PÖFF 2016: The Constitution

Director Rajko Grlic penned the controversial script for "The Constitution", a whistleblowing film that touches on a series of social, political and ethnic issues still unresolved in the former Yugoslav territories.

Vjeko is a quinquagenarian Croatian teacher ostracized and ridiculed because of his homosexuality. Downtrodden by his indigent, gruff father who never accepted his homosexuality, Vjeko now looks after him, reminding him of all the hardships he put him through while growing up. One night, as he’s walking the streets of Zagreb as Katarina, he is attacked by a pack of hateful wingnuts and is taken to ER, where he is welcomed by his neighbour, Maja. She will help him recover from the beating over the following days and replace him as a carer for his father, who is laid up in bed after having endured an above-the-knee amputation of both legs. As a thank-you, Vjeko agrees to read the Croatian constitution to her dyslexic husband, Ante, who needs to pass an exam in order to keep his job as a police officer. Vjeko is a Croatian, and he is prejudiced against Ante because of his Serbian origins, but as the two get to know one another, they both gradually learn the true meaning of the Croatian constitution.

Hubris and prejudice are at the core of the film, and they are pointed out as the main causes of a rickety, chauvinistic society founded on wrath and hatred. Even the nicest people fall victim to it, and instead of paying attention to the real threats, they end up harassing and oppressing the good people.

Giampietro Balia