This movie is just all heart. You can feel that the movie will be good in the first 10 seconds when the inmates are singing the national anthem and the soundtrack kicks in. Just the melody has returned you to the times when you first watch the Green Mile or The Shawshank Redemption. I know, I know, you will say "What? Your comparison is with those movies? ". Well the feeling is the same, the narration for the viewer feels real and powerful and makes you want to know more about the characters and you suddenly feel them closer to your heart.
All the scenes are shot perfectly. We are kinda used for the bulgarian movies to be highly lit , without thinking of the cinematography too much ....but this one .... man i love every shot of it . Executed they way it should , so that you not be distracted from anything else. Mr. Makariev has outdone himsels again, prooving ..to me at least..he is the best director in this country and deserving of much more praise than he gets. (we see other movies and directors be talked about more).
I won't mention the acting , because .... damn the slang they used (like it should be used in every movies, because that is the way you can feel the emotions in the actors, not just some theater way of talking to show how many years we have played on the scene) . Every actor is perfectly chosen . They embodie their character perfeclty in giving the raw emotion.
And the soundtrack !! I think Victor Angelov (correct me if i am wrong , but read it somewhere) is reponsible for this masterpiece of emotion and hope intertwined together to emerge the characters like phoenixes from thier Destiny.
A big bravo to all involved and i sure hope so , that the movie brings a lot of bucks , so that the talent of this director continues to bring us a reason for believing that a bulgarian movie can be nominated for Oscar....... because this movie deserves it.
