The Rijeka train station is a small, single-storey building. It’s a lonely place, one’s only company being the cab drivers smoking on the benches outside and possibly a pair of backpackers exchanging money at the kiosk inside. Several hundred metres along the same tree-lined street outside the dilapidated train station is the large square that plays host to the Rijeka bus station.
The quiet train station could not be more different from the bus station. Situated on the edge of the city centre, the bus station is a loud, bustling place, the roads crowded with traffic and the sidewalks obscured beneath people’s feet (and suitcases). This contrast highlights the relative importance of bus travel versus train travel, a reversal of the norms of countries farther west – but how long will this bus stop, still run out of a ticket office smaller than a Pret a Manger, retain its importance?
Director Maša Drndić (who also serves as the cinematographer) uses her film The Waiting Point to comment upon the anxiety and uncertainty regarding Croatia’s future within Europe. Set at the Rijeka bus station, the film examines the ecology of this location, focusing on an average day at the bus stop. The Waiting Point’s temporal frame is the European Championship 2012 group stage football match between the Croatian and Spanish teams; Croatia must either win or draw against Spain to advance to the finals, while Spain need only draw. While this sporting drama plays out in the background, the lives of those at and around the bus station come into greater focus.
