Berlinale 2008
Séamas McSwiney reports on this year’s Berlinale.

Popular consensus on this year’s Berlinale Competition selection was that it was a weak crop, with the daily trades describing the menu as ‘dull’ and ‘unexciting’. However, the cinematic energy of Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood provided some early momentum and the mid festival Happy-Go-Lucky was perceived mostly as a successful change of humour from Mike Leigh. Both were touted as Golden Bears but in the end they collected other awards.

Anderson got the Best Director Silver Bear for his undeniable feat and his collaborator Johnny Greenwood got the Special Outstanding Artistic Contribution for his music, which was from the beginning of the film a truly original dimension, at first obtrusive before becoming an integral parameter of the story. Sally Hawkins got Best Actress for her perky interpretation of a dyed-in-the-wool colourful optimist in Happy-Go-Lucky, a performance that had audiences teetering from irritation to identification from frame one right up to the closing credits.

The Golden Bear went to José Padilha’s The Elite Squad, a film that depicts hard-nosed and cynical policing in Rio in the late 1990s. It was a controversial enough choice given that it had divided critics and audiences during the week, some claiming that its realism seemed to defend police brutality or even promote fascism. Padilha responded by saying it only reflected the reality of the streets. It’s a film that certainly packs a punch and at the very least it provided an antidote to some of the mushier sentiments displayed in many of the other competition pictures. It also packs a distribution punch because its sales are being handled by the Weinstein Company, meaning that many will get a chance to see for themselves.

It was also an interesting year in Berlin for up-and-coming Irish filmmakers. Seaview, a straightforward documentary by Nicky Gogan and Paul Rowly, had the honour of being selected to participate in the Forum, which represents the artier, more experimental, side of the Berlinale. Seaview tells the story or rather the many stories that take place in Mosney, in the former Butlin’s holiday camp, now a residence for asylum seekers. From distant troubled spots different coloured faces, some of them already with Irish accents, tell their stories and provide personal insight into this no man’s land at the tougher end of the Irish immigration scale.

In addition, two Irish shorts won distinctions at this year’s festival. After winning in Galway and Cork, Darren Thornton’s Frankie picked up the UIP special prize for a short film that had already won in a recognised festival. Frankie is a young teenager wondering if he’s ready for the imminent fatherhood that awaits him. The jury described it as ‘A simple and powerful approach. The straight-forward point of view of a working class teenager on love, responsibility and fatherhood. We also want to re-encourage the director in developing his project of short films for young makers.’ The Berlinale has an extensive section for younger audiences and this year the Generation Kplus jury gave a Special Mention for a Short Film to Steph Green’s New Boy, saying, ‘The plot is easy to follow even though there is not much dialogue. The portrayal of the characters’ feelings touched us and swept us along and the reminder of Joseph’s earlier homeland gave us a realistic insight into his former life as well as his feelings. In the end we learned that having prejudices just isn’t worth it.’

Berlinale 2008 – Official website