\u00bbExploitation is at the core of our way of life in the privileged societies of the West \u2026 Someone has to pay the price for progress. And someone has to get the job done.\u00ab
\n\u2013 Sudabeh Mortezai<\/p>\n
Underground concrete bunkers, somewhere in Albania. Built during the era of communist dictator Enver Hoxha. A travel guide explains that Hoxha had been paranoid about the West launching an invasion. It never actually happened. But what about today? Director Sudabeh Mortezai sends the invaders into the remotest reaches of Albania \u2013 in the form of ambitious executive Beate Winter, complete with suit and high heels plus the blonde upswept hairstyle of one of Hitchcock\u2019s icy female figures. The \u00bbEuropa\u00ab here is not the promised land that many countries still hope for. Instead it is a multinational corporation, represented by Beate Winter. She talks about \u00bbstructural development\u00ab and the advancement of women: \u00bbYou are the future. Not just the future of Albania. But the future of Europe.\u00ab The philanthropic fa\u00e7ade soon drops away though, revealing a callous sneer, and we get wind of a mysterious agenda whereby Winter is meant to buy the land from the locals. When stubborn farmer Jetnor refuses to relinquish the land of his ancestors, Winter resorts to dirty tactics. Director of photography Klemens Hufnagl\u2019s widescreen format captures the magnificence of Albania\u2019s untouched landscape, while the dark sacrilege of neocolonialism gradually fills the screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40765,"template":"","movie_year":[685],"movie_genre":[629],"movie_cat":[782,801],"festival":[805],"class_list":["post-40773","movie","type-movie","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","movie_year-685","movie_genre-spielfilm-2","movie_cat-international-feature-film-competition-en-2025","movie_cat-audience-award-en-2025","festival-2025-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n