<em>Good People</em>

When was the last time you asked yourself if you’re a good person? With his latest film, the acclaimed Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski will prompt you to think about that. By simply observing the documentary’s protagonists and addressing your mind and feelings, he will make you painfully aware that humanity has forgotten the importance of being a good person. As some of us still remember, folk tales and popular fiction taught generations the capacity to distinguish good from evil. Yet in the world today, evil guys dominate. And this is often with the support of common people who choose to follow the pragmatic maxim that «good guys come last”. Being a good person doesn’t matter.

Sometimes it does matter, though. In particular, in major accidents involving several victims, who are often also the first rescuers. Such as the fire that broke out in the early hours of March 16, 2025, at Club Pulse in Kočani, in the eastern part of the Republic of North Macedonia. That night, a popular band held a concert, and the club was packed with young people. At a certain point, some of them noticed «special-effects-like» sparks of fire. The next moment, the acoustic and decorative material on the club’s ceiling caught fire, and the entire place was rapidly enveloped in a thick, highly toxic smoke. The panic broke out, a massive stampede ensued, and the club was revealed to be a «death trap»: there was no fire alarm system, no automatic sprinklers, the only existing fire extinguisher didn’t work, and the building had only one exit. Visitors who rushed toward it in panic blocked one another, piled on top of one another, suffocating, and the stronger ones literally walked on those below. Yet, eventually, the first survivors helped others get out. Not all remained alive. Those who did are the protagonists of this film.

evil would not have prevailed without the silent support of good people, who hold back because «good guys come last.»

n the fire, 63 people died, and 193 were injured. The investigation revealed that the Club had no permit and operated using forged documents. The nightclub’s owner, as well as public licensing officials, safety inspectors, and former mayors of Kočani, was involved in the corruption that made this possible. A strikingly similar tragedy occurred early on January 1, 2026, during New Year celebrations at Le Constellation bar in the Swiss Alps ski resort of Crans-Montana. The bar, located in the center of the resort, was sound-insulated with highly inflammable material; it had no fire alarm system, no sprinklers, the fire extinguishers were locked in a room, and the emergency exits were blocked. 41 people died, and 115 were injured. Swiss fire safety regulations are known to be stricter than elsewhere in Europe, but the bar had not been fire-inspected since 2019. Besides, many of the victims were underage, even 14-year-olds. The investigation is still ongoing, but the rumors that spread immediately after the tragedy about the corrupt ties between the nightclub owners and public officials in this small community have been confirmed. Did the parents who gave their underage children permission to go to that bar not know about all that beforehand?

It is quite logical that Milcho Manchevski is the person who made the film about the tragedy in Kočani. In 2023, Manchevski publicly spoke out about corruption in North Macedonia’s film funding system. Things «everybody knows” but no one talks about, such as rigged competitions and favoritism for politically connected projects. The official investigation largely confirmed his reports, but the Film Agency nevertheless heavily retaliated against him. They even blocked funding for his already approved projects. It was during this time that he made Good People. The film is completely self-funded, so the ascetic approach is as much an adaptation to the material conditions as it is a creative choice. This match is common in film history, but rarely so successful.

Without any visible directorial intervention, young Macedonians, the survivors of the tragedy in Kočani, lead the audience to rediscover the importance of being a good person.

Manchevski, who won the Venice Golden Lion in 1994 with the fiction film Before the Rain, made a hybrid documentary, Mothers (Majki), in 2010, but Good People is his first straight documentary. His approach is limited to a direct cinematic observation. Apart from a few shots the protagonists filmed with their cell phones when the fire broke out, the film is entirely composed of shots of people against a neutral black background, filmed at eye level, from the chest up. They recall the event in their own words. Manchevski organized their testimonies chronologically to provide an accurate description of the event. Yet the narrative that apparently follows the timeline subtly shifts toward the importance of being good. Without any visible directorial intervention, young Macedonians, the survivors of the tragedy in Kočani, lead the audience to rediscover the importance of being a good person.

With minimal means and maximal respect for the protagonists of his film, Manchevski developed a crucial message for the world of today. Of course, the consequences of the tragic fire outbreaks can’t compare to the consequences of misplaced public funds. The matrix, however, is the same. And this matrix indicates that evil would not have prevailed without the silent support of good people, who hold back because «good guys come last.» In this sense, the documentary Good People is a meta-discourse: through the experience of the importance of being good in a tragic accident, the director is also reflecting on his own gesture and, in general, on the importance of doing what is right. He does this by creating a suspense worthy of the best fiction. The narrative, constructed by the protagonist telling their experience of the story, unexpectedly leads to a complex conclusion. It reveals the heroic action in the background of the tragedy that is the subject of the film. It sheds new light on the director’s ethical choice to risk his career for a more transparent film financing system. It testifies to the wisdom of young people and directly speaks to each of us about a simple decision we need to make. I want to be a good person.