Animafest Zagreb Review: Dukla deftly navigates the complexities of love and war (with puppets!)

Playing in competition at Animafest Zagreb, Dukla is one of the most fascinating movies I've had the pleasure to cover on this blog, both for what it is and for what it isn't. I went into it blind, which I like to do as often as I can. So as soon as it started, I was taken by surprise.

I think the most surprising thing for me was that I don't actually know that I consider Dukla an animated movie. This is a puppet film, but it's not stop-motion. Instead, the characters are puppets rigged on poles and strings, or sometimes manipulated by visible human hands. So the film is closer to live-action than animation (in my book, at least), though then you could argue that all film is animation, in that the illusion of motion is being created in the mind of the viewer. 

(Regardless, as the producers were kind enough to provide me a screener link, and the film is playing at an animation film festival, I'm happy to review it here.)

The second wrinkle is that the screener I received wasn't fully subtitled. There are scenes where one of the characters is writing letters (sometimes literally, other times in his mind) which had English subtitles, but otherwise, nada. This ultimately didn't feel like it mattered too much, as this is isn't a super dialogue-heavy film, and the visual story-telling is so powerful that I was able to follow along anyway. It's a testament to the skill of the filmmakers that the film works so well even with a language barrier, though I would love to watch it again with full subtitles someday.

Okay, with that business out of the way, let's get to it.

Dukla is a Slovak war film that depicts a budding romance in the midst of war. The film opens with text describing some of the broad strokes of world events leading up to WWII, as well as some of the key turning points in the war. The title refers to the Dukla pass on the border between Slovakia and Poland, where the Nazis and the Soviets fought for control in a protracted, bloody battle which lasted for two months and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.

We all know that war is hell, and it's perhaps the core refrain of the genre. And it's certainly true in Dukla. Endless sprays of bullets. Rape and torture. Fires burning as far as the eye can see. Bodies hanging from trees. The horrors of war are brutally depicted here, and somehow they're made all the more disturbing because of the medium. Watching these puppets act out these horrible and violent acts adds a layer of strangeness to the proceedings. I think we often are a bit numb to some of the things we see in war movies (or on the news, social media, wherever) because we have seen them so many times, in so many forms. But here, those kinds of images feel differently, because we're watching them enacted by these uncanny forms.

The puppets themselves are so fascinating to look at, and varied in their design. Some of them are quite lifelike, with normal proportions and what look like printed photographs laid over their faces, giving them realistic looks. Others are constructed of wood blocks, looking markedly different. I took it to reflect the way that the Nazis looked down on other groups, seeing them as literally less human. Regardless of if that was the reasoning behind the choice, it's a compelling visual.

The film unfolds through different chapters which introduce us to our two main characters, a Romani MUSICIAN and a German SOLDIER. Later chapters are labeled DEATH, LOVE, and PEACE. (Ironically, the first image of PEACE is a corpse hanging from a tree.) It feels like a disservice to divulge too much about the story, as I was surprised by where it went. It's the kind of film that will surely spark conversation, even debate, amongst those who watch it.

Personally, I found it tender and hopeful. The film is bluntly anti-war, ending with a plea to never let such a conflict happen again. Thus, it's about as timely a movie as you can imagine, considering all of the atrocities being carried out across the world right now. The film argues that if we could all recognize the humanity in each other, and connect with each other on that simple level, the world would be a safer, happier, and lovelier place. Sounds about right to me.

While the film is very immersive, plunging viewers right into the action, rarely giving us a moment to catch our breaths, there are a few key moments and scenes where the veil is pulled back, and the creative process is revealed. The most haunting scene, which will linger with me forever, shows the filmmaker's hands manipulating the puppets in a scene that is so tender, so raw, it almost feels like we should look away. Other scenes pull back to reveal the apparatus of production, the secrets of the artifice. Almost as if to say: war is real, the horrors are real, but this movie is just a facsimile.

Dukla has been well received in Slovakia, though it seems to have to fight for every step it makes forward. Per the film's producer, it's the rare Slovak film that didn't receive money from the national film fund, state funding, or commercial co-producers. And though it's made successful festival appearances and resonated with critics, it has still been somewhat overlooked. Hopefully, as it continues to play around the world, it will find its audience. In some ways, it's a challenging film, but it's also extremely watchable. It's a truly unique film, an exciting new take on a well-worn genre that finds new dimensions to the thrills of love and the atrocities of war.