Susa (2010) User Reviews

Nice and entertaining, but leaves me depressed behind

[JvH48 · 7/10 · 9 October 2010]

Pretty well acted and filmed, continuously entertaining, but left me very depressed behind. The latter came forth from observing the circumstances people have to live in, due to no fault of their own.

The whole movie long we are expecting his father. Eventually, he appears BUT improves nothing in the situation at hand. Even worse, while I was expecting (hoping) that he would intervene in the daily "meeting" with two guys on the street who confiscate part of Susa's earnings, he knowingly ignored the problem and did nothing to help.

The screening that I attended was part of the Rotterdam Film Festival 2010. The maker was present and we had an enlightening Q&A, especially about how the movie ended with a confrontation between two main characters. That final clash solved nothing, hence my depressed feelings about the hopeless situation these people are in. The Q&A clarified a lot of things that were not apparent for me while viewing. The latter can be my fault, of course.

Bleak - but totally realistic

[Amahl63 · 6/10 · 9 June 2017]

A bleak film seen through the eyes of the 12/13 year-old boy Susa - a really convincing performance by Avtandil Tetradze - who is ever present.

Susa lives in poverty with his mother, earning a small amount by selling bottles of illegally produced gin. Although street-wise, he is targeted by two older teenagers who demand money and bully him if he tries to avoid them. The only hope is that when Susa's father returns he will deliver the boy and his mother from poverty and a dead-end existence.

Unlike many other films which deal with this theme, Susa does have a very caring, loving and hard-working mother. Susa keeps his own problems from her, not wanting to add himself to her own trials: I found this very moving.

Not a great amount of dialogue - but you don't need it.

SUPERB MODERN REALIST MOVIE

[richardkassir · 8/10 · 19 August 2020]

A really well made modern realist film filled with the unspoken desperation of a 13 year old boy caught up in the repetitive grind of poverty. A brilliant performance by Avtandil Tetradze as Susa, a boy who lives in a shack with his mother which is a bus ride from a small town. Money's too tight for Susa to go to school, instead he gets up early to go to the impoverished town where he works for an illegal backstreet vodka factory. He takes as many bottles as he can carry in his shoulder bag and spends the whole day traipsing around on his own selling them. His constant vista are the dirty run down concrete buildings of the town. He does this every day and has to give a portion of his money to two bullies who hang around the marketplace. His days are filled with silence and walking and waiting for his dad to return.