Montenegro
SYNOPSIS
Andjela is a confident and logically thinking young woman who decides to undertake an exciting and risky road trip adventure to Montenegro in a company of her best friend and two strangers as a part of a social experiment which is going to show her that life doesn’t always have to be driven by reason.
STORY-TELLING ELEMENTS
Andjela´s diary, accompanied by voiceovers and drawings, is the main element complementing the whole story. The diary provides space for close observations of all the characters participating on the trip and of their behaviour. As the time progresses, Andjela becomes not only an observer, but also a subject of the social study.
STORY
Andjela is a young girl (24) dealing with major changes in her life; end of her university studies, which brings the decision what to do next with her life, as well as the need to choose the right subject of her final diploma thesis. Her best friend Jana(27) finds an interesting advertisement of a road trip to Montenegro on an international travelers’ website. At the end, both the girls decide that this kind of road trip would be a great topic for her diploma thesis on sociology and psychology.
And here our story begins. Andjela and Jana wait for the boys at a gas station and have a long discussion about sex and relationships. Boys are probably stuck at the borders. After some time the girls start to get bored and we have, for the first time, a chance to expose the girls’ characters. In a short montage we can see Andjela playing accordion, writing some notes, drawing and on the other hand, we see Jana typing on her cell phone, smoking and making her nails.
After the introduction of the girls we are getting to off-road where Tomáš (26) is driving and talking to Adam(25),also about sex and relationships. Slowly the audience can feel what the movie will be about – relationships between people. And these are the things Andjela will be studying during the road trip so that she can use her findings to write the diploma thesis in the end.
The car arrives at the gas station. Andjela stops drawing. All of the main characters introduce to each other. Also for the first time we can see the behaviour of each of the characters. Tomáš is very confident and makes a photo of the girls right away; Adam is getting out of the car slowly and nervously; Jana is showing the boys that they are late, to be in the spotlight; Andjela observes the whole situation but doesn’t speak that much. Boys are taking the girls’ stuff and load it into the car.
In an opening montage we can see the whole group spending their first moment together. Their first adventure we concentrate on is a crossing of the borders. Boys are a little bit nervous. We don´t know why but during a search for the passports Andjela founds a gun. Why do they have it? Customs officer seams to inspect the car very closely. Everybody except for Jana is nervous, but in the end, the officer lets them go through. We are in MONTENEGRO! But to reach the first location the main characters still have couple hours of driving. It´s dark and neither Adam nor Tomáš are sure about their current location. Are they at the right camping place? They seem to don´t care and as they stop the car they go to sleep under the car, letting the girls sleep inside on the back seats.
Andjela wakes up into a sunny morning. She climbs to the top of the car’s roof to look around. In front of her, she sees the breath-taking scenery of Montenegro; first morning in the wild. Andjela is sitting next to the car, making notes and drawings. Jana also gets out of the car but only in her panties, trying to seduce the boys. In the meantime, the boys are preparing breakfast of tea and fruit. Tomáš is preparing the tea when suddenly Adam takes it and call on Andjela „Andjela, here is your tea“. Adam is starting to fall for Andjela. However, are their suitable for each other? We slowly start to build our first relationship. Andjela makes some notes into her diary after the breakfast and makes drawings of the scenery. After a while, Adam comes to her and asks her if she wants to go for a swim. First duo scenes in the Andjela’s diary come into the play. And so we see Adam and Andjela playing in the water; we also see Andjela observing the situation as a third person sitting on a blanket, making notes. Suddenly, in an identical shot, Tomáš comes over to Andjela to offer her a cookie and later asks her if she wants to go into the water? So what is the truth?
After the sunny morning the group continues deeper into the heart of Montenegro by dirt, unpaved roads. In the car they are discussing the reasons why each of them went for the trip. At the end of the discussion they reach the crucial theme of the trip. To be spontaneous. Boys are convincing the girls to try to hold at the car’s sidesteps when they ride through dirt-road. Girls oppose that it´s dangerous and irrational. Eventually it ends as a funny scene with playing around.
It´s not a long time until the first mechanical problem occurs. That´s the perfect time for Andjela´s observations. How will they react to this situation? The whole group gets out of the car and inspects it. Tomáš is pretty calm. They find out that the oil pan is broken. They can fix it but Tomáš and Jana have to go to the nearest gas station. In the meantime, Adam is repairing the car and Andjela makes some notes in her diary and takes music instruments from the car. When Adam finishes with the repair, Andjela awaits him on the hood of the car with a music instrument.“Do we play” Andjela asks. They slowly get to know each other through the playing. Tomáš and Jana come back. They repair the car and continue their road trip.
Andjela and Adam are getting closer to each other. Tomáš and Jana are just flirting from time to time. But suddenly, Jana brakes the pattern when she kisses Adam one morning after having been drinking the previous night. Why? She wants to be in the first place. In the center of people´s attention. This makes the collision of the story. Also we can see Hynek for the first time as Andjela´s dream. Andjela is a bit angry at Jana but keeps it down for now. Adam and Tomáš also try to resolve the situation. Tomáš doesn´t know what to do. Adam originally wanted Andjela but now he is with Jana. Adam has nothing to say about it.
After some while spent in the car, Jana suggests a trip on foot with a sleep in the wilderness. Adam and Andjela agrees and by that, they get into an argument with Tomáš, who doesn´t want to leave the car here in the mountains. Jana argues that they are at the ideal place in the Montenegro, completely without civilization. After some more pressure, Tomáš loses the argument and also agrees with the trip. The next morning they pack their backpacks and go by foot into the river Tara’s canyon, where they find a small wooden bridge across the river. Can they cross it? Tomáš makes the first few steps on the bridge. The rest of the group is just standing there breathless. Tomáš steps on awrong wood plank, loses balanceand falls on the floor of the bridge. After a few seconds, he gets up and says “I´ve got you!” Then the rest of the group crosses the bridge as well. At the end, they camp on the other side of the river and have one of the most spontaneous night of the whole trip.
The very next day they come back to the car late in the night. Suddenly, they see a fire burning and some people right in their camp. Who is it? Some locals? Or someone else? They are thinking about what to do next? After a while they try to approach the camp. The people in the camp are surprised as well and little fight takes places. Almost instantly they discover that it´s Juan and Eiriny, friends of Adam and Tomáš who should go with them to Montenegro in the first place.
Juan and Eiriny provide a catalyst for the story. Juan forces the whole group to go climbing, which eventually leads into Andjela getting to trust Tomáš. Eiriny is Tomáš’s ex-girlfriend and talks with him about his behavior, which makes him to open up a little bit. After 2 days Juan leaves the group,which is before its final destination – the beach.
On the way to the beach they stop for a lunch at a local restaurant. In this very moment Tomáš has a big argument with Jana about Adam. In the end, they make everything clear and they continue on the beach. Everything looks ideal, until the car gets stuck on the beach. Some local surf boys offer to help them. Eventually, they stay for the whole night. Adam and Tomáš are a little bit jealous. The next day, the surf boys teach the girls to kite surf. Tomáš and Adam are spending the day together by chilling around. They are quite jealous. At the sunset, Andjela comes over to Tomáš. Adam leaves to give them some space. Andjela sees that Tomáš is jealous and tries to make some fun of, in which she succeeds in the end. They enjoy some night moments with each other. In the morning, they go to buy some local food and fruits together. They stop at a stall next to road and ask for the fruits. They don´t have oranges, so Andjela sends Tomáš to an ext stall across the street. Suddenly she hears a sound of brakes. She runs to Tomáš. He´s dead.
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