The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (2007)

Genres - Science & Technology, Nature  |   Run Time - 58 min.  |   Countries - Bulgaria, Germany, United States  |  
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Synopsis by Nathan Southern

Documentarian Andrey Paounov's startlingly original nonfiction work The Mosquito Problem & Other Stories transports viewers to the eccentric burg of Belene, Bulgaria, situated on the delta of the Danube River. At first glance, this village seems merely quaint -- hilariously so, in fact. With eccentrics right and left, such as a couple who practice sucking the rampant mosquitoes out of the air with a massive vacuum tube and several rowdy cadres of soused hunters, the work recalls Errol Morris' Vernon, Florida (1982) and Gates of Heaven (1978). But as the film rolls on, a darker undercurrent emerges from the town -- the truth that it housed a Communist-run concentration camp, and that several of its citizens (guards for the plant) are cold-blooded murderers by virtue of their jobs. In time, Paounov adds more gravitas still, by exploring the issue of one guard who was convicted of manslaughter at the camp -- and who also just happens to be a loving wife and mother.