Int’l Critics Line: Canada’s Oscar Submission ‘Drunken Birds’
There are moments in Drunken Birds, Serbian Canadian director Ivan Grbovic’s long-awaited second feature, that evoke strong sense memories of Days Of Heaven, Terrence Malick’s definitive film about the beauty and hardship of the rural laboring life. Days Of Heaven was set in 1916; Drunken Birds takes place today on a successful vegetable farm in Québec, where the workers are bussed in seasonally from Mexico. Otherwise, not much is different. The sun rises and sets in its infinite glory. The workers cut vast fields of lettuces; the work is back-breaking and the hours are long, but there is a dignity in it. The Canadian farmer seems fair, but the boss is always the boss.