Yes, that was a great start to yesterday's Tiger competition at the Rotterdam Film Festival. With a Dutch production still. History's Future brims with strong, unexpected images you wouldn't expect in a film that is supposed to be about contemporary Europe. A continent rushing towards an unknown future with much malice. Take, for instance, the two children in big glass balls, floating on the waves of history. Or the blind lottery ticket seller on whom our errant protagonist pins his hopes.
That protagonist himself, by the way, is not ordinary either. After being mugged and kicked in the head, he no longer knows who he is. He doesn't recognise his wife. He is the ultimate everyman become. He is all of us. He has to start from scratch. He decides to go out into the world on good terms. He may end up a wanderer or a businessman. It happens both, because this is a film where imagination is out of control, where poetry wins out over logic.
History's Future is the first feature film by visual artist Fiona Tan, who co-wrote the screenplay with British film critic Jonathan Romney. An unusual combination that has proved challenging, especially for those who enjoy seeing a film that dares to push boundaries
I'm not going to claim that I can interpret everything exactly, but that doesn't take away from that associative flow captivates from start to finish. Excellently acted and with rich visual imagination, moving melancholy, strong dramatic and emotional elements and intellectual themes. Against the backdrop of raw newsreel footage of riots in European cities (Tan has experience with documentaries), something best called a philosophical film poem unfolds. About our choices, about love, about our identity, about being carried away by events. Who are we and where do we stand in the world? The questions, then, not the answers. All our man with no memory remembers is a quote: "The future is a story told by a madman."
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