A scene from the movie "The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner". (www.theworldisbig.com)
Based on the novel by Ilija Trojanow and masterfully directed by Stephan Komandarev, the story depicts a youngster who loses his parents and suffers amnesia after a bad car accident. Following the accident, Alex (Carlo Ljubek) and his grandfather Bai Dan (Miki Manojlovic) travel throughout Europe on a tandem bicycle, heading towards the young man’s home country—Bulgaria. The youngster’s memory slowly recovers over backgammon sessions, as the pair takes breaks from pedaling.
Twenty years after communism’s fall in Bulgaria, the communist horrors are still not forgotten. This is depicted skillfully through flashbacks sequences to a time when the young man’s parents were repressed by the regime.
Yet this film is no tragedy—in fact just the opposite. Through the protagonist’s actions, the film demonstrates the virtues of inner-strength, perseverance against all odds, and fighting for one’s own happiness.
