Just the Wind (2012)

AKA: Csak A Szél
Directed by: Benedek Fliegauf
Starring: Katalin Toldi (Mother), Gyongyi Lendvai (Anna), Lajos Sarkany (Rio)
Country: Hungary; Effed Up European Movies
Language: Hungarian, Romany; Effed Up Hungarian Cinema
Runtime: 01:38:20
Genres: Based on a True Story, Racism, Childhood, Siblings-Family

Plot – Spoilers:
In 2008-09, Romani-Hungarians were targeted by a group of Neo-Nazis. Just the Wind focuses on the daily lives of a Roma family during this period.

The Romani family here is made up of Mother, her invalid father and the two kids – Anna and Rio. Mother works two jobs and her diligence at work is noted by her supervisors, who despite their possible prejudice, appreciate her hardworking nature. Rio, the son, skips school most of the time, indulging in petty theft and has built up a collection of rubbish and useful shit that he hides away in a sort of bunker in the woods. Anna is regular to school and takes after her mother, literally keeping her head down and trying to get through the day without controversy. She does odd jobs for little knick-knacks, like a bottle of nailpolish for a tattoo sketch she does for some goth girls.

These are basic lives living off the barest of things. Dad is in Canada and the prospect of migration is the only looming hope amongst the degeneracy and filth of the community they live in. Just the Wind is a slow movie, with good reason. The slowness and intimacy of the daily lives of each of the characters helps to emphasize the constant sense of doom and dread reflected in their glum faces. There is constant fear of attack and of being hunted down, and so the kids have learnt to sometimes resort to animal cunning in order to survive.

Recommended if you enjoy watching extended shots of people seemingly doing nothing, but which actually affords you the time to let your imagination unravel their lives in an almost personal way.