Lilya 4-ever: A must see

or over five years, I have been subscribed to a very good movie forum, where most of the members are hardcore movie addicts in terms of quality and artistic point of view that the film expression brings to us viewers. Every now and then one of the members posts a recommendation of a film that rarely makes it to Hollywood (or America for that matter), yet it is right there with any Oscar or Golden Globe nominee or even winner, despite being labeled as "independent" or "foreign", or whatever; today's recommendation was Lilya 4-ever.

One of the greatest (if not the best) movies of 2002

The thing is that I have already seen Lilya 4-ever, because another member had sent me word about it somewhere around early 2009. I remember it vividly because I had just moved to a new house and I didn't have a TV yet, so I downloaded and watched the movie in my PC back then. For those of you who haven't, I'm going to try to share a bit of insight about this terrific film, hopefully without spoiling too much about it. Every time I get a recommendation, I normally do a little research on it and read (make that scan, or skim) reviewer's opinion, trying to avoid as much as I can from the plot or any potential spoiler. That time, this wasn't an exception.

The first thing I noticed when I researched information from the movie is that there is no tagline for Lilya 4-ever and now that I think about it, I don't think there is a human being capable of coming up with one, but I'll discuss more in deep later. I remember then being puzzled about the "4-ever" wording in the title of the movie. As I noticed the director was Lukas Moodysson, I immediatly identified him as the man behind another film I have in my collection and I hadn't (and still haven't) watched yet, "Fucking Amal" -named "Show me love" in the US-. I had heard good things about "Fucking Amal" but hadn't had the chance to verify it with my own eyes. Somehow Lilya 4-ever looked a bit more interesting to me, and since I have no real algorythm to decide which film I watch first, I simply proceeded to go with Lilya and find out what was the deal about the "4-ever". The few websites that I track and get rating from (like IMDB) had a very high score for this film, so basically everything was there enticing me. Play it is!

Lilya and her best friend Volodya

IMDB summarizes Lilya 4-ever's plot like this:

"Lilja is 16 years old. Her only friend is the young boy Volodja. They live in Estonia, fantasizing about a better life. One day, Lilja falls in love with Andrej. He is going to Sweden, and invites Lilja to come along and start a new life."

I have no idea who posted that summary, but I do know this: I would really like to congratulate that person, because it is amazing how he or she was able to come up with this brief paragraph without giving any clue of the series of events that occur in this film, their cause, consequence, or justification. Honestly it's one of the best descriptions I have read that is able to cause that engaging effect to drag you and watch this enigmatic film. 

Lilya 4-ever is loosely based on a true story, but it doesn't have to be. The amazing thing about Lilya 4-ever is that it's not like these "based on a true story" films that you watch and you go like "oh well, sure that happened... that's nothing new, or nothing anyone shouldn't know", like say "The Pianist" or even "Schindler's list". I mean yes, the holocaust and everything was terrible, but it's not something that you shouldn't be unfamiliar with, especially if you have access to any decent contemporary history book in your local or home library, considering that WWII was such an extraordinary event. At the same time, it's an European/Independent film, meaning yes it is crude, inventive, original and to the core, but it's not like "Die Blechtrommel" or "Karakter", that have to go through a bit of imaginative tactics to get their plus score, despite their plots being family oriented.

Family and Friendship

Lilya 4-ever is the kind of film that opens your eyes and awakens the inner side of you that is sleeping and nor appreciating life in its entirely, taking for granted benefits like good health, the ability to eat three meals of good food every day, and even good sleep. Have you ever watched how series like "Southpark", "It's always sunny in Philadelphia" make satiric comments about the world outside America, notably in 3rd world countries? Well, Lilya 4-ever is the perfect movie to show you the reality of how is life in a 3rd world country; a country with no life, no hope, no dreams and basically no reason to wake up every day for. It's is a crude movie that makes you wonder about subjective aspects of our society like morals, fairness, justice and what do we deserve as human beings when we arrive to this world and grow to become a part of it.

I consider myself very cold blooded and straight forward, but there has never been other film that has made me question my values and principle, like Lilya 4-ever did. You see, there is a difference when you watch Romeo and Julliet and feel sad because the main characters die in the end (oops, I hope I didn't spoil that... well if you didn't know that by the 21st Century, you should see a doctor), because you know that idilic as the love is between them, it is a play in the end, and that sense of fantasy is what blocks any further empathy you may feel towards either Romeo or Julliet. Lilya 4-ever's plot is the one that can happen every day to anyone... literally ANY of the characters involved in the movie, at any time in the current world set under the conditions the movie presents. Put simply, it is a movie where the good guy doesn't win; and it's not like the bad guy wins either, because that's the worse part. The bad guy doesn't even care of winning or losing. That's why I mention that there is such a strong statement of moral questioning.

One of many powerful scenes in Lilya 4-ever

The other strong element Lilya 4-ever has is how it tests your endurance and your stamina. At 1 hour and 49 minutes, it's not a long movie at all and it doesn't feel long at any time. The thing is that every scene has a lot of weight, and I mean A LOT. And I'm not sure if it's me or the movie, but it seemed like the weight in every new scene kept increasing. If you watch this film, you will feel your receiving endless uppercuts combinations thrown by Mike Tyson. There are two scenes that literally left me breathless -hopefully you can take not of them and share your experience-:

1. The second time Lilya goes to the grocery store

2. When Lilya's date says "just.... touch my hand"

It's always hard to say goodbye to your boyfriend/girlfriend at the airport
The minute you walk away you begin missing him/her and want to see him/her again

The beautiful part of Lilya 4-ever is that it makes you love your life. It LITERALLY makes you fall in love with your life. It also makes you wonder who or why are the Academy Awards and other film ceremonies are so oriented on overlooking brilliant pieces of art such as this. From Southpark's "Get Sexual Harrasment Panda", or "Petey the don't hold on to a large magnet while close a nearby giant metallic fan", Lilya 4-ever is a film that should be shown in schools to teach teens about the real world and why do we have to make our planet a better place. Remember: always worry about the real problems.