An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (Danis Tanovic, 2013): Bosnia-Herzegovina/France/Slovenia/Italy

Reviewed by Belen Nevarez. Viewed at AFI Film Festival 2013.

An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, is a simple film that follows a man and his family on their struggles of living day to day when they face a medical issue which financially and emotionally make it harder for them.  The man is an iron picker, in which he sells at a junk yard for money. His wife is a home maker, we often see her cook meals for her family and take care of their two daughters. Though the family struggles, we can feel their love for one another and their will to stick together in hard times. After viewing what he does on a daily basis, we begin to be concerned about his wife to suffers a miscarriage and in need of surgery. With every appointment, you see the whole family goes together to support the wife and their wishes to see her better. With  medical bill being high, they try to get any help from family members, which results in medical cards and borrowed money. The film shortly ends, and we are left to wonder how they are doing.

This seemed as almost a home video since the camera was a bit shakey and was hit by something in the scene.  We see a couple close ups of their two outspoken and energetic daughters, which makes us feel to help them. They seem happy with what they got, which made me think about my own life and appreciate it.

I honestly feel so-so with this film. It was shorter than I would have liked, which goes back to its title, “An Episode…” I do appreciate it, but I do not think its one that I will have in my top films I have seen.