The Center

Within a radius of no less than 2000 kilometers (1250 miles) are a dozen villages and towns that each claim to be the center of Europe. For the Polish director Stanislaw Mucha, this forms the inspiration for an entertaining odyssey through Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and the Ukraine. Along the way he meets not only a ritual healer and a monk, but also teenagers from Chernobyl and 'aunt Raya' who passes her days in a newsstand. Both the past outside of Europe as well as the new era inside the European Union are reflected in stories about the construction of a railway, a vanished bridge, a papal visit, the house where Hitler was born, poverty and co-existing time zones. The residents' perspective on their own hometowns as the center of the world often stands in stark contrast to their thoughts about Europe. The fact alone that 'the center of Europe' is a regional newspaper in the Ukraine speaks volumes. Questions are asked from behind the camera, but the crew does not shy away from stepping into the picture as needed. The soundtrack, in which Beethoven's 'alle Menschen werden Brüder' is one of the recurrent themes, provides an almost ironic commentary on the handheld-filmed travelogue.