Limits of Europe (Apolena Rychlíková, 2024)
Published here.
Colloquially known as a “Eurotrip,” a tour of European countries is often seen as an opportunity for foreigners to experience the continent’s cultural diversity. Paradoxically, this pursuit easily leads to an oversimplified understanding. A running joke in the bubbles of online communities mercilessly suggests that Eurotrip enthusiasts–overwhelmingly Americans–tend to visit only Italy, France, and the UK, drastically limiting their insight into what Europe is like.
But how much do Europeans themselves know about Europe? Does the West understand what happens in the East, or even care to? If outsiders are criticised for a superficial approach to exploring Europe, what does it say about insiders when their own ignorance or disinterest is exposed? Apolena Rychliková’s Limits of Europe (Hranice Evropy, 2024) is a provocative take on the Eurotrip concept through the experience of journalist Saša Uhlová. Having previously gone undercover as an undocumented worker in her native Czech Republic in Rychliková’s earlier documentary Czech Journal: The Limits of Work (Český žurnál: Hranice práce, 2017), Uhlová now embarks on a similar journey in Germany, the UK, and France. The film was featured in the “Translucent Beings: Vit Klusák and Filip Remunda” section at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, alongside 21 other documentaries produced by Klusák and Remunda’s production company Hypermarket Film since the early 2000s.
In her first project, Uhlová discovered that many Eastern European workers in Western Europe operate within the black economy. They accept gruelling hours and poor working conditions in exchange for salaries that, while exploitative, remain much higher than what they could earn in their home countries. These jobs–usually in hospitality, private care, agriculture, or construction–often support entire families back home or serve as a critical source of savings. This economic necessity makes it difficult for these workers to abandon such arrangements.
The story in Limits of Europe begins again in the Czech Republic, where Uhlová sets the stage for her journey. She aims to provide a first-person account of the invisible economic processes driving Europe. Uhlová wants to make the experiences of undocumented workers visible to Western audiences, as they typically ignore or fail to imagine them. Rychliková’s film adopts Uhlová’s deeply personal narrative style, evident in her books Hrdinové kapitalistické práce (2018) and Hrdinové kapitalistické práce v Evropě (2023). This intimate storytelling is reinforced by Uhlová’s diary-like voice-over and hidden camera footage captured in her glasses. These visuals complement the traditional third-person perspective provided by cinematographer Jan Šípek, vividly portraying a complex social reality. Uhlová’s point-of-view shots, in particular, humanise the labour in question, especially because she describes its physical and emotional toll in detail.
In Germany, Uhlová works on a farm, harvesting and packing vegetables. Through this experience, she not only highlights the job’s physical demands but also delves into the issue of excessive alcohol consumption during workers’ free time, driven by feelings of isolation and emptiness. After a brief return home, Uhlová attempts to work in the UK but encounters significant obstacles due to Brexit. Unable to secure employment in London, she relocates to Ireland, where she finds work as a hotel housekeeper. There, she again forms connections with fellow workers, such as a young Slovak couple, amplifying the voices of real people. Despite the expected taboo surrounding these discussions, Uhlová’s empathetic approach makes it easy for her subjects to open up. Her most mentally taxing experience occurs in France, where she works as a caregiver for elderly patients, many of whom are senile but also emotionally reliant on her presence.
The depiction of Uhlová’s stay on the German farm is the most detailed, while subsequent jobs are explored with increasing brevity. This structural progression makes sense, as Uhlová’s critique becomes somewhat predictable by the film’s conclusion. Although Uhlová aims to expose social dynamics that transcend individual experience, the story often focuses on her intrinsic motivations. Early on, her relationship with her father is explored, former dissident and political prisoner Peter Uhl. At the time Uhlová begins her project, her father is publishing a collection of his writings from 1968 to 1989. By acknowledging that milestone as well as including sequences of Uhlová’s introspection, the film shifts its focus from abstract societal critiques to a deeply personal narrative. Uhlová’s emotional investment in her work mirrors her father’s lifelong dedication to imagining a more equitable world, positioning her as someone who honours and continues his legacy.
With no personal connections in the world, she decides to enter. Some of Uhlová’s actions reflect a certain naivety, particularly during her job hunt in England. Her strategy of approaching potential employers by knocking on doors proves futile, as most are wary of the legal consequences of hiring workers without the permit. While some foreigners may hope to secure jobs in this way. They are more likely to navigate the black economy’s intricate networks even before arriving in their host countries.
Uhlová’s investigation challenges the ideas of freedom and equal opportunity enshrined in the European project, exposing a reality that often falls disappointingly short of those aspirations. Limits of Europe is a compelling journey through a truly diverse continent–diverse not only in terms of culture but also in the stark disparities in living standards and chances for improvement. The film sheds light on a hidden or misunderstood problem, making it more accessible to the general public. It also invites reflection on other contradictions of an economically integrated yet uneven Europe–Uhlová’s Eastern European workers can just as easily be imagined as Filipino, Nepali, or Indian workers in her own Eastern Europe, clinging to the promise of a better life despite its often harsh and imperfect reality.
As it turns out, where limits are is truly dependent on one’s perspective.