Ndrek and Gjergj Luca in « Flame of Mountains », a story of art and paternity, at a time of challenging confrontation

By Albert Vataj

In the mosaic of Albanian art, some images are not just film scenes or roles played, but a sensitive meeting point between life and art, between the parent and the child, between the passing generation and the one who receives the relay. Such is the story after the film « Flame of the Mountains » (1982), where a monumental figure of the Albanian scene, Ndrek Luca, and his son, Gjergj Luca, in one of the rarest and meaningful life and family life in Albanian cinematography.
Gjergj Luca, who today is known as one of the most successful Albanian entrepreneurs, was at that time a teenager who wandered into the blade of spiritual and social turmoil. It was a wild, vibrant and dissimilar temperament with the restrained rule of the education system of the time. The school seemed to a confrontation, not a refuge. He himself remembers with emotions like his mother, Mimika, kneeling for the principal not to exclude the boy from the night school in « Sami Frashëri », while the first brigadier, Lefko Bogdani, opened the doors of real life with the hands of a mason.

Actors Ndrek Luca, John Kola and Gjergj Luca in the film « Flame of the Mountains »

At this time internal ranges and the risk of loss, Ndrek Luca interfered with the vehicle he knew best, art. He put his son in the world of cinema, not only as an act of parental help, but as a kind of spiritual salary that would bring him a deeper resistance. The « Flame of the Mountains » thus became a cornerstone for George, not only as a film experience, but as a connection of a rescue act not to lose direction in life.
The figure of Ndrek Luca in this story is not simply that of the great actor who has worn the costume of gunpowder craftsman, Bardh Sokoli, an epic hero who represents the consciousness and selflessness of the northern Albanians in the years of 1911 uprising. It is also the figure of a father who, while giving his son Freedom to find himself, does not give them at a basic point: reading. His word is cut: « The road is the biggest faculty, but if you do not deal with the book, you will not be done. »

This lesson became a bond for George, who began to read, not only to keep his father’s word, but to gain spiritual freedom to decide for himself. What began as an act of discipline became the foundation of formation and emancipation.
Directed by Vladimir Kasa and script by Vangjel Leka, the Flame of the Mountains is an epic film that explores the heroism of the Albanian northern in the wake of the explosion of national sentiment and uprisings against the Ottoman invaders and chauvinistic claims. At the center is the figure of the craftsman of the gunpowder, who embodies the sacrifice and dedication to freedom. For this role, Ndrek Luca was honored with the medallion of the V Albanian Art Film Festival in April 1983.
In this film, his son, Gjergj Luca, participates in secondary roles, but his presence constitutes another dimension, a silent exchange of generations through art, a lesson not given in words, but with involvement, experience and soul.
Rarely in the history of Albanian cinema we have such a clear example where life and art are intertwined to save a new spirit from the dilapidated path of loss. From a mason to a secondary actor, from a refrigerated electrician to one of the most prominent names in the Albanian business field, the journey of Gjergj Luca has begun with an artistic act that was essentially an act of love, a testimony of inheritance, which although he did not continue, this spark stunned in the light of the world.
It is no coincidence that George has claimed that participating in that film is the most beautiful memory with his father. It remains a proof that art has a power that goes beyond aesthetics and spectacle, it can save, guide and form.
Today, the flame of the mountains can be seen as a film of historical and cinematic value, but for the Luca family, it remains more than that, is an emotional will, a silent love letter from a father to a son, and a reminder that sometimes, a role in the film is a role of life.
In the tranquility of the time that overturned many young people, Ndrek Luca gave his son an opportunity, not just to prove himself, but to save himself. And this is the real flame that never extinguishes.