2023-04-07 23:00:01
Entries of Magnolia Awards丨To Freeze the Extraordinary Moments of Ordinary People’s Life with a stern lens language
Common people often burst out with amazing power when in "uncommon" situations such as great changes of the times, conflicts of ideas, and major crises. Among the entries for this year's Magnolia Awards for foreign TV dramas, there is a number of fine works about how nobodies respond to the challenges in harsh times of life with vivid strokes.
LES COMBATTANTES is a witness of how four ordinary women face great changes in their lives; A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN conveys the courage of a group of athletes to break through the shackles of society; MADE IN OSLO portrays a woman who tried everything to be a mother; EIN HAUCH VON AMERIKA records the struggle and persistence of two German people in the changing times; MYSTAN tells the story of self-salvation in face of domestic violence...
These extraordinary nobodies in the above dramas, either from the remote past days, or from the current era, together, form the profile of unyielding human beings.
LES COMBATTANTES
Country/Region: France
Set against the background of the Franco-German war in 1914, in a small village in eastern France, the fates of four ordinary people are intertwined. Marguerite, who was stunningly dressed but mysterious, was suspected by the villagers to be an enemy spy; Caroline was propelled to be the family factory head after her husband was sent to the front line; with the monastery where Agnes lived requisitioned and transformed into a field hospital, she’s always at a loss faced with the constant stream of the wounded; Suzanne, a nurse accused of murder, still tried to help those in need with her nursing skills while fleeing... These sudden changes pushed the four protagonists step by step into the vortex of life and history.
The work continues the exceptional quality of French dramas, full of pathos merely with the delicate performance, the snappy plot and the realistic settings.
Country/Region: US
This work is adapted from the film of the same name released in 1992. The story revolves around an American women's professional baseball team formed during World War II, offering us a group portrait of energetic women with strong personalities. Different from each other in skin colors, backgrounds, and personalities, they’re together because of the passion for baseball and found a common goal in life.
As indicated by its name, it is totally a passionate and inspirational sports series. These female images have to overcome various social barriers of race, gender, and occupation, face the reconstruction of order and uncertainty following the war, and also think about the era proposition of women's social positioning. However, the mother and daughter between tears and laughter and the ladybros who seemingly dislike each other in the drama have the audience in hysterics from time to time, with a profound yet uproarious theme.
Country/Region: Norway
Doctor Elin, running a fertility clinic in Norway, has helped countless patients achieve what she and her husband Bjorn desire the most: parenthood. The IVF failures again and again exhausted them physically and mentally, throwing the two into the worst aspects of gender relations. So, taking the risk of ruining both the clinic reputation and her family, Elin began a secret operation and hid it from Bjorn. However, when she finally parted with all illusions and made up her mind to bring her life back on track, she found that everything had become uncontrollable. What choice should she make among career, love and family?
In the context of the accelerated decline in the global fertility rate, the drama touches upon the issue of fertility, to unveil straightforwardly the dilemma that the world is currently facing, and set off thought-provoking discussions of new family ethics.
Country/Region: Germany
The United States stationed heavy troops in West Germany in the early 1950s, thus breaking the established peace and order in Germany. With various temptations in the "new world" ahead, the protagonists, two unsophisticated young people, must make their own choices - between the keen friendship from childhood, and the yearning for love and freedom. And different living environments and family backgrounds are also bringing the two apart.
Although the drama depicts the great changes of an era, it is not limited to the reflection on history, but focuses on how the two young people get rid of and resist the shackles in life. It is a rather profound work on human nature.
Country/Region: Kazakhstan
Three women who suffered from domestic violence got acquainted with each other in the process of seeking legal help, and their fates were thus tightly bound together. After going through a lot of blows, they gradually understood that to truly defeat these men, they must choose an unusual path.
The plots of the work are impressive and dense. And the transformation of characters and the reversal of plots always happen in an instant, which is both sharp and appealing.
The theme about ordinary people in unusual circumstances comes with innovative vitality in terms of genre, topic and style. Looking at the above-mentioned works, it is not difficult to find that from the traditional gender and family issues, to grander settings against history, society and even the change of the times, the scope of this theme on screen is constantly expanding, allowing the audience to see more moving images from the ordinary people, and feel stronger human power.
So, which works can finally become the winners of Magnolia Awards? Stay tuned!
