The Forgiveness of Blood

The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)

Genres - Drama, Family & Personal Relationships  |   Sub-Genres - Family Drama, Social Problem Film  |   Release Date - Feb 24, 2012 (USA - Limited), Feb 24, 2012 (USA)  |   Run Time - 109 min.  |   Countries - Albania, Denmark, United Kingdom, Italy, United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

A young man faces a life paying for the misdeeds of his elders in this drama. Nik (Tristan Halilaj) is a teenager growing up in a small village in Albania; he has little interest in his father's baking business, and is more concerned with surfing the Internet, hanging out with his friends and trying to impress Bardha (Zana Hasaj), a pretty girl he knows from school. But whatever future Nik might hope for is put on hold when his father Mark (Refet Abazi) revives a long-standing feud over a land dispute with his neighbor Sokol (Veton Osmani), leading to a violent confrontation that claims Sokol's life. An ancient Albanian tradition has it that the survivors of a violent murder can kill a man from the family that committed the crime without consequence; however, they can only do so in the open, so Nik and the other men in his household are only safe as long as they stay in their home. As Nik's sister Rudina (Sindi Lacej) takes over the family business, his world is reduced to the inside of the family residence, which proves to be almost as maddening as the possibility of being murdered. American filmmaker Joshua Marston shot The Forgiveness Of Blood on location in Albania using a cast of local actors; the film was an official selection at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

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Keywords

adolescence, Albania, baking, elder, feud, Internet, land-rights, murder, neighbor, revenge