Superb work of fiction

Rating: 10/10 (12 November 2001)

It's astounding to see this movie getting so much bad reviews, as it is by far the best I have ever seen. You have to be either dumb or blind (or both) to accuse this movie (as many do, including the so-called intellectual class of France) of being pro-Serbian. It is a gripping, strongly imaginative tale that show the absurdity of war, and nationalism, l that hangs around it. Take for instance the opening scene, with the wounded animals as the Yugoslav capital is being bombed, and the threatening music that goes alongside of it, or the cut in which a burning wheelchair goes around in circles, again with excellent music: images that, as many more of the movie, are burned in my memory ever since I saw it: you cannot make an anti-war statement any stronger, no? Beside being tragical, the movie is also highly comical, and the acting and the music are unforgettable Underground is the kind of movie that would have been laughable had it been made by a mediocre director, the kind of movie that would have been pathetic had it been made by a good director, but the kind of movie that grew to be an masterpiece of art because it was shaped by the genius of Kusturica.