Struggle

Colour, 35 mm
Austria, 2003, 74 min
Section: Horizons
Oficiální stránky: www.struggle.at

Synopsis

Austrian filmmaker Ruth Mader chose the theme of solitude and alienation for her feature debut. She confronts two worlds which sometimes cross paths, at other times pass each other by, and in which the wretchedness of lonely human existence assumes different forms. Polish woman Ewa stays on illegally in Austria with her 8-year-old daughter after the strawberry-picking season has ended. With the hope of a better life, she desperately seeks all kinds of work, along with countless other immigrants. – A middle-aged estate agent, Marold, lives alone after his divorce and seeks to satisfy his bizarre sexual habits. – Two completely different lifestyles but the same emptiness. The film is conceived as a documentary with a minimum of dialogue but, for all that, with unprecedented severe objectivity. The director sought to capture the isolation of “guest workers”, cut off from their native country, lacking privacy and suffering in wretched conditions. The struggle of the film’s title can assume various forms – the struggle for survival or the struggle to find compassion. The tragic human lot is laid bare from the very beginning and hope for victory is exceedingly hazy. The main role in the film is played by Polish actress Aleksandra Justa.

About the director

Ruth Mader (1974, Vienna) studied at the Vienna Film Academy and worked as an assistant director and head of casting in feature film and advertising. She began to make a name for herself with the short film Gfrasta (1999), for which she won the Max Ophuels prize at the Saarbrücken film festival. She also made the documentaries Endstation Obdachlos (1992) and Ready for What (1997) and the shorts Kilometer 123,5 (1994) and Null Defizit (2001). Her feature-length debut Struggle (2003) betrays her skills in documentary filmmaking and was based on her own private experiences (her father had a girlfriend from Eastern Europe who yearned for a better life in Austria).