Looking at the boundless horizon

The premiere of the film “Roman’s Childhood” by Linas Mikuta, one of the most interesting Lithuanian documentary filmmakers of the last decade, took place at the European Film Forum “Scanorama”. At the end of October, “Roman’s Childhood” was shown in the competition program of the prestigious Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film DOK Leipzig. 

Linas Mikuta, who made his debut at the beginning of the last decade, expands his field of exploration in his latest film – observing the lives of marginal people. The fate and stories of people on the periphery, who are mostly avoided by others, who are ignored by society, are documented by our director together with the co-creator of the films – cinematographer Kristina Sereikaitė, in an attempt to move them closer to us. Perhaps due to the close connection, in the film “Roman’s Childhood”, one does not feel a slightest doubt about the director’s and cinematographer’s common sense of themes and moods. And the close relationship and trust with the characters of the film who have become friends, is obviously mutual. 

This gentle dimension of the film, touching with its authenticity and openness, could be developed further, but the duo of filmmakers remain as objective as possible, and show more than one side of the lives of people they have met, the characters in their film. Mother Diana, father Aivaras and their young son Roman are a family at social risk, and the life in the squat, which we see in the first shots, as the image of its inhabitants begins to shape, does not evoke associations with happiness and harmony.

Despite the first impression, the case of the Roman’s family is not yet the worst or not as we are used to imagine when we think about the situation of people at social risk and their behaviour. This family lives in poverty, parents are more concerned with survival than with the child’s safety or education, but at home, values – mutual support and care in an effort to maintain love and warmth – are still fostered. Through the short story of the daily life of Roman and his parents, the film conveys the affinity that unites the destinies of all people – regardless of status, living conditions. No one can choose the environment in which we grew up, the fate ignores our desires to be raised and educated in one way or another. The film does not approach the answer (there is probably none), whose influence mostly determines a person’s advancement in the further path of their life. Without exception, the relationship with the parents is one of the essential, and this is seen not only from the perspective of Roman, but also from the perspective of his father and mother as they share their memories and grievances about their parents during the conversations. The loss of connection, the lack of it, becomes sort of incentive for them not to pass on such suffering to their child. Despite the living conditions and the existing circumstances, they try to give their son what is most important – the knowing that you are important and needed. Thus, the place and environment and the family relationship in the film open up a broader issue, not just the fate of a particular family. Born in Klaipėda, Roman lives near the port, the sea has become to him not only the main joy of his childhood, but also a risk, the great danger of life. Mom keeps reminding him to keep away from water, but doesn’t forbid going outside, doesn’t control childish curiosity.

The developing perception of the world is seen in the film both in Roman’s home environment and when he runs with a friend to a yard, harbour or beach, where there are no boundaries, no stopping, where children are free to do what they come up with. Roman, living without strict parental control, not only without modern technologies, but also without toys, finds joy in running after the wind and jumping through the sea waves. 

One of the most impacting scenes in the film is Roman’s presence by the vast sea, when sort of anxiety can be felt, and fear of something bad (this feeling lasts almost until the end of the film). Roman and the sea, his strokes through the waves next to a friend who follows him everywhere, portray an unpredictable threat and constant parental worry for the safety of children. The boundless horizon, two children and the red buoy floating in the sea seen in the wide shot convey almost the whole essence of the film, which the director also talked about. How much freedom can be experienced with limits and prohibitions, how much freedom must be restricted for security reasons, how far can fearless quests go? In the film, partially like that – the idea is formulated, and it is developed by the images – the story is arranged that brings up the thinking on the universal boundaries that connect the relationships between parents and children.

Portraits of characters and landscapes of their surrounding are made meaningful in the documentary not only through random but symbolically connected elements, but also by capturing open or closed compositions (as if Roman’s life was divided into spaces of freedom and squat) or by inserting background sentimental classical music which takes the film characters away from reality, moving them into memories or dreamy moments in life. In such moments, the dazzlingly bright screen becomes a kind of distinction between what you have to adapt to in life and what is given to everyone equally - the possibilities to seek a brighter tomorrow. In the scene of the family walk, when everyone stops in front of the ship standing in the port and dreams loudly about how they would like to sail it, you can feel the desire to move to a better life, to another shore where there is no misery and recessions. And after all, throughout the film, they try to approach that invisible shore beyond the horizon of opportunities. Breaking down the content of the film into images of their domestic life and the breakaway from the poverty-stricken home environment, separating the presence of the child and parents, their daily activities, – there is no sensation of any staging, you do not want to doubt the beautiful moments, documenting everything seems to be normal for these people. Perhaps this was achieved also due to the undisguised interest of parents (especially the husband Aivaras) in cinema. Unable to watch many of the DVDs brought from landfills, they have the opportunity to become the characters in the film themselves. They want to share their lives.