Rules of Indifferent Places: Public Institutions and Youth in Two Croatian Films

This article discusses cinematic representations of dysfunctionality in Croatian public service systems, specifically health care, in two feature films rooted in real-life events, These are the Rules (Takva su pravila, 2014) by Ognjen Sviličić and Safe Place (Sigurno mjesto, 2022) by Juraj Lerotić. Through examination of the films’ cinematic and narrative regimes the article demonstrates their implicit criticism of public institutions which engage in the othering and erasure of individuals coming from liminal spaces by applying the hierarchical codes of an elitist state. Although both films depict a tragic demise of a family member, Sviličić leans towards documentary minimalism of the Romanian New Wave, while Lerotić engages haptic aurality and metanarrative devices to convey intimate psychology of a personal loss. In both, however, stasis takes over not only as the principal element of visual morphology, but also as a metaphor for the aloofness of state institutions which subjugate injured bodies to regulatory procedures and, in a series of negating gestures, deny physical access, information, and ultimately any type of agency to the protagonists and their families. Through an interplay of factual and fictional, spectators partake in the trauma on and off the screen through their own lived experiences.