Sad, funny, sexy satire of life under Communism

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2004)

I laughed, I cried, I lusted after those Yugoslavian women...and I felt sad watching an over-the-top comedy about the mental repression experienced by anyone who has ever lived in a totalitarian country where the media is controlled by the government. (It was much less subtle in the Eastern bloc; we Westerners have made many perfections in the art of propaganda.) The story is that of a group of Yugoslavians who literally go underground during WWII to hide from the Nazis (and from their own Communist dictators). Only a few know that the war has ended and that Tito is President of Yugo-land now--but they keep that secret from those still living in ignorance underground.
It's a metaphor for the life lived by those behind the Iron Curtain, and it's a melange of funny, mournful, thought-provoking comedy...with babes. Repression is great for stimulating creativity, as the Yugoslavians (and Czechs) have been proving for years, going back to Dusan Makavejev's "WR: Mysteries of the Organism," another funny sexy romp about the relationship between sex, politics, and megalomania.
One more note--the music on the soundtrack is fantastic, and I wish it were released on CD. Someone's leaving money on the table by missing this opportunity for a great soundtrack release.