EDI, 2002, Poland, 97 min.
(Subtitled)
Genre: Drama
Release Data: November 2006 (Canada Only)
Selected Recognitions: Don Quixote Award, FIPRESCI Prize, prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Berlin, 2003; Philip Morris Award, Karlovy Vary, 2003; Golden Frog, Camerimage, 2002; Grand Prix, Warsaw, 2002; and almost every other award in its native Poland.
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Director(s): Piotr Trzaskalski
What It's About: Edi, a classic casualty of post-Solidarity capitalism, an educated man who has fallen on hard times. He lives a miserable life, with his friend Jurek, in an abandoned factory. By day, the two wander the streets collecting scrap metal that can be turned in for quick drinking money. All their activities are overseen and manipulated by the local gang leaders, two brothers of vile temperament who are the guardians of “The Princess” their seventeen-year-old sister whom they intend to keep pure and away from men. One day, they beat Edi up, and become aware that he has other resources. Edi loves books. He collects them too, storing them in a scavenged refrigerator, and reading them by candlelight. The brothers approach him to tutor their Princess figuring Edi is so ugly, there will be no problem. However, as it turns out, the Princess is already involved with a gypsy black marketer. When she discovers she’s pregnant, she seeks to protect her lover and accuses Edi of raping her, which sets him on a course that is at once heartbreaking and profound.
What to Look For: Edi is the person we overlook, the person who lives in a slightly parallel universe. We may pass him everyday in our car, watch him push a cart full of the things we threw out yesterday. What the filmmaker wonders – and hopes we will wonder too – is what might be special about him? What secrets does he hold? The director suggests that if we stop for a moment, we might get to know this person and find that he, like us, has principles concerning life, other people, his friends, his enemies and himself. In this case, Edi turns out to display a selfless generosity that makes him a deeply human, and unforgettable, person; a man who finds a measure of serenity in the now – despite living in a world of abject poverty, squalor, and brutality. It is almost certain that his story will leave you feeling uncomfortable even as this unlikely hero touches you with his nobility.
Why It Matters: Part comedy, part drama, part fable, this is a first feature that is elevated into an unexpectedly moving parable of self-sacrifice and redemption. At first, it seems deceptively simple and bleak, a portrait that might be appropriate to a Zen story. And, in fact, we learn that the director was inspired by a tale from Zen Flesh; Zen Bones (compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki) in which a beautiful girl accuses a Zen master of having fathered her child, and, with perfect compassion, the master does not deny her statement, but accepts the responsibility, although it is untrue. In the words of the director, this is “a film where everything is stained, but the moral of the story is about clarity, friendship and true love
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