"The Great Water" is a Macedonian movie based on the novel "Golemata Voda" written in the 1970's by Yugoslavian author Zhivko Chingo. The novel is described as a children's book, but honest to God, I can't imagine giving this story to a child. And had not Macedonian filmmaker, Ivo Trajkov, moved heaven and earth in a labor of love to adapt it to cinema, I doubt I would have ever heard of it. Bless you, Mr. Trajkov.
'The Great Water" is a stunningly stylized film set in an orphanage at the end of World War II. An orphanage established in an abandoned factory whose explicit purpose is to reprogram the children of the former bourgeoisie of now formerly independent Macedonia. The story is told in the dying dreams of the main character, now an old man in contemporary Yugoslavia, but then a child trapped in this world of conflict and ideology; An innocent surrounded by archetypal characters who's essential roles intertwine with the very elements of the life force (wind, fire, earth, water....) to tell a tale of morality, of sin, of forgiveness. At times the film is painfully beautiful; while at others I literally jerked and shuttered and turn away from the screen, averting my eyes from the incomprehensible cruelty or inevitable sacrifice.
The front of the DVD case quotes critics who call the film "exquisitely crafted" and "stunning". And for once, I cannot disagree. Good luck finding it. It's a treasure worth the effort.
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