EU Showcase ’22: In the Heart of the Machine

Bohemy, an inmate serving time in 1978 Communist Bulgaria, considers his best days those he spends toiling as an unpaid laborer, in a state factory, because that is his only connection to everyday human behavior. Usually, the brutality is mostly confined to the prison. However, all bets are off when the sadistic Captain Vekilsky and the notorious axe murderer “Hatchet” are there on the same fateful day in Martin Makariev’s In the Heart of the Machine, Bulgaria’s official International Oscar submission, which screens during the AFI’s European Union Film Showcase.

The complicated thing about Communist prisons is figuring out how truly guilty your fellow prisoners might be. Hatchet definitely killed his brother—and he has yet to forgive himself. However, the Lennie Small-like death-row inmate has experience with heavy equipment, so Bohemy convinces the warden, Colonel Radoev, to allow him to borrow Hatchet, to help fulfill their doubled quotas. If Bohemy (meaning “Bohemian,” his ironic prison nickname) can pull it off, he might just get a parole. Radoev is a bit corrupt, but in a pragmatic, world-weary kind of way.

Unfortunately, Vekilsky is just a brutal martinet. Yet, even he is not inclined to provoke Hatchet. Instead, he mostly focuses his wrath on Needle, another hardened criminal. However, the guard is not inclined to indulge Hatchet, when he refuses to work on his machine, until a pigeon trapped within its gears can be safely rescued. Therefore, Hatchet launches an insurrection of one, taking Vekilsky and the rookie guard Priv. Kovachky (a.k.a. “Junior”) hostage. That puts Bohemy in a real rock-and-a-hard-place situation, trapped inside the shop with Hatchet, while the military police outside, led by Captain Kozarev (the man who framed him for the murder), prepare their assault.

Machine is an unlikely mixture of gritty prison drama and symbolic fable, yet the basic premise is based on fact. There was a bird trapped in heavy machinery that inspired a defiant work-stoppage, but it was resolved with considerably less violent conflict. Of course, the corruption and abuse of the Communist era “justice” system are also very definitely based on historical realities. Bohemy was no anomaly. In many ways, he is a Bulgarian everyman representing thousands, but Alexander Sano’s grounded and conflicted portrayal makes him feels like a very real person, rather than a symbolic composite.

EU Showcase ’22: Kalev

Everyone loved the Lithuanian Men’s Basketball Team, the so-called “Other Dream Team,” who made an Olympic run shortly after the Baltic nation declared its independence from the Soviet Union. However, there were mixed feelings about the Estonian Kalev team’s pursuit of the final championship of Soviet Republics, especially in Estonia. Initially, there were calls to boycott, but those gave way to cheers of “beat Russia.” Of course, the Soviet sports system still tries its best to rig the tournament against Estonia in Ove Musting’s Kalev, Estonia's official International Oscar Submission, which screens during the AFI’s European Union Film Showcase.

Initially, Aivar Kuusmaa has decidedly mixed feelings on the independence movement, because the Soviets rewarded athletes like him for their international victories. Nevertheless, everyone suspects this year could very well be the final Soviet championship. Frankly, public opinion is already against Estonian participation, even before Gorbachev ordered Soviet tanks to invade neighboring Lithuania.

Despite public sentiment, their coach, Jaak Salumets, remained committed to the Soviet Championship. He even recruited a prominent Russian player and George Jackson, the first (and only) American to play in the Soviet League. During his tenure with Kalev, Jackson faced racism from fans and opposing teams, which Musting and co-screenwriters Martin Algus and Mehis Pihla gloss over. However, they fully expose the corruption and favoritism within the Soviet sports authorities. Honestly, the referees and sideline judges might has well have suited up in Russian jerseys.

Musting focuses much of his attention on Kuusmaa, but the most fully fleshed out characters in Kalev are Salumets and Riho Soonik, the team’s general manager (who are portrayed with appropriately complexity, by Mait Malmsten and Priit Voigemast, respectively). Through them, the film really explores the ethical questions the tournament posed, as well as the challenges of maintaining an underfunded Baltic professional team, in a time of great instability. As for the players, they mostly deal with routine sports dramas, like playing through injuries and riding the bench.