Kolonel Bunker

Enver Hodja ruled Albania for almost forty years. After breaking with Belgrade to draw closer to the USSR, then working with China and abandoning Moscow, Enver Hodja committed purge after purge. A supreme dictator, he was one of the most totalitarian and uncompromising leaders of the Communist bloc. Albania lived under his yoke of daily “paranoia”… The Enver Hodja system survived seven years after his death. After a ‘mini revolution’, Albania elected a president and – after almost half a century – opened up to the world. Albania is a ravaged country, disfigured by ‘bunkers’, symbols of a country under the yoke of a mad dictator. Colonel Muro Neto, the hero of the film, was Enver Hodja’s plaything, charged with protecting the country from the omnipresent enemy. This Kolonel Bunker is the symbol of this country. – 1950-1960 in Poland Muro Neto followed brilliant military studies and met Ana Jakubowska, a passionate piano player. He fell in love with her and they married. In 1960, they moved to Albania, Muro Neto’s homeland. – 1961 in Albania Choosing to live in Albania meant breaking forever with the outside world. Ana Jakubowska decided to stay with her husband in Albania and cut off all relations with her family in Poland. – 1974 in Albania Muro Neto is charged with defending the country against an invisible enemy. As a great military strategist, he decided that ‘bunkerisation’ was the only defence against a surprise attack. Muro Neto built almost 800,000 bunkers; the population was subjected to sudden and unreasonable attack warnings. Paranoia grew. Muro Neto disappeared to make way for Colonel Bunker. A monster of the Communist apparatus, Colonel Bunker destroys everything in his path, turning a blind eye to the trials and summary executions. He feels vested with the mission of supreme defender of the country…