Documentaries
on the topic of the rise of populism have been hugely popular in the
recent years and the trend will continue in the years to come, as it
is the case with the refugee crisis / migration-themed films. It is
not strange by any means: documentaries are mirroring reality (comes
with the territory) and in some cases offer the key to understand the
social phenomena going on. And populism is not just a Central
European post-communist thing anymore, hence the new Austrian
government, Brexit n the UK and the rise of Donald Trump in the USA.
Jan
Gebert’s sophomore documentary feature When the War Comes
works best as a case study of the rise of a future star of populism
through the ranks of local militia Slovak Recruits. Their
self-proclaimed leader Peter is young, charming, eloquent and a
natural-born leader. He lives a normal life with his parents and his
girlfriend and the only thing strange with him is his “hobby”.
Every weekend he goes to the woods in rural Slovakia with his friends
and serves as an instructor at a military-style training camp,
complete with automatic weapons, national flags and uniforms.
His
first encounter with the police highlights his character: he is being
reprimanded for the using of national insignia (which is illegal for
the organizations without the official government sanction), but that
is it, the policemen even shake his hand. Later on, the usage of
symbols and rhetorics from the Nazi-backed Slovak puppet state from
the WW2 times does not get noticed: Peter and his comrades are being
welcomed to schools, TV debates and even appear on the celebrations
where the prime minister Robert Fico is present. Recruiting the new
Recruits from the ranks of high school youngsters was never a problem
for them. Seems like Peter’s rise to stardom in the arena of
national politics is just a matter of time…
Film-wise
and otherwise, When the War Comes does not bring anything that
new on the table, but it does not have to. It is an honest
examination from close by, without any kind of Gebert’s comment,
but also without hiding or masking a thing. We see all the
ideological nonsense and the white noise of half-truths and
miss-information. Anti-Islam, anti-globalism, anti-communism,
traditionalism, nationalism, Christianity and pan-Slavism are all
mixed up here in a toxic and heavily flammable mix. So, the infamous
bikers Night Wolves fit perfectly once when they show up in the film.
Having
all that in mind, did When the War Comes deserve the world
premiere in Berlinale’s Panorama Dokumente Section? Well, yes and
no: it is not that new and attractive in the terms of topic and
style, but it is on the same page with the current political moment.
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