TIMES, WATERS (Âðåìå, âîäè)
Movie from: 1980
Duration: 139 minutes
Director: Branko Gapo Ivanovski
Screenplay: Jovan Strezovski
Leading Roles: Shishman Angelovski, Petar Arsovski, Boris Dvornik, Meto Jovanovski, Dushko Kostovski, Nenad Milosavljevic, Lidija Pletl,
Petre Prlichko, Milan Shtrljic
Content: The film describes the life-story of Petar Chushko and his peasant-fellows from the village Sushevo that is fatefully
connected with troubles related to the lack of water, so necessary for the survival. Blessed by the priest the peasants of Sushevo change the
course of the river and steal the water of the neighbour village Kamenovo. A fight follows it between the peasants of both villages accompanied
by their priests. For disturbing the peace the peasants are being taken to court. The judge is so corrupt that he will pronounce a verdict in
favour of those peasants who will pay more. So, the peasants of Kamenovo get the water. On the other hand, in Sushevo, the troubles with water
are so bad that as there is no water at all in the village the peasants refuse to pay the tax for water. A peasant Petar Chushko, a miller
without water in his mill, is among them. The peasants are going to protest in Struga, in front of the city administrative office, but they are
stopped and dispersed by the policemen at the very outset of their trip, at the exit to the village. The village crier announces the news about
the assassination of the king and about all honour on that occasion. On the contrary, the teacher uses this occasion to speak about Russia and
the revolution. 194O, there is a typhus epidemic in the village. A lot of people die, among whom are plenty of children. Although the last
springs have dried the peasants suffer for water, the local policeman collects money as a tax for drinking water. The peasants pray to God and
carry out some pagan customs to try and get water. The peasant Petar Chushko feeling unable to provide any water, together with his sons comes
into conflict with the peasants of Kamenovo. During this attack one of his sons is killed. In these moments of terrible his last child, his
only daughter is born. The crier announces general mobilization. The men join the army. The events happen very fast. The Yugoslav government
renders and the policemen leave the village. On the other hand the men return home. Days of Italian occupation follow. The Italian officer
orders that the water belong to the inhabitants of Sushevo. So the water mill starts working again. The mill becomes a place from which a lot
of peasants join the partisans. After a fight with the partisans, Italian fascist detachments come into the village. They massacre the peasants
among who is Petar's Chushko son, who is in the village quite accidentally. The partisans are late and they don't succeed to save the
inhabitants. The day of liberation comes. It is one more tragic day for Chushko. He gets the news of his another death. The problem of water
supply still exists and the new authorities have to solve it. They decide to deliver the water in turns of three days for each village. Petar
Chushko’s last son appears unexpectedly in the village announcing the news of his marriage to the daughter of Chushko's greatest enemy of
Kamenovo. After a quarrel his son Teofil leaves the village forever. The new authorities decide to build a reservoir, accommodation lake, on
the site of the two villages. The peasants are asked to move in the town or in to the new houses near the lake. Chushko remains alone in his
determination resist this decision. He retires to a summer pasture, high in the mountains. The dam over the accumulation is built. The village
disappears in the water. On a cliff, high over the lake, Petar Chushko is watching the valley fill with water. He can not endure to be defeated
and so, his final solution is to jump in the lake.
Resume: The novel "Waters" by the contemporary Macedonian novelist Jovan Strezovski served as the foundation for the screenplay
of the film "Time, Waters". As far as its genre is concerned this film is a social narrative over a large period of time and with a fruitful
psychological concept. This novel certainly possesses a large number of evident dramaturgical attributes, which made its realization a very
appealing enterprise.
The adaptation of the novel for the screenplay was done by its author Jovan Strezovski and the director of the film Branko Gapo. This adaptation
is characterized with, above all, faithfulness to the original and the final result of this kinesthetic experience gave the film a characteristic
quality of expression.
The action begins towards the end of the 30's with the conflict between the two villages, Sushevo and Kamenovo, over the only spring in the area.
The villagers of Sushevo lead by Petre Chushko actually redirect the flow of the spring towards their village. Thus the action is from the
beginning given some mythical attributes. Petre Chushko is a sort of Sushevo Prometheus who is trying to provide the life-giving water for
himself and his mill, but also for his villagers and in this he enters into conflict with both the natural powers and the villagers of Kamenovo.
In "Time, Waters" Gapo creates a world which, of course, originates in the novel but one can constantly feel his striving to attribute to the
characters and events a different cinematic authenticity.
Such an artistic attitude of the director is most evident in his portrayal of the characters. Even if we neglect the central figure of Chushko,
all the rest of the characters have been created in accordance with the basic dramaturgical intention of the director. In his application of
such a method Gapo solved one of the main problems of the adaptation and thus decreased and alleviated the danger of an occasional dramaturgical
incoherence in the action. Thus, it is obvious that as a constant in the acting, the entire numerous cast very quickly, and what is more in an
artistically very successful way, adopted to the various dramatic situations in the film each of which had a emotional intensity of its own.
Part of this ensemble included Petar Arsovski, Dushko Kostovski, Milan Strljic, Boris Dvornik, Firdaus Nebi, Meto Jovanovski, Mustafa Jashar,
Aco Dukovski, Dragi Kostovski, Petre Prlichko, Zvonko Lepetic, Lidija Pletl, Sabina Ajrula - Tozija, Violeta Shapkovska, Lidija Velkovska,
Shishman Angelovski, Blagoja Chorevski, Kire Pechijarevski, etc.
The cameraman Ljube Petkovski with his great experience very successfully forms the visual constituents of this film epic where the set by
Nikola Lazarevski and the costumes by Jelena Patrnogic move mainly in the preset framework.
In conclusion, "Time, Waters" in its final kinesthetic form still remains an interesting attempt and a result of the creative cooperation between
literature and the film medium.
Sources: Macedonian Cinema Information Center and Cinemateque of Macedonia.
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