Freedom

Bartas’s first film shot outside Europe—perhaps the most enigmatic and accessible of all his works—is a minimalistic metaphor about the condition of modern human beings as outcast slaves trapped by their desires. Four refugees from Africa attempt to reach European shores, but their boat is shot upon by the coast guard. Following the death of their oldest member, whose body they leave on the beach, the other three—two men and a girl—move along the shore. Fleeing from soldiers tracking them, they silently wander through a desert in search of a solution and perhaps even the very meaning of their existence. In the end, they go their separate ways. In our memories remain images of distant human silhouettes stubbornly overcoming empty space that is just barely dabbled with color, and close-ups of the faces of the now-homeless protagonists devoid of any support. The film won an award in Venice for its manner of showing the relationship between human beings and nature.