The Optimists (film)
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The Optimists is a 2006 Serbian black comedy film directed by Goran Paskaljević. The film, presented as five unrelated narrative sequences, was inspired by Voltaire's 1759 satirical novel, Candide.
Plot
A large flood has almost destroyed a village. A hypnotist (Ristovski) comes to the village and speaks to the destitute inhabitants. Free of charge, the hypnotist offers to lift the villagers' spirits through hypnosis. The villagers doubt the hypnotist's noble motive and accuse him of an apparent theft. The police arrest, beat, and interrogate him.
A sleazy businessman (Tihomir Arsić) takes a young female employee (Bojana Novaković) to a rural area and rapes her. The girl's father (Ristovski) is upset and wants to kill the man. Fearing that the powerful businessman will fire him, the father apologizes to the businessman instead, implying the daughter was responsible for the assault and inconvenienced the businessman.
Ilija's (Viktor Savić) father Ratomir (Ristovski) recently died. Ilija gambles away the money saved for his father's funeral. He meets an old lady (Mira Banjac) recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. She has had a lucky streak on the slot machines ever since her diagnosis. Ilija joins her in hopes of rejoicing with her success.
Pera (Ristovski), the owner of a large slaughterhouse, calls a doctor (Nebojša Glogovac) to his home complaining that his 12-year-old son (Nebojša Milovanović) is giving him a heart attack. Pera locks up his son because the 12-year-old feels overly dedicated to the family business, so much so that he slaughters every animal he sees. The doctor realizes that Pera wants him to treat the son, not the slaughterhouse owner.
A con man posing as a faith healer (Ristovski) approaches a group of people with various disabilities and illnesses. He offers, for a fee, to take them by the busload to a spring that has magical healing powers where they will be cured. The group boards the bus and arrives at the destination. Once there, the con man abandons the group and leaves the site. The group, having realized the con man has abandoned them, does not prevent the bus from leaving because they are still determined to get the full benefit of the spring's healing waters.
See also
