Blaga’s Lessons (2023)
- Synopsis:
An elderly Bulgarian teacher widowed and scammed, struggles to sustain dignity and search her place in the world through the angry, unforgiving landscape of eastern Europe. These themes have been well explored in Urotsite na Blaga, (Blaga’s Lessons), directed by Stephan Komandarev. The film gives voice to an elderly woman (Blaga), comforted by memories of her late husband who formulates the erroneous belief that she can never succeed in life ever again. The argumentative pain strikes her which shatters her life when she is scammed out of her entire life’s savings. The loss hits her very hard and being betrayed makes her feel more shunned and deserted than what she already was as an old woman. Blaga’s dream of a perfect life is tarnished; as she was only looking for redemption and validation when she got involved in the crime in the first place. The film asks the audiences to ponder: Why are older, neglected, frail members of our society often faced without any protection?
- Awards & Wins: The film Blaga’s Lessons was well received during its international festival screenings because of the general acclaim. It scooped the Crystal Globe for Best Film during the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival while actress Eli Skorcheva bagged the Best Actress award for portraying Blaga. The film’s direction, as well as the story and its delivery, were viewed as sensitive and emotional and of social relevance, earning more nominations at festivals across Europe and other countries.
- Cast & Crew:
- Blaga is excellently interpretted by Eli Skorcheva, who portrays the character of a woman trying to find her balance between society’s principles and her own cruelty in this vulnerable time of her life.
- The film is written and directed by Stephan Komandarev, who is very much inclined in telling an honest story. He has done Directions and The Judgment which had a critical approach to the society in Bulgaria. The contents in the film Blaga’s Lessons save his tone from making it a fiction work entirely as Komandarev with his touch pursues the authentic point within the fusion.
- Along with Komandarev, Simeon Ventsislavov was also responsible for the writing of the screenplay stating that there’s a pretty big social aspect to the story but it’s not dry as it also focuses on Blaga as well.
- IMDb Ratings:
IMDb’s perfect score of 7.8/10 has earned the film perfect scores in storytelling, acting, and emotion. The audience has commended how the actors performed as well as how the film dealt with aging, vulnerability, and survival with the appropriate amount of delicacy and complexity.
- Personal Insights:
- Blaga’s Lessons* is an evocative commentary on how society ignores the elderly and the emotional and financial dangers they encounter. The film’s merit is that it seeks to put a face to the tragedy of Blaga without employing far too sentimental devices and rather, introduces a more complicated character where her moral dilemmas deepen as the narrative progresses. Eli Skorcheva’s portrayal is tremendous – Blaga’s character is traumatizing but her performance is subtle yet quite charged. It shows the tragic irony of the yearning of a former schoolteacher for illegal work. Blaga is engulfed in misery, entangled in a web of crime, but the deeper one goes, the more tragic the frustration. Society is only partly to blame, the film makes it clear, but the systemic oppression of people like Blaga is unbearable.