ALIVE !

There is cramming and getting laid in Tirana. But all of a sudden the student is caught up by an archaic world which claims that he is a part of it. When his disabled father dies, a blood feud is being revived and he is held liable for a murder committed by his grandfather 60 years earlier. At first he endeavours to bring his opponents to their senses. As this proves futile, he – in the course of events – becomes increasingly paranoid and, unwillingly, starts to resemble his opponents. When he decides to arm himself and train, the notion of a modern present dissolves into melancholy. The student is catapulted into an Albanian reality that is devoid of all romantic folklore. In a country where until recently Hoxherian despotism and a grisly mountaineers’ mentality were ruling alongside, there is neither a right to a “modern” every day life nor the possibility of escaping to such, while the insistence on tradition is leading directly into catastrophe as well. Thus, Artan Minarolli’s heroes shipwreck on their own great expectations.