H-8...

The long distance bus ride creates a small tight-knit community for a brief moment - us people, in either a friendly or antagonistic way, tend to get to know people nearby. As a kid, traveling around Australia, they were the greatest adventure imaginable and form some of my most fond memories. In H-8 the bus we're riding on is heading for disaster - based on a true story, it involves the head-on collision between a bus and truck which was caused by an unknown motorist who sped away from the scene of the crash. Only two numbers of his license plate were visible to onlookers - "H-8..." The film takes on a familiar form as we watch - that of the star-laden disaster movie, which was yet to take form in 1958 - this film's day. Each character is in the midst of their own dramatic storyline, and as we watch we're continually kept on edge as to who will end up seated nearer the front of the bus - the zone where all of the fatalities occurred. In the truck involved in the collision, we get to know a man just released from prison, his son, glad to be reunited with his father, and a hoodlum trying his best to lure the man back into a life of crime.

The movie itself isn't concerned at all with death and destruction, or the drama related to the saving of lives, hospitalization and the aftermath. Here we watch the build-up, knowing each step of the way where we're at, for in the film's first few minutes we're given a thorough forensic rundown of the key events which occurred during the trip. It's a smart way to go about this - the documentary style it uses is more common today on television from shows that range from Seconds from Disaster to Air Crash Investigation, where we learn the basics and then close in for a more minute examination with the framework already sorted out in our mind. We know the truck driver will at one point eject his passenger, but then relent and let him back in. We know a bus passenger will be left behind after a rest stop. We know the two bus drivers will swap roles, and that this is unusual. The film doesn't have to pause and lose precious momentum to make anything clear.

The passengers on the bus are an unlikely combination of drama and newsworthy happenstance. There's the paediatrician suspected of negligence in a case where children died, traveling with his son. There's the talented performer who has just broken up with her teacher - a teacher who is old enough to be her father. There's the theater performer who has lost his voice - something that's driven him to the verge of a mental breakdown. There's the unsatisfied lady taking a trip with her Swiss man - a man who doesn't speak the language and is thus at a disadvantage. There's an older couple, and a young new mother. There are a couple of bachelors, and a high strung couple taking care of a wayward daughter. There's the conscript, and the wise guy. At various times these people will move about and switch seats depending on circumstance and blind chance. It might depend on a person wanting to try and chat someone up, or an offer for a smoother ride up the front. As the time at which the collision occurs gets nearer, these moments become more critical.

Nikola Tanhofer, the film's director, started out his career as a noted and innovative cinematographer before graduating to helming features. H-8 was the second of eight he'd end up making - most of them probably well worth checking out. The technical experimentation he'd been employing from behind the camera since 1949 gave him an intrinsic knowledge of what would be possible for him as far as what he wanted visually. Writing the excellent screenplay were journalist Tomislav Butorac, and future star Croatian filmmaker Zvonimir Berković - making this a convergence of talent within this region at this time. Handling the cinematography for the usual cinematographer in a very able and interesting manner was Slavko Zalar while the director's future wife, Radojka Ivančević, did the editing - turning this into a finished product that would later be voted as the second best (in 1999) Croatian film ever made and at a later date it took the number one spot, being voted the best Croatian film of all time in 2020. Over time it's probably something that will continue to be discovered by film-lovers.

I enjoyed the way everyone involved in making this, from editor Ivančević to Dragutin Savin's music to cinematographer and narrator quicken the tempo to a climactic frenzy when the critical event is about to take place, both in the film's prologue and at the film's sad conclusion. I thought the score was otherwise workmanlike and most of the time faded into an enjoyable ambient, atmospheric, easy and smooth glide. The performances all-round were all very good by an ensemble which really shared the load around equally - including the child actors. I liked the rhythmic bounce we always got during scenes aboard the moving vehicles - it wasn't overdone. I also thought the various moral questions constantly sprouting throughout made this a really interesting watch. From thieves to reformed criminals, parents and their concerns, lovers and the lonely, journalists and their ethics, bus drivers and their need to stay sober no matter what - it blends in nicely for this narrative to meet up with the blind chance that disaster so cruelly delivers. Accidents like this kill the innocent with the guilty.

I'm always happy when given the chance and impetus to check out a good film from an era and geographical location I'd rarely find myself in film-watching-wise. H-8 has recently been digitally restored, so it's looking it's best for those who seek out the more handsome and cleaned up version. Oh - and one of my favourite aspects to the whole film is the way the narrator kind of spits out acidic, sarcastic tributes to the driver of the car that caused the disaster and then sped off. I'm sure every driver out there who's license plate started with 'H8' were made uncomfortable, despite their innocence. Anyway, I appreciate the way this anger and frustration is given full voice at the beginning and end of this film - and I'll always wonder if the driver knew about this film, or even saw it. In the meantime, the bus continues to be that melting pot of humanity where people are forced into close proximity with each other only to depart, never to see each other again. It's a rich mine of conflict and agreement - and sometimes even love. Though torn apart in the end, this mixture in H-8 is enough to travel along with and become involved with emotionally before the sudden and irreparable collision of a more mechanical, physical nature.