VISA OF EVIL (Âèçà íà çëîòî)
Movie from: 1959
Duration: 89 minutes
Director: France Shtiglic
Screenplay: Slavko Janevski
Leading Roles: Predrag Dishljenkovic, Ilija Dzuvalekovski, Aco Jovanovski, Metka Ocvirk, Slobodan Perovic
Content: Simon is a young man who has decided to make quick money by smuggling narcotics. At a meeting with his contact
they are ambushed by the police. Simon runs away but loses his wallet and so supposes that his identity must now be known to the police.
Kalpak, the unscrupulous man who organizes this group of smugglers insists that he and Simon to leave at once. Simon agrees to cross the
border illegally. Simon's girl-friend Lena and his brother Cvetko are involved in this operation by chance. They all leave together. Lena
tries to persuade Simon to give himself up to the authorities, but the arguments of Kalpak, who uses the lost wallet as a threat, are
stronger. In the attempt to cross the lake in a stolen boat they are chased by the police. Kalpak gets killed, Simon is wounded and the
girl Lena drops the narcotics into the lake.
Resume: After completing a number of remarkable projects "Vardar Film" made another crucial step by beginning a new film.
This time it was "Visa of Evil", the first detective story in Macedonian cinematography. The screenplay was written by Slavko Janevski, a
superb writer who made his debut with "Wolve’s Night". This screenplay, with its unconventional dramatic form, remains a solitary attempt
to transform the brutal motive of the genre into something poetic. The main characteristics are absence of violence and crime and search
for benefactors who then reveal their kidneys. It may be concluded that "Visa of Evil" in respect of its form and content looks like a
thriller, but it also obtains some universal dramatic developments, very unusual at first sight. However, it soon becomes obvious that
the intention of the director France Shtiglic is to maintain the elements of the genre, which appears to be a useful influence of the
classical work of this type.
The main feature of the characters is their ethics determination, in fact their lure to achieve it. Throughout the film they move towards
it thus making their relationships an important element of the plot. That's why it represents an ideal example of sublimated action. The
characters are performed by actors of grate reputation. The most famous are Ilia Dzuvalekovski and Slobodan Perovic, then Aco Jovanovski,
Darko Damevski and Metka Ocvirk. The camerawork of Branko Mihailovski serves the action superbly, showing a strong image of the picturesque
atmosphere imposed by the scenario. Without any oscillations this atmosphere is maintained throughout the film. The camerawork was supported
by some brilliant solutions made by the art director Dime Shumka, a painter. The quiet music accompanying the story was composed by Bojan
Adamich, a veteran composer from Slovenia. "Visa of Evil" was on the whole an ambitious project and its aim was to acknowledge some of the
social problems, in showing evil and violence as elements of the film's narration, without apology, but with a definite critical and moral
attitude towards them.
Sources: Macedonian Cinema Information Center and Cinemateque of Macedonia.
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