SYNOPSIS
On the Bosnian-Croatian outer EU border the paths of migrants and locals cross. The scars of the 1990s war connect to the fate of today’s refugees. A deeply telluric film, a kaleidoscope of landscape and fury.
REVIEW
The Landscape and the Fury explores the complex reality of the 1,000-kilometer border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which became the frontier between EU and non-EU territories following Croatia's accession to the EU in 2013. This vast expanse of forests and fields has since transformed into a contentious zone, marked by physical confrontations and human rights concerns as refugees fleeing war and poverty attempt to enter Western Europe, often encountering resistance from Croatian law enforcement. Journalist and documentary filmmaker Nicole Vögele immersed herself in these borderland forests and villages for several months. Her camera captures, with restrained yet potent imagery, a region where the scars of the 1990s conflicts still resonate, creating a palimpsest of past traumas and present struggles. This border area emerges not merely as a crossing point, but as a space where local residents' daily lives intersect with the extraordinary journeys of refugees, and where echoes of historical conflicts reverberate through current challenges. Vögele's film eschews textual or narrative context, relying instead on meticulously and persistently captured images of landscapes, individuals, and objects to tell its story. As viewers are drawn into the static, rain-drenched autumn fields, unexpected moments of human connection unfold—scenes of local inhabitants demonstrating empathy and extending solidarity to refugees. These encounters between those carrying memories of past conflicts and those fleeing present ones stand as powerful testaments to a hope that transcends the often cold, unyielding politics of borders.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Nicole Vögele spent several years researching and reporting on this border region. She was the first journalist to film the illegal pushbacks of the Croatian police. Now she returns as a filmmaker. Observing, delving deeper, not prying with direct questions, giving the seasons, the weather and the forest as much space as the people. The result is a portrait of a perhaps inconsolable, haunted landscape, as if in the throes of a nightmare.
