The incandescent Bulgarian film VIKTORIA is likely one of the most impressive cinematic debuts of the century. Written and directed by Maya Vitkova this film is much more than a review can summarize. Visually stunning with some the finest cinematography on record, highlighted by many scenes that are actual film clips from around the world bringing us back into the history of the fall of Communism and how the world reacted to that major change, enhanced by a beautiful musical score, acted with sensitivity by Bulgarian actors we have not known until this film – all of these attributes are secondary to the actual story Vitkova has created and presented, a sensitive story by a woman about women and those aspects of giving birth and the relationship between mother and daughter and grandmother. In short (and this is a very long film at 255 minutes) this is a masterpiece.
The film opens with the sounds (in darkness) of a couple coupling and the result is a pregnancy unwanted by the mother but desired by the father. The synopsis touches a few of the highlights: Dreaming of the West, Boryana (Irmena Chichikova) is determined not to have a child in communist Bulgaria. Despite her reticence, her daughter Viktoria enters the world in 1979, curiously missing an umbilical cord and an umbilicus, and is declared the Bulgaria's Baby of the Decade. Pampered by her mother state until the age of nine, Viktoria's decade of notoriety comes crashing down with the rest of European communism when Communism falls in 1989. But can political collapse and the hardship of new times finally bring Viktoria and her reluctant mother closer together? To say more would be to spoil the beauty of the manner in which this relationship and this story evolves. The character of Viktoria is played over the span of time by Daria Vitkova and Kalina Vitkova. The important role of grandmother is accentuated by Mariana Krumova, and the father Ivan is played with quiet dignity by Dimo Dimov.
The film is presented with a significant historical background from which we learn much about Bulgaria under Communism, but it is told with such a warmth and profound sense of dignity and respect for the role of a childbearing mother and a 'different' child who must learn to cope. Highly Recommended.
