The adaptation of Northwestern wind is everything I could have asked for and more

As I had mentioned way back in my very first post, I always have had a fascination (or should I say obssesion) with Slavic mythology and folklore. A lot of that was influenced by the Croatian author, artist, illustrator and doll maker Zdenko Bašić and his two books Sjeverozapadni vjetar (Northwestern wind) and Mjesečeve sjene (Shadows of the Moon) which serve as partial memoirs of his experiances with his grandmother who introduced him to a treasury of folk and fairy tales, but also as illustrated field guides to the folklore, rituals and creatures of the hills, forests, lakes, marshes and mountains of northwestern Croatia. And who can blame me? They were very well and personally written as well as artistically pleasing using puppetry, antique book pages, photos and groegeous hand-paintings in order to create exceedingly memorable depictions of various witches, demons and other monsters and easily earn a place amongst my favorite non-fiction books of all time.

Despite all that, I had no idea about this show's existence. I randomly heard about it when the network was advertising a rerun and I was immediately hooked. This was the first time Croatia decided to touch upon it's rich tapestry of mythology and folklore in an audiovisual form and I couldn't have been happier. Am I biased because I love the subject matter? Perhaps. But does that make the actual show any less worth your time? Hellz naw. This is, and I'm not even exaggerating, truly one of the best pieces of Croatian television/film made after the country's independence and most critics and audiences are showering the show with praises as well, so, what the heck, let me add my two cents on this matter and see if I was able to create anything that matches this show's genious. Lord knows how happy I am to review something excelent after suffering through the misery that was the first season of The Singer.

What's the whole thing even about anyways?

Whilst I do sincerely hope that my non-Croatian speaking readers are able to get a chance to view the show with English subs sometime in the near future, as of me writing this blog, the show hasn't been made available to non-Croatian language viewers, so I suppose a brief synopsis wouldn't hurt. Throught it's four episode run the show focuses on several prominent mythical figures in Croatian folklore: fairies (with a large focus being put on the Fates), demons (althought reffered to here as devils, which seems to be a trend with Slavic languages), witches and The Water Man (as well as a being known as The Water Judge, however, it's never clarified wheater the two are the same entity or not). It details their typical behaviours, how one can ward off, summon and/or appease them (thus also discussing a lot of traditional magical practices along the way), as well as many other aspects one can expect from a documentary on this topic. There's also the unavoidable inclusion of reenactments of the region's most popular folkatales and legends based around said creatures, which give the show a bit of a distinct visual flare.

Personally, my only gripe with the show is that not every creature Bašić described in the original books shows up here. I would have loved to see beings such as the evil spirit Mračnjak (a being so full of evil that ground screeches and shakes under his weight), the half human-half fey Vilovnik, the white orbs of light Nevidiničići (who are actually spirits of deceased children), the cursed hunters Jagari (who are forced to hunt human souls for all eternity), the terrifying spirits of justice Kvatri, as well as other, more well known beings such as werewolves, vampires, ghosts, bogeyman, night hags and the cynocephali. However, despite their absence in this adaptation, I still have the illustrations and vivid descriptions of the original books to keep me company, especially in these dusky final days of October.

So I was debating for a bit on how exactly I should do this review. Originally I intended to do an in depth look of each episodes individual pros and cons, however, I soon realized that most of them share the exact same positive and negative aspects so I don't feel like repeating the same thing over and over again for four times, so I'll just do the usual schtick I have with any piece of TV I review, with overlooking the show's overall positives and negatives. This is probably gonna be a bit tougher to execute than usual, given that this isn't a fictional show where I can overeview the usual aspect those have, but I'll try my best, like I always do.

(1) The Writing

Ok, admitedley it's a little hard to judge the writing in a documentaries and non-fiction books, however, there are still criteria that needs to be met. It should be informative, but at the same time it needs to be somewhat entertaining and gripping. Sure, there's no characters or storylines you can latch onto, however, you are still learning something about a subject you're interested in and it never hurts to have atleast some amount of fun whilst watching something. Given that I've seen a fair share of documentaries growing up, I do feel like I have enough authority to say what qualifies as a well written crown jewel and what qualifies as unwatchable garbage. For example, my all time favorite documentary, the 2011 miniseries Croatian Kings or BBC's iconic paleodoc franchise Walking with... (1999-2005), is never dry or boring, rather, it's writing is very engaging, entertaining the viewer whilst also teaching them about Croatian history (or, in the case of the second example, the changing biodiversity of prehistoric Earth).

Fortunately, this praise could be applied to Northwestern Wind as well.

Bašić remained involved as a creator, director and writer of the show, so the haunting, yet beautiful atmosphere of the original books still remains here and the writing (just like the visuals which i'll talk about later) perfectly reflects that.

When stories are being retold or creatures are being described the show has an appropriately storybook-esque feel to it. Almost as if you're hearing these thousand year old secrets being shown to you right there on your TV screen (or laptop or phone, whatever floats your boat). They aren't exactly what I'd call gothic or scary, but they aren't even meant to be seen in this light, rather, they have a more arcane and folksy feel to them, which was the point of the original books, so I'm throughly happy that this was the direction the show took as well. I'm not sure exactly how other viewers felt about this one, but, I, personally, got a very warm, folksy and comfortable feeling around my heart whilst watching this. Sometimes I would simply close my eyes and rewind some moments and lines just to bathe into that feeling of pure fuzzy comfort they agve me for just a tad bit longer. It sort off the same feeling one gets when they're listening to a parent or grandparent tell them a bedtime story. It just unlocked a lot of childhood memories for me, even though I haven't read the books as a kid (rather, I did so as a young teen).

I would also like to talk about the writing in the reenactment sequences, which attempt to bring some of these beloved folktales to life on the small screen. I'll talk about them in a bit more detail when we talk about the show's visuals, however, I'd like to give a brief shoutout to the very few lines spoken in them. They're very hammy, over the top and some viewers may even find the overall execution of them to be overtly goofy, however, those viewers will probably forget that folktales can be categorized like that as well (just open a Grimm's Fairy Tales book and you'll see my point), so, I personally believe that Bašić managed to nail their atmosphere down to a T with such stylization.

In the end, this is one of the few documentaries considering mythology and magic that I believe managed to succesfully translate this atmosphere to the presentation of it's subject matter.

(2) The Visuals

Before I discuss how the show handles other aspects of a good/great documentary, I would like to examine how it holds up when it comes to it's visual aspects.

Bašić's books were just as reliant on visuals as they were on the writing, frankly, I'd say that they told the unseen half of the story that was hidden away from the writings (both his own and that of other authors whose books he cites). It was the main reason as to why they were such bestsellers in the Croatian market and the first books on Croatian mythology and folklore to recieve an English translation. So, keeping all of this in mind, an adaptation of these books would need to rely heavily on recreating these stories visually, as well as narratively.

Now, granted, the show had a fairly low budget for something of this type and style, however, one can accomplish truly great things with a lack of funding (case in point, every truly great found footage movie ever made) and I believe that this show manages to pull that off succesfully. Granted most of the show's visual and directorial work is standard documentary filmmaking we've seen done time and time again in other movies and shows in this genre no matter the subject matter, however, something being standard doesn't exclude it from being good/great. Case in point, the show's landscape shots and sequences filmed on location. As an avid nature enjoyer and proffesional hiker I had visited a lot of these locations (such as the Klek Mountain) in person prior to seeing the show, and, I must say, the show really nails the scope and feel of these magnificent locations prior. You can truly feel their size, scheme and just general sense of power and might oozing out of them. It's the type of feel you can usually see in nature documentaries, however, this time a dose of the books' magical and mystical atmosphere is added leaving the final product to be exceptionally memorable, both writing and visuals wise.

And now, let's talk about the thing you were probably most excited about after reading my first paragraph (I'm probably lying my ass off right now, but who cares?): the visuals in the reenactment scenes.

As I had mentioned many would find the reenactments of these folktales exceptionally cheesy and kinda goofy, which is probably the result of a low budget the show had. However, personally, whilst I do think they would have benefited from more funding being aquired in order to make these sequences more believable, I still retain that they're great in their own uniquely entertaining way. Bašić's original illustrations were achieved through the usage of old book pages, newspaper and magazine cutouts, pencial sketches, paintings and photographs, with each having it's own unique look, style and feel to it, leaving the books with a timeless legacy in the multi-layered history of Croatian folkloristics and etnography. Naturally, the show can't exactly accomplish the full scope of all of that into such sequences, however, I retain that the reenactments do keep a sort off a quirky and folksy charm to them, which wonderfully preserves the style and atmosphere of the original books in the live action format of the series. Is it a tad bit goofy? Yep. But, I personally see no problems with that specific aspect of it and I can safely confirm that no other show on Croatian TV has the same look and atmosphere as this one does.

(3) Other Aspects

I decided to talk about the last two aspects most (if not all) great documentary shows posses in a single paragrpah since my thoughts on both are pretty brief, but I try to encompass every thought I have on something into these reviews and they are, after all, important parts of many documentaries.

The first of those two aspect is the interviews.

Throught the show both ordinary people and scholars are interviewed about these beliefs and their possibly origins and subsequent legacy in today's sociopolitical climate. Each group presents the subject matter at hand in their own way and I really enjoy this angle given that we can hear a fun, weird and possibly eerie ghost story or folktale in much the same manner you would hear it if it was being conveyed to you by a grandparent or elderly neighbour and then later hear an explanation of the story's anthropolgical and historical background by a folklorist, historian or, even, a local librarian, with each branch having it's own unique perks. The segments with elderly inhabitants of local cities, towns and villages all made me extremely emotional. These people actually feel like those caring elderly relatives that'll tuck you in and tell a fun/spooky bedtime story with a loving smile on their face. They always made me light up and caused a warm sensation around my heart after each sequence with them. Is what I just said corny? Yes. But goddamnit, I'm a corny individidual and I like being this way.

The interviews with experts are, atleast in my opinion, one of the coolest parts of the show. Sure, as a mythology nerd and avid bookworm I was already familiar with pretty much everything they were talking about, however, if you really love something you probably won't get tired if you listen to folks yammering about it, even if you're listening to it for a millionth time. I even recognized some familiar faces, those being the foklorist Vid Balog, the author of the very memorable and well illustrated book titled The folklore of Croatian fairytales (Hrvatska bajoslovlja), and the historian Deniver Vukelić, the author of the exceptionally detailed monography Magic in the historic territories of Croatia (Magija na hrvatskom povijesnom prostoru) which I payed a great sum of cash for when it first dropped, but it's still standing on my shelf waiting to be read because I'm a procrastinating twat. Along with the other speakers the offer some tantalizing insight into the true faces hidden behind the monsters presented in the show and reveal that fact is oftentimes just as equally exciting as fiction, which is an aspect I love seeing in books and documentaries surrounding mythology, folklore and magic.

The second of these two aspects I want to talk about is the host.

Not every documentary needs one (in fact, most of the ones I enjoyed seemed to have a great time with simply a narrator), however, when they are present, they're a welcome edition.

In my personal opinion, a good documentary host needs to have personality in order for the presented material to not come across as simply dry and boring. They can add a surprising amount of positive points to a movie or show with simply their very charm and charisma, however, one also needs to know how to balance the personality aspect and the informative aspect of hosting a show of this manner, because they can easily end up coming across as too much and too cartoony, whilst making the information simply a part of the background, or do the opposite and come across as very dry and even downright disinterested in the subject matter of the movie or show.

Fortunately, however, the show's host, Ivan Planinić (whose mostly known as a stage show director and voice actor), manages to do the succesfully. Whilst for the majority of each episode he's fairly informative and factual, he delievers each line with an insane amount of passion and isn't afraid to show off his more colorful and whimsical side, especially in the brilliantly funny ghost hunting skits they do at the end of each episode in order to prove the existence of each of the creatures. He has a style that lends itself naturally to documentary form and I'm sad that he doesn't do more work in this particular genre.

So, in the end, would I reccomend this one?

Totally, one hundred percent yes!!! This has definetely been one of my absolute favorite things that I had reviewed for this blog and I can't sing the praises enough. It manages to do the most on a low budget, whilst also being an equal parts captivating and informative watch that made me smile so widely that I think I'm gonna become a local cryptid. If you're interested in mythology, folklore and magic, or just want an easy documentary binge, then I highley suggest giving this one a through watch. I'm truly surprised something tackling this tantalizing matter aired on Croatian TV and I hope that, some day, something like this is applied to scripted media as well.

Trailers: