By IPS Correspondents
BERLIN, Feb 20 2008 (IPS)

In a tradition of keeping the Golden Bear best film award away from films in line for the Oscars, it was Brazilian director Jose Padilha’s political thriller ‘Elite Squad’ (Tropa Squad) that triumphed in Berlin this year, pushing aside fierce competition from Paul Thomas Anderson’s eight Oscar-nominated movie ‘There Will Be Blood’.

The Brazilian award underlined an emphasis through the festival on films from developing countries, and on the deprived.

Accepting the award at a Hollywood-style gala ceremony in Berlin, Padiha, said the Golden Bear prize encouraged him to continue making “critical films”.

Padiha’s film portrays the brutality of a commando group patrolling the South American country’s slums, or favelas, in the fight against drug gangs. Some ten million people have already watched it in Brazil, where it stirred controversy. Some critics termed the film “fascistic.”

“This is a prize for Brazilian cinema,” said Padiha. The success of the film comes against a backdrop of renewed international recognition of Latin Americn cinema.

U.S. director Paul Thomas Anderson’s consolation came by way of two Silver Bear awards, one for best director, the other for Jonny Greenwood’s musical score. The film is about a ruthless oilman at the turn of the 19th century.

Asked if he was disappointed by the jury’s verdict, Anderson, who won a Golden Bear for his film ‘Magnolia’ eight years ago, hoisted the two Silver Bears aloft, saying: “That’s enough for me. Berlin always brings me luck.”

The 2008 festival may have lacked films of truly outstanding merit in the main competition – ‘There Will Be Blood’ excepted – but there was a fascinating mix of themes dealt with in movies from Iran, Israel, Mexico, China and Britain.

Iranian cinema, particularly, has been boosted, with Reze Najie, one of the nation’s leading actors, picking up a Silver Bear best actor award for his performance in director Majid Majidi’s ‘The Song of Sparrows’ (Avaze Gonjesk-Ha).

Najie plays the role of Karim, a gruff, craggy-faced father of three who is fired from his job on an ostrich farm when one of the birds scenically runs off into the hills.

Moving to the city, Karim embarks on a new career as a taxi driver who is overcome with a burning desire to accumulate something. But what he brings home is literally junk, piled in the front yard like a giant trash heap.

Majidi illustrates how even innocent children can turn into rabid capitalists, ready to smash everything around them to protect their investment. Karim’s little son Hossein has a dream he shares with his friends, which is to stock a well with fish and become a millionaire when they multiply.

Another Iranian film winning plaudits at the Festival was Hana Makhmalbaf’s ‘Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame’ (Buda Az Foru Rikht) which won the Film Peace Prize.

Screened in the Berlinale’s Generation section and aimed at younger audiences, Makhmalbaf’s movie describes a young Afghan girl living in the mountains, near the place where the 1,500-year-old Buddha statues were blown up by the Taliban in 2001.

Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai has also been a winner in Berlin, scooping a Silver Bear best script award for his in-competition ‘In Love We Trust’ (Zuo Youi).

Wang’s family drama follows a mother’s bid to persuade her divorced husband to have another baby so the child’s bone marrow can be used to save their leukaemia-stricken daughter. “I hope my film can persuade people that when they meet trouble or unhappiness, they can still face it with tolerance,” said the director in Berlin.

Five years after participating at the Berlinale with ‘Talent Campus’, Mexican writer-director Fernando Eimbcke was back this year with ‘Lake Tahoe’ in the main competition. It won the prestigious Alfred Bauer Prize in memory of the festival founder, for “a work of particular innovation”.

The film traces 16-year-old Juan through an eventful day in which he tries to repair a car and ends up coping with much, much more. Asked in Berlin about Mexican cinema which, though well received around the world faces financial woes back at home, he said: “I think Mexican cinema has much more to offer than box-office results.

“People are doing the kinds of films they want to do, and that’s really important. If you can make money that’s great, but that shouldn’t be the main objective,” he said.

A full-length Brazilian feature ‘Mare, Nossa Historia de Amor’ (Mare, Our Love Story) by Lucia Murat was also shown in the festival’s Panorama section, which specialises in independent and art-house cinema, as was the short film ‘Ta’ by Felipe Sholl.

The talented young British star Sally Hawkins won a Silver Bear best actress award for a delightful performance in veteran Mike Leigh’s ‘Happy Go Lucky’ film about a fun-loving Londoner called Poppy. A jury grand prize went to U.S. Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris’ ‘Standard Operating Procedure’ for its examination of the shocking events surrounding Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

After receiving her award, Sally Hawkins said she was so overwhelmed she burst into tears back stage. Morris told journalists he hoped his documentary would make people think about the events that had occurred in Iraq. “People tell me it is a movie which stays with you for quite a time after you’ve seen it, and in that sense it means I’ve been successful in what I’ve done.”

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