Import/Export Review

Import/Export
A nurse from the Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason.

by David Parkinson |
Published on
Release Date:

03 Oct 2008

Running Time:

141 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Import/Export

The dubious freedoms accrued since the disintegration of the USSR are assessed through Ulrich Seidl’s insights into the squandering of talent and the exploitation of the vulnerable. Ukrainian nurse Ekateryna Rak is forced to suppress her professional instincts as a cleaner on an Austrian geriatric ward, while Viennese security guard Paul Hofmann hooks up with shady stepfather Michael Thomas to service fruit machines in the backwaters of the Ukraine. Abetted by Wolfgang Thaler and Ed Lachman’s unflinching photography, this is a sobering treatise on the bleakness of existence and the persistence of decency in even the most soul-destroying situations.

A sobering treatise on the bleakness of existence.
Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us