IT HAPPENED ON THE STREET

Director Yanko Yankov / 1955 / Bulgaria

It Happened On The Street was the first Bulgarian film dealing with everyday life and only twelfth altogether in the country's young film industry. It is the first Bulgarian film to be shown in Australia, and its main interest to us is in that it allows us to gain a glimpse into life in post-war Bulgaria and to enable us to compare the techniques used for the awakening of social consciousness of people in countries within the orbit of socialist ideology. As a coincidence, the hero of this film and its Russian counterpart, The Rumyantsev Case, is a truck driver, who, according to William Whitebait, is also the new hero of the contemporary French cinema.

The story of It Happened on The Street tells about a young truck driver whose approach to his social obligations is rather flippant. How a couple of accidents and a complicated love story leads to his reformation and maturing, is conveyed in a series of episodes, humourously and simply told.

This film, unlike its predecessors, which all dealt with battles, sabotage, propaganda, has no mass scenes, epic exploits, no rending convicts, historical analysis - the well-known Bulgarian author, Pavel Vezhinov. in his script purposely avoids the overdramatic, the slogan and the conscious message, and strives to convey the gradual process of regeneration of his young hero with warm understanding and good humour.

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