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Svetlana Slapšak
Anikina vremena
Leta 1954 je režiser Vladimir Pogačic posnel Anikina vremena po kratkem
romanu - ali dolgi noveli - Ive Andrica, kasneje dobitnika Nobelove
nagrade. Andriceva proza predstavlja izjemno antropološko, psihološko
in sociološko analizo človeškega obnašanja skozi specifične kontekste
majhnih (ali malo večjih) bosanskih mest pod turško oblastjo. Zapletene
merže razmerij med posameznikom in skupnostjo običajno podaja skozi
dolge notranje monologe svojih glavnih junakov ali v kratkih in jedrnatih
komentarjih manj pomembnih akterjev. V teh monologih njegovi junaki
pogosto analizirajo lastno obnašanje, junakinj pa je v Andricevi prozi
znatno manj kot moških protagonistov. Tako so Aniki redko dovoljene
refleksije, namesto nje nam njeno moško spremstvo podaja različne uvide
v njeno tragično usodo. Ta pripovedna strategija osami glavni objekt
poželenja - glavni razlog za agresijo med moškimi tega majhnega mesta
- in izpostavi konflikt med Aniko in moškimi oz. skupnostjo, ki jo obdaja.
Njihovo delovanje, ki kulminira v nekakšnem ritualnem umoru, ki ga vsaj
odobravajo, če že ne sprožijo vsi njeni ljubimci in žrtve njenega zapeljevanja,
je akcija skupnosti. Ali kot se izrazi eden od moških: "Ženska
je hudičevo delo in če je ne moreš ukrotiti in izčrpati z otroki in
težkim delom, je bolje da jo ubiješ."
Sama zgodba je preprosta: mlad mož, Mihajlo, je podlegel čarom poročene
ženske in sodeloval pri umoru njenega moža. Umakne se v hribe in se
pritaji, toda morijo ga občutki krivde zaradi česar postane nezmožen
iskrene vezi s katerokoli žensko. Ko ga brat povabi v mesto zaradi družinskih
obveznosti, tam spozna Aniko, prelepo mlado žensko, ki je izgubila starše
in razpolaga s precejšnim bogastvom. Takoj sta si všeč, toda Mihajlo
iz strahu pred svojimi težavami z ženskami zataji na prvem zmenku. Anika
je globoko prizadeta. Spreta se in soočita svoji močni volji. Zapuščena
se Anika preda prvemu mimoidočemu - turškemu izobčencu. Še naprej se
razdaja moškim in živi razuzdano življenje. Uživa v tem da izziva moške,
ki se borijo za njo - srbski upornik proti turškemu upravniku idr. Moški
postanejo igrače v njenih rokah. Potem se v mestu spet pojavi Mihajlo.
Tokrat se dobita in se ljubita. Anika ga roti naj jo odpelje s seboj,
toda Mihajlo je prišel, da jo ubije. Kar pa mu ne uspe, saj ga prehiti
Anikin prizadet brat, pek, ki goji incestna čustva do nje.
Andričeva proza še zdaleč ni feministična temveč zgolj projecira tragiko
ženske na mračno moško naravo in v glavnem raziskuje ravno to, moško,
naravo. Pogačic pa stvar popolnoma obrne. Film je nastal v izredno ugodni
klimi za kulturno ustvarjanje, ko je jugoslovanska oblast želela prikazati
državo kot upornico Stalinovemu bloku predvsem na reprezentativnem kulturnem
področju in dovoljevala več svobode, liberalneše poglede in pluralnost
umetniških pristopov. Film je uspel v zahodnih kinematografih in je
bil tudi prvi jugoslovanski film, ki je dosegel ameriške komercialne
kinematografe. Vladimir Pogačic je bil idealen kandidat: široko izobražen
in podkovan v humanistiki, predvsem psihoanalizi (bolj nagnjen k Jungu
kot Freudu) zgodovini, filozofiji in literarni teoriji, tako da se je
od njega pričakovalo veliko spoštovanje do visoko cenjene literarne
predloge za scenarij. In ni razočaral - Andricevi dolgi notranji monologi
so ostali v filmu, ki pa je vizualno tako močan, da monologi delujejo
bolj kot nekakšna "besedna glasba", ki spremlja mnogo bolj
prepričljivo akcijo na platnu. To pa še ni vse. Pogačic je Andricevo
predlogo interpretiral na nepričakovan način in zavzel nedvoumno feministično
stališče. Pri tem je uporabil antropološka in psihoanalitična sredstva.
Kot žrtev patriarhalne družbe je ženska, ki izstopi iz sprejetega vzorca
(matere, žene, sestre, kurbe), obsojena na usmrtitev kot kazen za svoj
perstop in postavljena kot svarilo ostalim. Njen umor je ritualen tudi
skozi dejstvo, da ga stori norec, za katerega se v balkanski družbi
smatra, da je blizu bogovom. Brat je tudi pek, ki v balkanskiem izročilu
velja za poklic, ki je blizu demonom in podzemlju - v mlinu človek najlažje
sreča demone, vile in vampirje in mlinarji veljajo za hudičeve pomagače.
Njihovi obrazi, beli od moke, so maske smrti - bela je v s slovanskih
in drugih balkanskih mitologijah barva smrti. V besu preden umori Aniko
njen brat raztrese moko po celi pekarni, vključno z črno močko - še
en znak njegove povezanosti s podzemljem in demoni. Po umoru še sam
stori samomor: obesi se na hruško na sestrinem vrtu - isto drevo, ki
je skozi film večkrat metalo senco skozi njeno okno in na steno. Hruška
igra v balkanski mitologiji temačno vlogo: pravijo, da pelje v blaznost
vsakogar, ki spi pod njeno krošnjo in pogosto jo je najti v bližini
pokopališč. Senca hruške v prvem prizoru v Anikinem salonu že takoj
nakaže njeno pogubljenost.
Od vsega začetka je Pogačiceva Anika predstavljena brez dvoumnosti,
ki je sicer značilna za Andricevo prozo: Anika je močna, seksualno superiorna
večini moških in se te svoje moči tudi polno zaveda. Poigrava se z njimi,
igra enega proti drugemu, hrepeni pa po enem samem - Mihajlu. Močna,
seksualno osvobojena ženska je bila integralen del jugoslovanske komunistične
ideologije po koncu vojne. So moški predstavniki nomenklature držali
fige v žepu? Prav verjetno, saj ideja ženske emancipacije izgine iz
prakse, če že ne iz tekstov, kmalu po sporu s Stalinom in že nekaj let
kasneje, v 60ih, jugoslovanske ideološke oblasti uvedejo smrtnonosno
kombinacijo patriarhalnega in potrošniškega modela za ženske in s tem
zatrejo ideale, ki so jim omogočili sprostiti neverjetno moč žensk med
in po vojni (logistika za partizane, preskrba s hrano, zavetjem, oskrbo
in drugo prostovoljno delo tudi kasneje)
To energijo, ki je bila leta 1954 še vedno močno prisotna, je Pogačic
usmeril v "revizijo" Andrica, v zagovar emancipatornih idej
in podob. Ne bi mu bilo treba, toda tudi njegova lastna umetniška in
osebna usmeritev je bila feministična. V svoji interpretaciji Andrica
uporablja predvsem vizualna sredstva - simbole, ki namigijejo na popularno
balkansko mitologijo, pa tudi bolj splošne (npr. Jungovske) interpretacije,
ki imajo širši domet. Lep primer je prvo srečanje Anike in Mihajla:
pred cerkvijo (oba sta pravoslavne vere). Na začetku Anika gleda Mihajla
iz višjega položaja na stopnicah. On se najprej spusti, vendar se nato
vrne gor in jo opazuje iz višje stopnice, da popravi razmerje in si
zagotovi superiornost. Takrat jo ogovori, vizualni identifikaciji doda
akustično. Glazbena spremljava te scene je vzeta iz Liturgije znanega
srbskega skladatelja Stevana Mokranjaca in je pogrebni marš. Srečanje
dveh bodočih ljubimcev spremlja celotna skupnost, vključno z Anikinim
bratom, ki mu javno nasprotuje. Prizor zelo spominja na grško tragedijo
(junak, junakinja in zbor) in že nakazuje tragičen konec. Prvi (in neuspešen)
zmenek se dogaja ob vodi - mogočni vodi, slapovih in brzicah (blizu
Jajca). Voda je ženski element, ne le to: Jajce je bilo prizorišče drugega
zasedanja Avnoj-a leta 1943, kjer so bile formulirane osnovne deklaracije
in pravni okviri bodoče Jugoslavije, vključno z revolucionarnimi zagotovili
pravic žensk…Mihajlo prvi prispe na zmenek in si najprej v vodi umije
obraz - očiten znak da nujno rabi očiščenje (gr. miasma) - skupaj z
neizogibnimi prebliski njegovega prejšnjega razmerja. Anika pride kasneje
in Mihajlo se skrije, da jo lahko opazuje kako gre preko mosta in kako
odide v solzah. Mihajlov vojerističen t.j. sekundaren in nižji položaj
se večkrat ponavlja: v temi opazuje Aniko, ki pride k vodnjaku po vodo,
ko odide poljubi njene odtise v blatu; pred in po srečanju z njo si
umije obraz in roke. Edina vez, ki nakazuje možnost seksualne harmonije
med njima je cigareta: po njegovem odhodu Anika vzame njegovo cigaretnico
in strastno kadi; v naslednjem prizoru on kadi in tako naprej. Cigareta
kot erotičen predmet ni nič novega: v balkanskem kontekstu cigareta
izzove prizore turških haremov, kjer ženske cigarete ne samo kadijo,
ampak jih uporabljajo v igricah ki izražajo simpatije ali celo strasti.
V haremu se je za popularno smatralo žensko z veliko luknjami na svojih
svilenih oblačilih… Pogačicevo poigravanje s simboli kot so cigarete
kaže, da bi bila Anika in Mihajlo lahko seksualno uspešen par, če tega
ne bi preprečevala njegova nezmožnost komunikacije z ženskami. Tudi
ostali moški se obnašajo podobno kot Mihajlo: torej obnašanje vseh moških
uniči neodvisno žensko v patriarhalni družbi. To tezo dodatno potrdi
raznolikost ostalih moških: kristijani, muslimani, stari, mladi, lepi
in malo manj lepi.. vsi hočejo Aniko (ali pa jo hočejo mrtvo).
Kadar Mihajla ni zraven je Anika predstavljena kot absolutno superiorna
moškim. Celo njen prvi ljubimec, ki jo pride ubit, pred njo pade na
kolena objokan, ko se mu pogumno nastavi in ga izzove, naj jo ubije.
Moške, ki ji dvorijo na njenem vrtu, gleda zviška. Njena hiša in dvorišče
delujeta kot obrnjen harem - njen lasten vst moških, kjer edino ona
izbira. Po strastni noči s srbskim upornikom je on tisti, ki se nag
ovija okoli nje, medtem ko ona leži na hrbtu v položaju zadovolj(e)nega
moškega. Ko zapeljuje turškega upravnika, se mu nastavlja kot mačka
in uporabi svojo verbalno moč (šloganje iz kave), da lahko vstopi v
njegov svet in ga potem izda uporniku. Navkljub sprijenosti katere stigmo
ji podeli moška skupnost, tako krščanska kot muslimanska, pa ne more
niti pomisliti, kaj šele sprejeti incesta, ki bi ji morda lahko rešil
življenje. V zaključnem prizoru, ki v enem od mnogih časovnih skokov
v filmu ni zadnji prizor, so trije njeni najpomembnejši ljubimci, vkjučno
z Mihajlom, ki je prišel prepozno, da bi jo ubil, zbrani ob njenem truplu.
Komentirajo minljivost lepote. Toda v zadnjem prizoru je ženska moč
ubranjena, tokrat za vedno: turški upravnik sedi na klopci ob reki,
v bližini slapov iz začetka filma, in brezciljno strelja v vodo. Toda
voda, ženski element, mogočno dere, kot da sploh ne strelja…
Anikina vremena so povezana še z enim zgodovinskim dogodkom v
Jugoslaviji: Milena Dapčevic, prelestna mlada igralka v vlogi Anike,
je bila poročena s partizanskim generalom Pekom Dapčevicem. Njena brezkompromisna
igra je morala razbesneti dobršen del nomenklature. Najverjetneje, saj
je bil ta zakon tudi ena izmed tem o kateri je v svoji knjigi Tretji
razred pisal Milovan Djilas - in zaradi nje pristal v zaporu in na koncu
postal najbolj slaven jugoslovanski disident vseh časov.
Edinstven in iskren v svoji zvestobi komunističnim idejam o pravicah
žensk in emncipaciji je Pogačicev film posredno kritičen do Andricevega
nejasnega odnosa do patriarhalne družne in hrati neposredno kritičen
do patriarhije same. Z uporabo lokalne modrosti in domače ikonologije
je Pogačic ustvaril močan splet simbolike, ki je razumljiva tako na
lokalnem, kot tudi na globalnem nivoju zahvaljujoč njegovi mednarodni
izobrazbi in kozmopolitanizmu. V tem edinstvenem času je bil to morda
tudi edini primer intelektualnega odziva na ponudbo komunistične oblasti,
ki ni sprožil novih konfliktov niti ni škodoval samemu avtorju. Kasneje
jugoslovanska nomenklatura ni več pogosto potrebovala intelektualnega
predstavništva niti niso intelektualci sami več raziskovali potencialov
feminističnih idej vgrajenih v komunistično ideologijo, saj so bile
te ideje ne samo pozabljene, temveč tudi cenzurirane. V tem edinstvenem
momentu je lahko progresiven feminist izrazil svoje misli. Več kot desetletje
je trajalo, da so se zbudili novi feministični glasovi, tokrat izraženi
v povsem novem kontekstu, daleč od celovečernih filmov.
_
Svetlana Slapšak
The Times of Anika
Director Vladimir Pogačic made this feature film in 1954, based on
a short novel - or a long story written by Ivo Andric (later a Nobel
Prize laureate). Andric's prose is an ingenious anthropological, psychological,
and social analysis of human behaviour in the precise context of small
(or bigger) Bosnian towns under the Turkish rule, the twisted and complicated
network of inner relations between the group and the individual, usually
told in long internal monologues by the leading personae in the plot,
and commented by less important participants in the story in short,
focused sentences. Heroes often analyse their own behaviour in these
monologues, but there are significantly fewer heroines than heroes in
Andric's prose. In The Times of Anika, Andric seldom allows his heroine
to reflect: her male entourage does that, giving different insights
into her tragic destiny. This narrative strategy, which isolates the
main object of desire and the main reason for inter-male aggression
in the small community, stresses the conflict between Anika and the
men, that is the collective around her. Their action, which ends in
a kind of ritual murder, approved if not prepared by all her lovers
or victims of her seductive power, is the action of the collective.
Or, as one of the men says to the hero, woman is a devil's product,
and if you cannot tame her and exhaust her with children and hard work,
it is better to kill her. The plot itself is a simple one: a young man,
Mihailo, succumbs to the charms of a married woman, and participates
in the murder of her husband. He retires into the mountains keeping
a low profile, but suffers deeply from feelings of guilt, and becomes
incapable of creating a bond with any woman. Invited by his brother
to the city for a family affair, he meets Anika, a beautiful young woman
who has lost her parents, and disposes of a large fortune. They like
each other, but Mihailo hides on their first date, insecure because
of his problems with women. Anika is deeply frustrated, they quarrel
and confront their strong wills and abandoned, Anika gives herself to
the first passer-by - a Turkish outlaw. She continues to embrace men
and lead a shameless lifestyle. She makes men confront each other and
takes delight in it: a Serb rebel against a Turkish administrator, and
so on. Men are toys in her hands. Mihailo turns up in the city again.
This time, they meet, make love, and she begs him to take her away,
but Mihailo has come after her to kill her. He does not succeed; Anika's
retarded brother, a baker taken with incestuous passion for her, kills
her first.
Andric's prose is certainly not a feminist one, it projects women's
tragedy against the screen of men's dark nature, mainly to explore that
nature. Pogačic's movie is something completely different. Made in a
very privileged moment in which the Yugoslav political power wanted
to present the country as a rebel against Stalin's block on the representative
cultural level - more freedom, more liberal views, plurality of artistic
approaches - the movie really made it in the Western cinema theatres:
it was the first Yugoslav movie that reached American commercial movie
theatres. Vladimir Pogačic was the perfect man for the job: broadly
educated, well accomplished in the domains of humanities such as psychoanalysis
(more inclined to Jung than to Freud), history, philosophy, literary
theory; he was expected to respect the highly praised literary text
which was to be turned into the script. That he did: Andric's long inner
monologues are in the movie, but the visual side is so strong, that
the monologues function more as a kind of "verbal music" that
accompanies the far more impressive action on the screen. But Pogačic
did much more. He interpreted Andric's prose in a quite unexpected way,
making a clear feminist point. His tools were both psychoanalytical
and anthropological. Victim of the patriarchal society, a woman who
steps out from the projected model (mother, wife, sister, whore) is
pre-destined to be exemplarily executed, punished for the deregulation
she has caused. Her murder is ritual due to the fact that it is done
by the fool, regarded as close to the god(s) in all Balkan societies.
The brother is also a baker, again a profession close to demons and
the underworld in the Balkan cultures: mills are the places where one
is most likely to meet demons, fairies and vampires; and millers are
considered helpers of the demons. Their faces, whitened by flower, are
the masks of death - white is the colour of death in Slavic and other
Balkan mythologies. When enraged and preparing for the murder, Anika's
brother throws flower all over the shop, covering his black cat too
- another sign of his relation with the underworld and demons. After
the murder he commits suicide by hanging himself from a pear tree in
his sister's yard - the same one that used to cast its shadow through
the window or on the wall quite often in the movie. The pear tree is
a shadowy tree in Balkan mythology, the tree that will drive mad anyone
who ventures to sleep under it, and is often found near graves. The
pear tree shadow hints, from the first scene in Anika's sitting room,
that the woman is doomed.
From the very beginning, Pogačic constructs Anika's character without
any ambiguity, otherwise typical for Andric's prose: Anika is a strong
woman, sexually superior to most men, and conscious of her power over
them. She plays games with them, directing one against the other, but
yearns just for one - Mihailo. The powerful, sexually liberated woman
was promoted in the communist ideology of post-war Yugoslavia. Were
the male members of the nomenclature keeping their fingers crossed behind
their backs? Most certainly, because the idea of women's emancipation
vanishes from the practices, if not from the texts, shortly after the
break-up with Stalin, and only a few years later, in the 60', the Yugoslav
ideological authorities introduced a deadly combination of a patriarchal
and consumerist model for women, never again to revive the ideals that
provided them with the immense force of women during and after the war
(logistics for the guerrilla fighters, providing of food, shelter and
care, voluntary work after the war). Pogačic used the energy that was
still visible everywhere at that time (1954) to "correct"
Andric and to promote emancipatory ideas and images. He did not have
to do it, however it was his artistic and personal orientation to make
a strong feminist point. To present his interpretation of Andric's text,
he uses mostly visual means, symbols that hint to well-known Balkan
mythology, but also to general - for instance Jungian - interpretations,
that can be understood outside the Balkan folklore. The first meeting
between Anika and Mihailo is exemplary in this sense: they meet before
a church (they are both Orthodox Christians). Anika first gazes at Mihailo
from a higher position on the steps. Then he goes down, but comes back
to gaze at her from a higher position, to correct the situation and
ensure his superiority. That is when he addresses her, adding acoustic
identification to the visual one. The music accompanying this scene
is a death hymn taken from the Liturgy by Stevan Mokranjac, a famous
Serb composer. The meeting of the two lovers to be is observed by the
whole community, including Anika's retarded brother, who protests openly.
The scene looks very much as if taken from a Greek tragedy (hero, heroine
and a quire) and already indicates the tragic end. The first (and unsuccessful)
date takes place by the water - powerful water, waterfalls and cascades
(near the town of Jajce in Bosnia). Water is a woman's element, but
not only that: Jajce is the town where the people's assembly's founding
session took place in 1943 - in the midst of war - to formulate the
basic texts and to form a legal framework for the future state of Yugoslavia
- including the revolutionary proposal of guaranteeing the rights of
women... Mihailo gets to the date first and washes his face in the water
- a clear sign that he is in a great need of purification (Greek miasma),
with inevitable flashbacks of his earlier relation. Anika comes later
and Mihailo hides himself, only to watch her passing the bridge over
the water and leaving the place in tears. Mihailo's voyeurist, that
is secondary and lower position, is accented several times: he comes
to watch Anika at the fountain in the darkness when she comes to fetch
the water, and after she leaves, he kisses the traces of her feet in
the mud; he washes his face and hands before and after meeting her.
Their only link, which points to the possibility of sexual harmony between
them is a cigarette: she takes his cigarette holder after he leaves
and smokes with great passion; he smokes a cigarette in the scene that
succeeds the scene in which she smokes, and so on. The cigarette as
an erotic object is nothing new: in the Balkan context the cigarette
conjures an image of Turkish harems, where women were not only smoking,
but also using cigarettes in games aimed at showing sympathies and maybe
passions. A lady in a harem with many holes in her silk garments was
considered very popular...Pogačic's game with symbols like cigarettes
insinuates that Anika and Mihajlo could be a sexually successful couple,
but his incapacity of communication with women destroys everything.
The other men's behaviour corresponds with Mihailo's: therefore, it
is the behaviour of all of the men that destroys an independent woman
in the patriarchal society. The other men further confirm the thesis
by being so different: Christians, Muslims, old, young, pretty, less
pretty.. they all want Anika (or want her dead).
When represented without Mihailo, Anika is absolutely superior to men:
even her first lover, who comes to kill her, falls on his knees in tears
when she addresses him courageously and challenges him to kill her.
She usually looks down upon the men that come to court her in her yard.
Her house and the yard function as a reverse harem - one woman's own
garden of men, in which she is the only one to choose. After a night
of love with a Serb rebel, it is he who is naked, curved around her,
and Anika lies on her back, in the position of a satisfied male. When
she is seducing the Turkish administrator, she poses as a cat and uses
her verbal power (fortune telling from a cup of coffee) to enter his
world, only to expose him to the rebel's attack. As perverted as she
is deemed to be by the stigma of the male community, both Orthodox and
Muslim, she cannot accept or even think of incest, which might have
saved her life. In the final scene, which in one of the many anachronic
jumps in the movie is not the last scene, three of her most important
lovers (including Mihailo, who was too late to kill her) are gathered
around her corpse. They comment on the passing beauty. But the final
scene vindicates once again, and this time for ever, the feminine force
of women: the Turkish administrator sits at the bench of the river,
close to the waterfalls from the beginning, and shoots aimlessly into
the water. The water, woman's element, runs powerfully, as if the shooting
(man's force) never happened...
The Times of Anika marked another historic event in Yugoslavia:
Milena Dapčevic, the exquisite young actress who played Anika, was married
to the famous partisan general Peko Dapčevic. She must have infuriated
a good portion of the nomenclature with her uncompromising acting in
this movie. Quite probably, as this marriage was one of the cases on
which Milovan Djilas reflected in his book The Third Class to his own
detriment: he went to jail, and eventually became the most famous Yugoslav
dissident of all times.
Unique in its sincere adhering to the communist ideas on women's rights
and emancipation, Pogačic's movie is indirectly critical toward Andric's
unclear position on patriarchy, and overtly critical against patriarchy
in his own right. Using local wisdom and native iconology, Pogačic created
a strong cluster of symbols, which are both locally and universally
understandable, thanks to his internationally originating knowledge
and urban refinement. It was a unique moment - maybe a unique case too
- of intellectual response to an offer made by the communist authorities,
which did not bring about further conflicts, or do damage to such an
intellectual. The Yugoslav nomenclature did not need intellectual representation
very often in later times and intellectuals did not explore the potential
of feminist ideas built into the communist ideology, especially since
the feminist ideas were not only forgotten, but censored too. It was
a unique moment in which a progressive male feminist could express his
thoughts. After a silence which lasted more than a decade, new feminist
voices tried to express themselves, in a completely new context, and
certainly not in the feature movies.
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