BROKEN ENGLISH (director: Gregor Nicholas; cast:Rade Serbedzija (Ivan), Aleksandra Vujcic (Nina), Julian Arahanga (Eddie), Marton Csokas (Darko), Jing Zhao (Clara), Li Yang (Wu), Madeline McNamara (Mira), 1996-New Zealand)
The film abounds in ironies, as a Croatian family moves to Aukland, New Zealand to escape the ethnic cleansing war of their homeland, at the hands of the Serbs, only to find that the father, Ivan (Rade), can't handle having a Maori, Eddie (Julian), be with his favorite daughter Nina (Aleksandra). Though the father manages to do well economically in the building construction business, he does not feel at home with the culture and racial tolerance of the people here. New Zealand was chosen by the family, because of the strong Dalmatian community already here in place and the fact that the mother is a native New Zealander, giving them automatic citizenship.
Nina finds work in a Chinese restaurant and falls madly in love with the new cook, Eddie. They immediately have a wildly free and reckless sexual relationship, that results in her pregnancy. The film then uses a multitude of different devices to emphasize the conflicting cultures and barriers that separate this inter-racial couple, such as the different music styles heard at her house, as her relatives gather there to celebrate Croatian Independence Day, their music contrasts with the more lively music heard at her Tongan neighbor's house. Then there is the other matter, Nina must deal with her father's hatred of Eddie for being colored, while making her sexually exciting relationship with Eddie, be a real and lasting one. This being after Ivan tells Eddie that Nina will always be one of his kind and will never be right for him.
The film works on many different levels, exploring the difficulties it is for people to believe in the love they have in their heart, when there are so many outside forces working against them. Love is thought of, as something only the daring try to achieve. It points out that it is too easy for most people to go along with the prejudices and predilections one is brought up with to change. That Nina is embarrassed and struck with conflict over her decision to be with Eddie no matter what her father says, since she knows that her father loves her and that she has hurt him, and that there is no chance for him ever changing; and, that she loves her father, no matter how much she differs with him, which makes her decision to be with Eddie a very difficult one, especially since her father says that if she goes with Eddie she is gone from him forever. That part of the story was very well developed and acted out. It would be too easy to make the father out to be a hopeless one-dimensional person, the filmmaker made it possible, to see his point of view, how he believes that there are only us and them in this world. Everything is black and white for him. The only people he hates more than the Maori, are the Serbs. And if you see where he is coming from, then you can, at least, understand him a little better.
There is also a subplot about immigration being restrictive and forcing people who want to stay in NZ, to resort to false marriages. This plot was awkwardly worked into the story, using the Chinese couple as a paradigm of hard work, who would be good to have in the country and therefore, shouldn't be forced to have to resort to using illegal means to get into the country. That argument didn't seem to be too convincingly done, and besides, it drained energy from the main plot.
The film shies away from a lot of the dramatics it could have gone into by prying into the psyches of what drives people blindly against other people, and perhaps, it should have gone in that direction, it would have made the background story of why the Croatian family came to New Zealand in the first place a more meaningful one, a more graphic and integral part of the story, instead of shooting for the safer ground, of downplaying the heavy racial situation by bringing comic elements into the story. Passing off the silly ethnic comments, such as, the father calling his Tongan neighbors, coconuts, as just that, another mindless slur. As a result we see a pretty good film, but we are not let in on the secret workings of the family, and so we don't really know what to make of all that was brought out into the open. We can't even be sure that the lustful relationship between Eddie and Nina will be able to be maintained as anything but a lustful arrangement. But we can be sure of one thing, where there is youth, there is the possibility for rebellion.
REVIEWED ON 3/16/99 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: "Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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