Armin

Armin- Bosnian, Croatian, and German production.
Directed by Ognjen Svilicic.

Armin is an international production between Bosnia, Germany and Croatia about a father and son’s journey from their small village in Bosnia to Zagreb, the capital Croatia, in an attempt to secure a part in a film. This seemingly simple plot turns out to yield a depth of emotions that extends into the realm of national consciousness and identity.

Upon arriving in the capital, Armin begins to feel at the same time overwhelmed and intrigued by the landscape of the city. His father in all his optimism offers to spend far more than he can afford in order to make their stay in the capital feel even more grand and special. There first night in Zagreb and the two end up in a McDonalds; the father is stunned by the cleanliness of the restaurant and compares it to a hospital.

Like most father-son movies that involve a team effort to achieve some goal, Armin’s father is exceedingly proactive in promoting his son and ensuring his success at the audition. He buys a round of whiskey for the people working on the film in the hotel’s bar despite coming from a modest village in Bosnia. He even spends a few evenings with a German man working on the film drinking and chatting despite their inability to speak the same language.

The son, throughout their stay in the capital, acts as the voice of reason constantly reminding the father that they are not wealthy and that they do not need to prove themselves to be otherwise in the capital. However, there is a part of him that wants to succeed and that part comes out of him when he begins to practice his lines for the audition. On the day of he ends up waiting and waiting and is eventually told that he looks too old for the part. Upon hearing this, his father barges his way through to ask them to reconsider; he is finally able to convince them to hear his son showcase his accordion playing skills. All seems well and good until the son suddenly freezes and drops to the floor in the middle of singing and playing a Bosnian folk song. The sickness seems to add only insult to injury; all their hopes are dashed. The following day, the director calls the father and son back in as they are about to leave the hotel; he asks them if they would be willing to share the story of his son’s sickness in a documentary about the war in Bosnia. The son immediately rejects the idea despite the promise of money; the father asks his son to step outside and briefly reconsiders. In the end he says that everything up until now has been fair and square and that he would like to leave it at that. He says goodbye and with his son returns home.

This movie reminded me a great deal of Chen Kaige’s movie Together with You. Both movies center on the relationship between a father and son and the pursuit of a better life through stardom. However, in the end both movies leave the audience with a pleasantly warm feeling upon seeing a bond between father and son that is founded on mutual love and a desire to be together in truth and sincerity rather than focused on the pursuit of success. Armin is especially moving and poignant because the father and son are very much defined by their humble home in Bosnia; they are not big city people and they do not have money nor the type of personality that would put money before human relationship. Armin strikes a chord with that part of human nature that desires, above all else, anything that is truly human and warm and the audience is fortunate enough to experience this through father and son.