Heroes
Director: Sandra Selimović
Writer: Marianne Strauhs
Cast: Cristina Ablinger, Simonida Selimović, Denise Teipel, Jörg Waltenberger
Seen on: 28.01.2015

Plot:
Three women are detained in Austria, waiting for their deportation or a miracle that their request for asylum is granted after all. Anaïss (Denise Teipel) is shy and reluctant and seems barely able to have fought her way from Iran to Austria. Saida (Simonida Selimović) seems the complete opposite of her – mouthy and aggressive she swaggers through the cell and doesn’t want to disclose where she’s from. The two of them are joined by Milena (Cristina Ablinger), a Romni from Kosovo who arrives with a huge make-up bag. Despite their very different origins and reasons for leaving their own countries, and despite inital antagonism, the three of them start to grow closer.

Heroes is the rare case of a small production in a small theater where you actually discover something wonderful. It’s a smart play with a wonderful cast that has something to say and does – without sacrificing the entertainment for it.

The way the Austrian system treats potential immigrants, especially when they came to the country illegally is atrocious. The way applications for asylum are handled is completely arbitrary, riddled with the suspicion that all asylum seekers are frauds, out to lie and betray and abuse the system and with a general unwillingness to see applicants as human beings.

Heroes cuts to the heart of the matter, especially in their interrogation scenes (also played by the three actresses, one being interrogated as their character and two playing policemen and translators). Here communication strategies are deployed that are designed to trap the suspects (because they are above all suspects, not refugees, to the interrogators and the system in general) in contradictions by creating said contradictions. There are translators who can barely speak the language they are supposed to translate. There are requests to prove homosexuality by describing the last time you had sex. In detail. [All of these things were extensively researched by the writer and are, unfortunately, way too realistic to be invented.]

But it’s not only a question of inhumane asylum practices, it’s also a question of male violence against women. This becomes apparent in the fact that so few women in general manage to come to Europe on their own, in the stories the women tell of their home countries but also in the interactions with the guard (Jörg Waltenberger) – the only man in the play.

And all of that with a stellar cast who really embody their roles. The three main actresses have a history of migration (at least in the family), though not from the same background as their characters, which probably helps. But also the switch between roles seems easy for them and is very effective. The writing is also excellent, giving us dialogues that are both adequate for the theater and realistic. And Sandra Selimović ties everything up into a dense play, where you can laugh and cry both.

Summarizing: Fantastic – if you are in Vienna, you should definitely see it.