Review #389: 'Goodbye, 20th Century!' (1998)

We are only able to interpret from a piece of art what we bring to it. Our own personal knowledge is all we have to unravel, or judge information, when confronted with something that requires diagnosis. Whilst there is limited writing on this obscure Macedonian film, what is written I have found not to be what I considered whilst viewing it. The film's intention I gleaned, began with it's own remission, with a reference to the old testament. This is followed with a scene apparently set in 2019, where Kuzman (Nikola Ristanovski), is gunned down in a post apocalyptic desert, only to survive these apparently severe wounds.  Kuzman then has to battle with heavy weaponry with the "Man With Green Hair" (Toni Mihajlovski), and ends the first sequence bathing with a naked woman who has just dropped a basket of apples into the water (is this a reference to the garden of Eden?).

Before the second half appears, we are shown a wedding in 1900 that results in the killing of the groom. After this we are introduced to a man dressed as Santa Claus (Lazar Ristovski) who travels back to his apartment on the 31st of December 1999. At his apartment he finds that a wake for what appears to be a military official is underway and the members of the party are dismayed to see his entry. This is the extent of my formal explanation of "what happens on the screen". I spent the majority of the film in confusion. I perhaps need to research the history of Macedonia (war has always been prevalent in the Balkans - but that is all I know). And this is why I am standing by my opening sentence, and therefore will state what I took from this bizarre but interesting film, is what very limited knowledge I had to begin with.

I personally felt that this often violent piece of cinema was attempting to break down, and possibly eliminate icons that should have dissipated before the 20th century even began. The first half I felt was Jesus - his body is unbreakable, despite being shot on many occasions, he simply rises from this - but, like Adam in the garden of Eden, he is tempted by the body of woman. In the last sequence, Santa occupies his apartment, which is completely white - perhaps a signal to a waiting room of death - where the occupants degenerate into madness and violence, and death to the real is the only outcome. This brings me to the interpretation that I have of this apparently confusing and a seeming clash of disparate ideologies, comes into effect. I see this as an analysis of the need for a destruction of false idols, icons, or illusions.

Unfortunately, it is the illusory - i.e. the image of Santa Claus - that will prevail at the end of the 20th century. We are left with the concept that the fantasy of the man in red, will always prevail over what is real will always take precedent over the realities of our constantly complex world. But again, in conclusion, I probably have this completely wrong, and can only speculate over the historical aspects that I have no knowledge of. In terms of the films overall result, it is certainly interesting, and absolutely different. It is also wonderful to look at - it's aesthetic seeped in often clinical beauty.


Directed by: Darko Mitrevski, Aleksandar Popovski
Starring: Lazar Ristovski, Nikola Ristanovski, Vlado Jovanovski
Country: Republic Of Macedonia

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy