 226–239. Neupert, Richard 2007. A History of the French New Wave Cinema. 2nd ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Pērkone, Inga 2013. Tu, lielā vakara saule! Esejas par modernismu Latvijas filmās. Rīga: Neputns. Pētersone, Līva 2012. ‘Latvian Documentary Cinema: The New Generation’. – KinoKultura, Special Issue 13: Latvian Cinema. http://www.kinokultura.com/ specials/13/petersone.shtml (10 June 2015). Redwood, Thomas 2010. Andrei Tarkovsky’s Poetics of Cinema. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Rietuma, Dita 2012. ‘Intuitīvais trilleris’. – Kino Raksti 4, 38, 37–39. Ruberto, Laura E.; Wilson, Kristi M. 2007. ‘Introduction’. – Laura E. Ruberto, Kristi M. Wilson (eds.), Italian Neorealism and Global Cinema. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1–24. Sadoul, Georges 1966. Histoire du cinema mondial. Paris: Flammarion. Tweedie, James 2013. The Age of New Waves: Art Cinema and the Staging of Globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Učník, Lubica 2007. ‘Aesthetics or Ethics? Italian Neo- realism and the Czechoslovak New Wave Cinema’. – Laura E. Ruberto, Kristi M. Wilson (eds.), Italian Neoreal- ism and Global Cinema. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 54–71.