The 2022 Bulgarian Oscar entry, Fear (Strah) is a fresh take on a serious subject of xenophobia in Eastern Europe with sharp social satire commentary, screened as a part of Europe on Screen 2022 – European Film Festival in Indonesia.
Truly one of the most underrated international feature submissions from last year, this marvelously offbeat comedy from writer-director Ivaylo Hristov explores the relationship between a widow and an African refugee in a racial discrimination society in a Bulgarian village near the Turkish border. Fear is a wicked satire of racism culture, a heartfelt human drama with absurdist humor commenting on small-town mentality. With the refugee issue has been explored in so many ways in recent films, including the 2022 Iraqi entry ‘Europa’ (which is also set in the Bulgarian-Turkish border, addressing politics of racism, hate and bigotry is a serious refugee issue in Bulgaria), Fear puts a surreal human drama with a funny spin on it, all rolled into one surprisingly smart work that offers much more than the usual “European directing style“.
Debuted in late 2020 at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prize, Fear is the second Bulgarian submission from Hristov to the Oscars after his 2015 Golden George-winning film Losers (Moscow International Film Festival). The film opens with a middle-aged widow named Svetla (Svetlana Yancheva) sealing the door of a school she’ll no longer be teaching in due lack of students, leaving her unemployed. She lives at the worst time of her life; widowed for fifteen years, living at a ramshackle home in the woods, buys a few eggs on credit at a small grocery, and engages in some desultory banter with a group of soldiers. Despite xenophobia being the major issue for the film itself, Stevla’s personal hardship as a local dominates the beginning of Fear, putting loneliness with brute honesty on the screen.
One day, Svetla meets Malian refugee Bamba (Michael Flemming) while she is hunting rabbits in the forest not far from her home. Dealing with refugees is a matter of dreary routine in her village, displaced people pass through here frequently, hoping to make it to Germany. When Svetla attempts to hand off Bamba to border guards, they’re too busy trying to take care of a large group of migrants from Afghanistan. Having no choice, Svetla brings Bamba to her home, but her neighbors seem to be affected by his arrival and tries to make the situation even worst, breaking her window and brandishing their guns.
Yes, the title is generic and Fear is a nightmarish scenario addressing serious regional discrimination behavior but instead, like one of many, the film descends into a hilarious satire-comedy, depicting a relationship with no shared language, paranoia, and madness, in order to provide a smart and less stereotyped comedy. It is crazy and chaotic but it is also astonishing and moving. The cinematography alone, handled by veteran Bulgarian DoP Emil Hristov is one of the most interesting parts of the film. The dominant feelings that have been built throughout the film ultimately reminds me of George A. Romero’s masterpiece Night of the Living Dead with murky landscapes where the events occur (such as the graveyard scene and when Svetla barricades her house, etc) perfectly captured in high contrast and black and white.
Overall, Fear (Strah) aims to be completely outside of anything you’ve seen. This impressively strange film is not only one of the most underrated international feature submissions but it is also last year’s Oscar hidden gem submission. Director Hristov is unafraid to embrace his bold premise and blends human drama with black humor in a perfect way.
