DVD Review: Import Export

Posted Feb 22, 2010 by Kevin Walker

Updated Feb 22, 2010 at 12:51 PM

Import Export
Stars: Ekateryna Rak, Paul Hofmann
Director: Ulrich Seidl (“Brothers, Let Us Be Merry”)
Plot: In the documentary style used often by Seidl, the movie follows two people – a single mother (Rak)) from the Ukraine who leaves her infant child with her mother to travel to Austria in hopes of finding a better life. The other is a feckless, unemployed young Austrian (Hofmann) who goes on a trip to the Ukraine with his corroded stepfather, who enjoys (among other destructive behavior) abusing women. In German and Russian with subtitles.
Bottom line: This film is bleak, harrowing and depressing (although occasionally funny in a dark way). It makes the Coen Brothers’ “A Serious Man” look like a frolic. But it’s also interesting, just brace yourself. It’s partly a study in how the world economy has hurt Europeans in already poor areas, but what it really is about is the darker side of human nature, particularly the instinct among numerous men in the film to seek the domination and degradation of others. This is especially true of the young man’s trip, which includes a stop in a brothel in a shockingly poor tenement for gypsies and making a prostitute walk around on all fours. Did I mention this movie is bleak, harrowing and depressing?
Extras: An interview with Seidl in which he argues his films aren’t depressing, just meant to mirror the reality of conditions for the less fortunate.
Quote: “Stink. Stink. Death.”
141 minutes. Not rated.