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by Pavel Cuzuioc
grade: 7
In the unusual form of a road movie, Please hold the Line takes us on a journey from Moldova to Romania, not forgetting Ukraine and Bulgaria. Central theme: telecommunications and how much they have influenced us and changed the way we live.
Always connected
It would not be appropriate to compare a documentary like Pavel Cuzuioc’s Please hold the Line (original title: Bitte warten) to the works of Ulrich Seidl. Because, in fact, this small, universal film – which premiered in Austria on the occasion of the Viennale 2020 – despite a mise-en-scene made up of static shots, often even with perfectly balanced frame compositions, does not point the finger at society and all those habits and ways of thinking that have made the world, if you like, worse. Or, better still, it doesn’t do so directly.
In the unusual form of a road movie, Please hold the Line takes us on a journey from Moldova to Romania, not forgetting Ukraine and Bulgaria. Central theme: telecommunications and how much they have influenced us and changed the way we live.
The recorded voice of a switchboard operator recommends holding the line in order to have the opportunity to speak with an operator as soon as possible. Then, immediately afterwards, a repetitive and extremely irritating waiting music begins. It is not known, then, how long this wait will last. The director’s camera then accompanies us to every house where it is necessary to repair the telephone line or the modem for the Internet connection. A technician, from time to time, encounters new realities, new (sometimes bizarre) characters. And each of them, in their own way, will lead us into a totally new world.
One smiles, sometimes even laughs heartily from the very first moments while watching Please hold the Line. And if one of the technicians is literally forced to run away from a flat the moment two elderly ladies start talking about brutal murders in their neighbourhood, there are those who are particularly interested in the fact that one of their neighbours is about to have an Internet connection installed, so that they can later get the password. And, again, while a man is trying to concentrate while talking directly to the camera, his little dog, still a puppy, doesn’t want to stop playing and runs around the garden making the audience laugh.
There is no lack of irony in this documentary by Pavel Cuzuioc. And yet, at the same time, the director – here practically absent in front of the camera – clearly takes to heart each character he encounters, as – especially those who are no longer young – precious witnesses of an era that is slowly disappearing. And then, gradually, the discourse shifts to more serious topics, there is talk of a difficult past, of a very unpromising present, of the damage of communism on Eastern Europe, someone confides in the camera and even tells of a rather dramatic family history.
What is or, anyway, what seems to be the destiny of human beings in this age dominated mainly by the “almighty dollar”? And, above all, how are human beings themselves considered today? Most probably, driven above all by the desire to make money, the people in power, as well as the major corporations and, consequently, also the aforementioned telephone companies, no longer even consider people as living beings. And in this regard, the monologue of one of the technicians at the end of the documentary captures the essence of the whole Please hold the Line. Albeit, if you like, a little too redundantly.
Original title: Bitte warten
Directed by: Pavel Cuzuioc
Country/year: Austria / 2020
Running time: 86’
Genre: documentary
Screenplay: Pavel Cuzuioc
Cinematography: Pavel Cuzuioc
Produced by: Pavel Cuzuioc Filmproduktion