By: Robert St. Martin
Los Angeles, VA I(The Hollywood Times) 5/5/2024 – Thursday evening at the Laemmle Town Center Theatres, Ardit Saidu’s Alexander (Albania/USA, 2023), was screened, one of the fine documentaries included in this year’s 19thAnnual SEEfest Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Alexander, which was Albania’s submission for consideration for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars, is a riveting documentary about a brave Albanian by the name of Alexander Gruda and revisits his daring hijacking of an Albanian naval warship in 1990, a brilliant bid for escape from Communist Albania to nearby Yugoslavia. After being fired by the navy for dissidence, he orchestrated the take-over of a warship in order to gain freedom for himself and his family.
We are introduced to Alexander Gruda at his current job: a doorman and receptionist, a bellhop, at Donald Trump’s Trump Tower in New York City. He is a friendly fellow who gets along well with clients and people who know him on the street. But there is a lot more to Gruda. He has been living in New York City for 19 years and considers New York his home.
Back in 1990, when Albania was controlled by the all-powerful ultra-communist successors to dictator Enver Hoxha (who died in 1985), Gruda was a recently fired mechanic in the navy due to his dissenting beliefs. He got the audacious idea to hijack an Albanian warship and steer it to freedom in Yugoslavia, a voyage he estimated would take 25 minutes – headed across the bay from Shëngjin. He gathered together his pregnant wife, Marjana, his four-year-old daughter, Anisa, several friends and their families and on September 11, 1990, they did hijack the warship and head for what is now Montenegro to the north. As soon as the Albanian military realized what was going on, they began firing on the ship. To avoid being shot, Gruda dropped to the floor and steered the warship with his feet.
Unfortunately, one person was killed: Gruda’s four-year-old daughter. A bullet somehow pierced the ship’s steel, ricocheted off a photo of Enver Hoxha and hit Anisa in the forehead. One of the many people Sadiku interviewed to make the film is one of the former Albanian soldiers who fired at the warship.
Miraculously, none of Gruda’s nineteen-strong group were injured. Unfortunately, one person was killed: Gruda’s four-year-old daughter Anisa. A bullet somehow pierced the ship’s steel, ricocheted off a photo of Enver Hoxha and hit Anisa in the forehead. One of the many people Sadiku interviewed to make the film is one of the former Albanian soldiers who fired at the warship. Gruda’s exploit caused a sensation in Albania because it broke the regime’s aura of invincibility. But the most moving focus of the film is the aftermath of Anisa’s death.
“Her soul saved everyone,” is one way to look at this; Gruda, his wife Marjana, and several others have an incredible story to share but one in which every triumph and brave action is balanced by our recognition of the starkest, bleakest tragedy interwoven with success.
Alexander may adhere to the classic documentary format, but its allure lies in the selection of its central figure. Alexander Gruda’s story serves as a testament to the resolute human spirit, a beacon of hope for those who dare to dream of a brighter tomorrow. As the credits roll, Gruda evolves from a mere individual into a symbol of our collective yearning for liberation and self-expression.
Alexander ends with the dedication of a small monument created for his daughter at the point where the warship was originally docked when Gruda and his companions hijacked it. Gruda’s story of the perfect heist that just had one unavoidable imperfection. Alexander himself is a local hero in his homeland, and whether this film gains awards traction or not hardly matters since Sadiku has made a fine documentary about Gruda.
“Blessed is the one who eats his bread in his home country,” Alexander muses. At a time when dictatorship threatens to rule the world, this film is welcome for reminding us of the sky-high personal cost of escaping those of a totalitarian bent who seek to take away our freedom.
Ardit Sadiku is a filmmaker from Shkodër, Albania. He began making short films as a teenager and has directed/produced three narrative features as well as two documentary features. Thematically, his films reflect an abiding interest in the global human struggle for freedom, in the context of the Cold War and beyond. His previous release, Freestyle to Montenegro (2021), played at various international festivals.
