A Parked Life

‘A Parked Life’ is an intimate portrait of Petar Bonchev, a tough but sensitive freebooter who has been working for nine years as a truck driver, a profession he abhors. He is one of the hundreds of thousands of Eastern European drivers who criss-cross through northern, southern and western Europe for 46 weeks a year, living in their cabs on and along highways for months on end. As he undergoes the monotonous journeys, the many hours of waiting, and the unfriendly treatment he receives almost everywhere, he feels his wife and child drifting away from him. Gradually, the film changes tone and style, and the viewer is immersed more deeply in the emotional consequences of a driver’s life. The many kilometres Petar travels become a metaphor for an inner journey, a pilgrimage: How did he end up a driver? Does the highway lead him to a better life? Or is it a street without end? ‘A Parked Life’ is a pure-blood road movie that takes us to the far corners of the European continent where the landscapes contribute to the feeling of alienation. ‘A Parked Life’ is also a highly topical documentary about the difficult position in which Europe finds itself since its last expansion. Along with the life of its protagonist, the film looks at a continent with a dream of unification, where xenophobia flourishes and solidarity is under pressure.