ON RUBIK'S ROAD

The historical seaside resort of Jurmala, ten kilometres north-west of Riga, is connected with the Latvian capital by a bicycle path built on the orders of Alfreds Rubiks. In 1991 the same politician launched the attempts to crush the peaceful movement for Latvian independence from the Soviet Union. With no commentary or music, the documentary simply observes the busy “Rubik’s Road” on its winding course through fields and forests, alongside railway tracks, allotment gardens, and sports grounds. The quality of the road varies: some sections are smoothly surfaced, others pitted with holes. The people encountered there are a mixed bunch, too: hobby cyclists next to families out for a walk; racers speeding past children wobbling on their first bikes; sweat-plastered joggers huffing their way past cool youngsters hanging out by the roadside. Now and again we see a moped or a car on a slalom-like mission, cyclists who almost collide on sharp bends, or a walker stumbling over a stone. Alfreds Rubiks, incidentally, was imprisoned for a spell but is now chairman of the Socialist Party of Latvia. In the period the film was being made, the Latvians elected him to the European Parliament.