a strong metaphor about communism in the Balkans

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2006)

'Once upon a time there was country' - this is how this film starts, setting a tone of legend on what will follow - a long, breathtaking and heartbreaking allegory of 50 years in the history of Yugoslavia and the Balkans. Although the movie tells a lot about Yugoslavia and the internal fights leading to the civil war there ('there is no true war without brothers killing each other' is another memorable quote) the movie can be related to any other Communist country in Eastern Europe, kept for many decades in the 'underground', torn away from the sunshine of freedom.
The film was made in 1995, in the midst of a period when Europe was coming together, while Yugoslavia was falling apart. It is not the historic accuracy that was the focus of Kusturica's work, but the need to tell to the world the story of a region that underwent so many conflicts and has seen so much human tragedy, the need to find an explanation for the world but maybe first of all to himself. One needs not relate to this film as to a documentary, his tools are not the ones of the reporter but of the artist.
It is a long movie, but I couldn't complain a bit, so fascinated I was by the story telling skills of Kusturica, by the music which is wonderful and plays an important role as in all his movies and by the acting which brings to screen a full colorful world of characters and situations. A great film from one of the greatest directors today.