Contributor: Mario Amaya

Part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s mission is to foster greater understanding through world cinema. This year 72 Foreign Language films were submitted for Golden Globes consideration. Here is an overviewof one of them.

Victoria is a German thriller directed by Sebastian Schipper, first screened in the main competition section of the 65 Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography. It received the German Film Award in six categories, including best feature film.

Victoria is a Spanish girl from Madrid, who recently moved to Berlin, works in a cafe, does not speak German and does not know anybody in the new city. Leaving a club at around 4 o'clock in the morning after a night of dancing and drinking, she meets four young men who are denied entry to the club. The men invite her to take a walk through the city and she agrees, ending on an apartment building roof.

When Victoria tells the others that she has to leave because she must open up the cafe she works at in a short time, Sonne, one of the guys who was flirting with her the whole time, suggests accompanying her there and she agrees.

Their blooming romance will have to wait as Sonne and his friends are ordered to meet with Andi, a professional gangster to whom they owe a debt. Victoria naively accompanies them to the underground parking lot, where the men are tasked with robbing a bank to repay Andi. Victoria, in a bold move, agrees to act as driver. To what started out as a good time, quickly spirals out of control. As dawn approaches, Victoria and Sonne have to face the inevitable in a series of events that will be their ultimate fate.

The film was impressively made in a single shot lasting two hours and 13 minutes. Director Sebastian Schipper and his cinematographer/camera operator, Sturla Brandth Grøvlen deliver a story that unspools in different Berlin streets in real time, giving the public the feeling of being part of the story like few films have achieved.

Mario Amaya