Page 29 - Metro

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but also to the country’s history: their fury and bitterness were
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widely recognised customs in order to regulate norms that had image of the children ritually burning the bodies of their parents
previously resulted in barbarous chaos. In the case of blood PDUNV ERWK D WLH WR WUDGLWLRQ DQG t PRUH VLJQLĺFDQWO\ t D PRYH
feuds, while not seeking to eradicate the practice altogether, the away from the archaic, regressive world they represented. If this
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suade future feuds. $FFRUGLQJ WR &ODULVVD GH :DDO WKH .DQXQ ,OLULDQD DUH DPEDVVDGRUV IRU DOO $OEDQLDQ \RXWK WKH ĺOP XUJLQJ
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was the dominant legal system in the tribal north of Albania until WKHP WR ĺQG D SDWK EH\RQG WKH VXSHUVWLWLRQV DQG KHJHPRQ\
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LQ LW ZDV ODWHU EDQQHG XQGHU FRPPXQLVP 8 future. The cord is cut.
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grievances and vendettas erupt, the country swept by revenge GSSO VVV AKNNCK@MCRkKL BNL
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DQG -DPHV 3HWWLIHU UHFRXQW WKDW oLQ WKH ĺUVW KDOI RI WKHUH Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an Australian Film Critics Association
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alone. The government’s response was to increase policing co-editor of Senses of Cinema. She has written four books on cult,
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The history of Albanian blood feuds infuses !KNNCK@MCR’
tale of revenge, murder, honour and gender dynamics, but it Endnotes
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of a number of cultures across the region, the RGSQHF@ is usually DFFHVVHG 2FWREHU
conceived of as an older woman with remarkable supernatural 2 6WHYHQ .DVWULVVLRV TXRWHG LQ o$KHDG RI WKH :RUOG 3UHPLHUH RI
powers and a penchant for cannibalism. 6KH FDQ RIWHQ oSDVVp +LV /DWHVW )LOP %ORRGODQGV DW +RUURU &KDQQHO )ULJKW)HVW *ODVJRZ
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bones. 6KH PD\ DOVR YRPLW WKH EORRG RI KHU YLFWLPV a trait &RPPXQLFDWLRQV )HEUXDU\ KWWS FORXWFRP FR XN DKHDG
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portrayed in !KNNCK@MCR through the heavily ritualised ‘blood ZRUOG SUHPLHUH ODWHVW ŷOP EORRGODQGV KRUURU FKDQQHO IULJKWIHVW
play’ between the RGSQHF@ DQG KHU oIDPLO\p RI IROORZHUV 7KH ĺOPpV JODVJRZ VWHYHQ NDVWULVVLRV GLVFXVVHV FKDOOHQJHV PDNLQJ ZRUOGV
ĺQDO UHYHODWLRQ t WKH EDFNVWRU\ RI WKH EORRG IHXG EHWZHHQ WKH ŷUVW DOEDQLDQ DXVWUDOLDQ KR ! DFFHVVHG 2FWREHU
RGSQHF@ DQG 6KSUHVDpV IDPLO\ t DOVR IRUHJURXQGV WKH P\WKRORJLFDO 3 &DULV %L]]DFD o&RPLQJ 6RRQ %ORRGODQGV’, Screen Australia
connection between the RGSQHF@, fertility and motherhood. We ZHEVLWH -DQXDU\ KWWSV ZZZ VFUHHQDXVWUDOLD JRY
learn that the RGSQHF@ was herself a victim of a man’s cruelty, and DX VD VFUHHQ QHZV FRPLQJ VRRQ EORRGODQGV>,
it was this that sparked her monstrosity – not only towards the DFFHVVHG 2FWREHU
family against whom she seeks vengeance, but also in relation 4 .DVWULVVLRV TXRWHG LQ o$KHDG RI WKH :RUOG 3UHPLHUHp RS FLW
to her own SRZHU 0XFK OLNH RWKHU oPRWKHU JRGGHVVp ĺJXUHV ibid.
WKDW KDYH PDQLIHVWHG DURXQG WKH ZRUOG VLQFH DQFLHQW WLPHV IRU 6 .DVWULVVLRV LQ %L]]DFD RS FLW
WKH RGSQHF@, motherhood becomes a way to gain strength (in her 0LUDQGD 9LFNHUV -DPHV 3HWWLIHU Albania: From Anarchy to a
case, to build an army), rather than being what it had been for %DONDQ ,GHQWLW\ +XUVW &RPSDQ\ /RQGRQ S
her previously: a cause of sadness and weakness. 8 &ODULVVD GH :DDO Albania Today: A Portrait of Post-communist
Yet, despite !KNNCK@MCR’ arresting depictions of blood feuds Turbulence , % 7DXULV /RQGRQ 1HZ <RUN SS } t
and the RGSQHF@, the theme that prevails overall is that of familial 9LFNHUV 3HWWLIHU RS FLW S
tensions – something underscored even more solidly by the 10 Robert Elsie, A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk
G\QDPLFV EHWZHHQ SDVW WKH UXUDO YLOODJH VHWWLQJ D QDUUDWLYHO\ Culture +XUVW &RPSDQ\ /RQGRQ S
VLJQLĺFDQW YLVLW WR WKH ORFDO JRYHUQPHQW DUFKLYH $OEDQLDpV GDUN 11 Theresa Bane, (QF\FORSHGLD RI *LDQWV DQG +XPDQRLGV LQ 0\WK
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tions of the nation’s youth, represented convincingly by Artan 12 ibid.

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