A provocative crime story with a significant environmental message, the movie Spoor is based on a novel by 2018 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, Olga Tokarczuk.
A classic crime story centres on criminal acts and the investigation led by those who uphold the law. The movie Spoor subverts this traditional genre convention and blurs the commonly accepted distinctions between perpetrator and victim, and law and lawlessness.
Based on the novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by the 2018 Nobel Prize Laureate, Olga Tokarczuk, Spoor is a provocative eco-crime story set in a sleepy small town shocked by a series of gruesome murders. This picture was directed by acclaimed Polish film director and three-time Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland. Holland wrote the screenplay for Spoor in collaboration with Olga Tokarczuk.
A town’s mystery
For years, close communities where everyone knows each other have never ceased to fascinate film directors who find a perfect background for exploring complicated and intriguing stories (see Twin Peaks, Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Pledge).
In Agnieszka Holland’s movie, the bleak realities of life in a village located in the Klodzko Valley in Poland, somewhere near the Czech border, are revealed from the perspective of the eccentric, ageing woman Janina Duszejko. She lives alone with her two dogs on the edge of a town surrounded by a picturesque natural landscape. Formerly a civil engineer in Syria, now a retired English teacher and amateur astrologist, Duszejko leads a very independent life on her own terms. Her dogs are her only family. Animals have a very special place in her heart. Duszejko is fully devoted to the protection of wild nature despite the reluctance of her local community. Her relentless fight against local hunters makes her an alienated and strange figure in town. Even her reports of illegal poaching to the police are ignored. In a community where the rhythm of the life revolves around the hunting calendar, nobody cares about the voice of an elderly woman clamouring for animal rights.
Unexpectedly, the town is struck by a series of brutal murders targeting hunters who were influential residents. When the police investigation comes to a standstill due to lack of suspects, Duszejko starts an investigation of her own. Certain leads suggest the sensational conclusions that murders are being committed as acts of vengeance by wild animals…
As the criminal case unfolds, the director reveals further dimensions and meanings of the story.
Hunting as a metaphor of power
The combination of Olga Tokarczuk’s powerful prose and Agnieszka Holland’s directing talent result in an unusual film experiment. Spoor was awarded the Silver Bear – Alfred Bauer Prize – at the 2017 Berlinale for “opening new perspectives on cinematic art”.
After the Spoor premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, comments in the Polish press suggest that Holland had stirred up a hornet’s nest.
In this portrayal of a conservative, provincial community in which the law is on the side of the strongest and the voice of the “weaker” goes unheard, Holland puts forth a critique of an oppressive patriarchal system. Hunters in Spoor embody corrupt power, violence and male domination.
Holland tells a story about revenge while experimenting boldly with the fabric of the film. She masterfully builds tension, playing with different film genres and conventions. Spoor teeters between a crime film, an eco-thriller and a social issue drama. The strong environmental message and ethical issues are built into the mystery plot. Presenting a story about an ageing eco-activist at war with ruthless hunters, Holland prompts discussion of future models of coexistence between humans and animals in an era of ecological crisis.
Horrific images of animals being hunted are juxtaposed with the majestic beauty of nature, idyllic scenes from rural life are contrasted with the harsh reality of dead-end town. The story boils over with enigmas and extreme emotions.
Playing the lead role, Agnieszka Mandat brings an intense and richly layered portrayal of ageing, lonely women – a figure that is marginalized and made almost invisible by contemporary culture focused mainly on youth and beauty.
Spoor is a bold commentary on current societies where values such as women’s rights, ecology, minority rights and tolerance are at risk.
Gripping, ambiguous, cinema.