The Great Water (2004)
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71% of critics liked it
(21 reviews) -
73% of users liked it
(554 ratings)
A man near the end of his life relives a crucial period from his youth in this powerful drama. Lem Nikodinoski (Meto Jovanovski) is a prominent Macedonian politician who has suffered a severe heart attack. As Lem drifts between life and death, his mind wanders to his childhood, and he observes his… More A man near the end of his life relives a crucial period from his youth in this powerful drama. Lem Nikodinoski (Meto Jovanovski) is a prominent Macedonian politician who has suffered a severe heart attack. As Lem drifts between life and death, his mind wanders to his childhood, and he observes his younger self (played by Saso Kekenovski) during his days in a camp for children whose parents were unwilling to embrace Russia's Stalinist regime following World War II. Ariton (Mitko Apostolovski), the camp's headmaster, is a strong taskmaster, but he displays a genuine compassion for his charges; Olivera (Verica Nedeska), his second in command, takes a more stern approach, and is willing to dole out physical punishment to any child who does not absorb her Stalinist teachings. One day, a new boy enters the camp, Isak (Maja Stankovska), who displays a calm but resilient nature that's different from the fearful attitudes of the other children. After initial resistance, Lem becomes close friends with Isak, and their friendship helps Lem confront the horrors of camp life in a new way. Writer and director Ivo Trajkov cast teenage actress Maja Stankovska to play Isak after a long series of unsuccessful auditions failed to find a young man who had the right look for the role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Ivo Trajkov
- Written By
- Vladimir Blazeveski
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jun 17, 2005 Wide
- Studio
- Picture This! Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Robert Koehler, Variety
Pic's balance of emotional truth in the hands of a talented cast and charged by Medencevic's lensing and Kiril Dzajkovski's powerfully moody score, reps a bold step forward for Balkan cinema.
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Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
It is an impressionistic, sometimes fascinating, sometimes frustrating, window into a culture and country that was long walled off from the West.
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Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
All of it, Chingo and Trajkov suggest, goes into shaping a Macedonian national identity uneasily poised between religious longing and ideological resolve.
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Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
You leave this film intrigued by its aspiration and not likely to forget the world it's introduced you to.
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Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
The Great Water is ultimately about the indomitability of faith, and the Christian symbolism is laid on thick.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Saso Kekenovski
as Lem Nikodinoski (as boy)
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Maja Stankovska
as Isak
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Mitko Apostolovski
as Ariton
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Verica Nedeska
as Olivera
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Risto Gogovski
as Bellman
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Nikolina Kujaca
as Ariton's Wife
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Meto Jovanovski
as Lem (as old man)
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Rade Serbedzija
as narrator
- Aleksandar Ribak
- Petar Mircevski
- Vladimir Svetiev
